zoning to two lots
introduced in 4-2 vote
Council moving ahead with
controversial zone change
Ordinance to change
zoning to two lots
introduced in 4-2 vote
By jennifer dome
Staff Writer
SAYREVILLE — The Borough Council is expected to vote on an ordinance that would change the zoning of two lots on Washington Road from residential to business at an Aug. 26 public meeting.
According to Councilman Thomas Pollando, who sits on the Planning Board, council members requested that the board’s planner, John Leoncavallo, and attorney James Hoebich attend the next council meeting to answer questions about the proposed change to the borough’s master plan.
At its meeting on Monday, the council voted 4-2 in favor of the first reading of the ordinance, with council members Phyllis Batko and Thomas Marcinczyk voting against the ordinance.
Planning Board Chairman Frank Bella began answering some questions about the amendment on Monday; however, due to time constraints, Mayor Kennedy O’Brien chose to postpone the discussion until the Aug. 26 meeting, when the Planning Board professionals could also be present.
The amendment concerns two lots on Washington Road, one the location of a credit union and the other a landscaping business. According to documents drafted by the board’s planning firm, Heyer, Gruel & Associates, New Brunswick, the lots are currently zoned as residential, though they are pockets of commercial development.
In opposing the ordinance’s introduction, Batko asked why the Planning Board has chosen to recommend the rezoning.
According to Bella, Washington Road has many areas of commercial uses mixed in with residential uses. The board looked at changing as much of the area as possible to a business zone to bring these properties into conformance. However, the board wanted to avoid posing a hardship on the surrounding residents, Bella said.
"It makes sound planning sense to make those lots a commercial use," he said.
Batko and Marcinczyk appeared at a Planning Board meeting in June and expressed their concerns about the zoning amendment. Marcinczyk questioned why borough money was being spent to change only two lots.
"I clearly think this is an issue of spot zoning," Batko said Monday.
Bella has said in the past that because two lots — and not just one — are involved with the proposed change, it cannot be considered spot zoning.
Discussions on the issue became heated last month as Marcinczyk announced he was going to have the amendment investigated by a federal agency to determine if the zone change would be legal.
Planning Board member Michael D’Addio told council members that he believes Marcinczyk behaved unethically while voicing his opinion on the zoning amendment. D’Addio accused the councilman of acting out of personal interest since Marcinczyk operates a landscaping and monument business, located on Bordentown Avenue, which might be in competition with the one operated on the lot to be rezoned.
Greg Camerato, owner of the landscaping business in question, was present at the council’s agenda meeting Monday. He told council members that he has been operating a business on the site for five years, and that it had originally been a commercial zone but was changed in 1999 to a residential zone. He said he was never notified that his lot was being changed to a residential zone.
Bella said that the borough is not legally required to notify residents of zone changes.
Batko questioned whether the Planning Board should even consider Camerato’s lot as a business since it does not have a business license.
According to O’Brien, home-based businesses do not need a business license.
Changing the master plan would allow an old or new business owner on either of the two lots to maintain a business in that location and expand their premises if necessary, Bella said. The reason other businesses in the area were not included in the zone change was to keep residences in the area from having to deal with business zone conditions and to prevent more businesses from moving in.
"The master plan is a living document. It changes with the times," O’Brien said Monday.