says focus belongs on Rt. 9
Democrat Barbara Dixel
says focus belongs on Rt. 9
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
Barbara Dixel, the Democratic candidate running for Howell Township Council, maintains that the present council’s plan to name itself as the redevelopment authority for the Route 33 corridor is "wrong for Howell."
Dixel, who is challenging Republican incumbent Cynthia Schomaker for a four-year term on the governing body, claimed this week that the council’s vision for commercial and light industrial development of the Route 33 corridor will prove to be the ruination of many of Howell’s residents and farmers whose land has belonged to their families for generations.
Schomaker did not respond to a message left by a reporter seeking comment for this story.
Dixel said she has been contacted by many people who live on and operate businesses along the Route 33 corridor, which stretches from Howell’s border with Freehold Township to the intersection of routes 33 and 34 at the Wall Township border. The council has identified that corridor as a target for development and produced a redevelopment study.
No date has been set for a public hearing of the redevelopment study.
Dixel said despite the council’s repeated assurances that no viable properties will be targeted, residents are not comforted by the council’s promise not to use eminent domain (condemnation) as a way of acquiring active properties.
A redevelopment authority would have the power under state law to exercise eminent domain if it chose to do so. Eminent domain provides for property acquisition through condemnation for the public good and could be used to bring about Route 33’s redevelopment if a redevelopment authority is created by ordinance.
The owner of a property that is being acquired by eminent domain is paid the fair market value for his land following independent appraisals that determine its value.
A redevelopment study commissioned by the council delineates the properties Howell has earmarked for commercial and light-industrial development along and near the Route 33 corridor.
Dixel maintains that redevelopment authorities are for "broken-down urban areas" and not rural communities such as Howell.
"Howell’s elected officials have to do the right thing for the town and this is not the right thing. This is wrong for Howell because Howell is and always has been rural," the council candidate said.
Dixel said residents along Route 33 are worried because many of them are farmers who fear their properties do not feature the cosmetic appeal of the newer residential developments.
"For farms and farmers, their money goes back into the ground. They’re not concerned with the cosmetic appeal of their property," she said.
Referring to the council’s intent to bring state-of-the-art business development to Route 33, Dixel said, "farmers don’t need state-of-the-art farms."
Dixel said if it is the council’s intent to redevelop Route 33 in order to bring in commercial ratables that are to offset the tax burden now being carried by residents, the council members’ focus should be on Route 9. She said there are abandoned buildings and boarded up stores lining Howell’s Route 9 corridor in varying lot sizes.
"There are plenty of available vacant properties on Route 9 in severe need of rehabilitation. They can be used. They don’t have to go looking in the back-country roads, farmland and open spaces of Howell," she said.