BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
MILLSTONE – Plans for a new subdivision at Scooter’s Corner received preliminary approval last week.
The 11-lot subdivision at the intersection of Paint Island Springs and Millstone roads, includes an existing nonconforming commercial lot and an existing residential lot, eight new house lots and a lot dedicated for drainage. The Zoning Board of Adjustment granted the subdivision preliminary approval at its June 27 meeting.
Charles Noreika lives on the property, where he also operates a tree farm, a John Deere tractor dealership and a propane fueling operation.
The subdivision required a use variance and a year ago, the Zoning Board voted 4-3 to grant that variance, but the measure ultimately failed due to a state municipal land use law. At that time, Zoning Board Attorney Gregory Vella explained that state law requires five affirmative votes for a measure to pass.
The recent Zoning Board hearing on the application came as a result of the applicant filing a lawsuit in Monmouth County Superior Court, according to Vella. He said the applicant has settled the need for the variance by proposing to use a 2-acre lot next to the commercial portion of the property as a buffer, and by restricting development of that lot until the commercial aspects of the tract have been abandoned or removed.
Vella said that once the commercial aspects of the lot no longer exist, the applicant would not need a buffer from the adjacent residential uses.
Vella said that Noreika could continue to use the property as a tree farm, which is considered an agricultural use rather than a commercial use. That use would be permitted in the zone until the first building permit for the residential subdivision is issued, he said.
Jeff Torno, a neighbor of Noreika’s on Paint Island Spring Road, said that he has watched Noreika farm that land for the past 20 years. He asked the board why Noreika would have to stop farming the rest of the property if he developed a few homes on the rest of the land off Paint Island Spring Road on a cul-de-sac.
Torno suggested that the development of the subdivision should take place in phases so that Noreika could continue farming until the second phase.
“In the big picture, it’s not detrimental,” Torno said. “They’d be doing something they’ve been doing for 80 years.”
He continued, “I think the community would prefer them to keep farming as long as they can. It would be a win-win for the Noreikas, the township, the neighbors and people who buy the trees.”
Township Planner Cindy Coppola said that if Noreika had a plan to phase in the development, the board would consider it.
The applicant’s engineer, David Thesing, said the applicant could submit a phasing plan to the board when the subdivision comes up for final approval.
“The cul-de-sac area could be phase one, and the balance of the property could be phase two,” he said. “Only at phase two would no more farming be implemented.”
Vella said the applicant has not discussed the pros and cons of phasing with the township’s engineer, and he recommended that Noreika submit a phasing plan earlier that the Zoning Board could approve or deny.
Noreika said he really does not want to subdivide his farm.
“What I’ve been going through, I should have started 10 years ago,” he said, noting that back then the township had 1-acre, not 10-acre, zoning.
“I’m not real happy,” Noreika said. “I decided to go ahead and do this. I still want to maintain [the farm] as long as I’m physically able.”
Noreika said that he likes the phasing concept.