MIDDLETOWN – The Township Committee has introduced a controversial amendment to zoning ordinances that creates a new zone for townhouse development.
The ordinance creating a Medium Density Residential Transition (MDRT) zone and amending the zoning map was introduced at the Jan. 15.
The committee voted 4-1 in favor of introducing the zoning ordinance, with Committeeman Scott Aagre casting the lone no vote.
Aagre said last week he voted against introduction of the ordinance because it is a reactionary measure.
“Basically, a developer threatened a builder’s remedy lawsuit so we looked into it,” Aagre said. “We found that the charge was baseless and it’s been three years and no lawsuit has come about.”
Hazlet Township Attorney Daniel Mc- Carthy said that developer Elegant Properties has sued the township in the past for denial of a land use application.
“The timing of the ordinance is not necessarily the substance of the matter,” McCarthy said. “Though the ordinance certainly emanates from the litigation.”
The area that would be rezoned is a vacant tract behind the Walgreen’s at Route 36 and Poole Avenue.
McCarthy said that he could not expand on the matter due to the pending lawsuit.
“The amendment was proposed as a result of a discussion we have had concerning a potential settlement of the matter,” McCarthy said.
The builder’s remedy lawsuit brought by Elegant Properties challenges Hazlet’s compliance with state Council on Affordable Housing regulations.
Aagre said that the proposed amendment is tailored to allow greater density than the previous medium density zoning that is permitted in the Planned Adult Community Zone.
John Curran III, president of the Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance (HAQLA), said that the organization is opposed to the rezoning because it may affect the wetlands that are located on a portion of the tract to be developed.
“HAQLA is dead against township approval of higher density development.” Curran said Monday.
The ordinance was introduced on Jan. 15 to create a medium density residential transition (MDRT) zone and amend the zoning map.
McCarthy described MDRT’s as a “zone that many communities use. It takes separate properties and gives it a distinct type of use that gives way to another use.”
The zoning of the tract will go from highway commercial zone into a singlefamily residential zone.
According to Aagre, the new ordinance permits greater density.
He said that this issue is something that he will continue to vote no on as he doesn’t see a basis for the MDRT zone.
“It was tailored toward the developer,” Aagre said. “The planning reports that we have seen previously show no grounds for this.”
After the vote, the committee approved Mayor James DiNardo’s motion to have the Planning Board review the ordinance before the second hearing takes place.
Aagre said that even after hearing from the Planning Board that the committee can still pass the ordinance without their approval.
“Even if the Planning Board comes back and tells us that the ordinance is not something that is needed, we can still pass it,” Aagre said. “In the end it doesn’t matter what they say since it will be passed through anyway.”
The proposed ordinance states that medium density residential transition districts are zoned for town homes, which are defined as a row of one-family dwellings consisting of at least three units in which each unit has its own front and rear access to the outside.
No unit is located over another unit and each unit is separated from any other unity by one or more vertical common fireresistant walls and includes individual garages and driveways serving each dwelling.
The ordinance defines town home dwellings as designed and constructed as an integral development or complex, which utilizes such common facilities as pedestrian walks, parking and garage areas, open space and recreation areas, and sanitary systems.
The accessory uses for the district would include common facilities, recreation, landscaping and other common elements that support the design and needs of the residents of the community, but will exclude swimming pools in individual lots.
The ordinance establishes the minimum tract size as four contiguous acres. The maximum gross density will be seven town homes per acre.
At least 25 percent of the tract is to remain open space and may include recreation uses, landscaped buffers and may be encumbered below ground utility systems easements, which do not impede pedestrian access and elements of storm water management systems.
Buildings must be setback a minimum of 30 feet from any tract boundary. Minimum lot area is 1,800-square-foot and buildings in the district may not exceed eight dwellings.
A special provision in the ordinance limits the total dwellings permitted to no more than 26.
Each townhome will have a mix of twoand three-bedroom units with up to onethird being three-bedroom units, a minimum of 20 feet for the front yard and rear yard and lot/building width.
The architectural plans will be reviewed by the Planning Board so that they can encourage innovative design and pleasing aesthetics in keeping with the building standards established.
Aagre’s lone no vote on the ordinance stems from the fact that he feels that the committee needs more information before passing the amendment.