Members of the Marlboro Zoning Board of Adjustment determined that the owners of a Marlboro junkyard were expanding a nonconforming use by moving cars into an area that until this past summer contained trees. The board voted to uphold the zoning officer’s notice of violation pertaining to the expansion with a 5-2 vote at the Dec. 16 meeting.
Board Chairman Glenn Malysz, Vice Chairman Michael Fishman, Robert Knight, Adrianne Spota and Michael Mahon voted to uphold zoning officer Sarah Paris’ violation notice that the junkyard had expanded. Board members Lewis Wildman and Matthew Weilheimer voted against the motion.
At the board’s previous meeting on Dec. 2, members attempted to settle the matter but were deadlocked with a 3-3 vote. The hearing was reopened on Dec. 16 for any additional testimony that would help the board members come to a vote.
The case centered on property owned by Elaine Schechter and known as Schechter Enterprises on Tennent Road in the Morganville section of Marlboro. The property is next to the Tennent Estates residential development.
Elaine Schechter owns Schechter Enterprises and two other businesses in Marlboro: Morganville Auto Wreckers, Spring Valley Road, and Marlboro Auto Wreckers, Tennent Road.
Following an inspection of the Schechter Enterprises property in early July, Paris issued two violation notices to the business; one violation notice was for not having an 8-foot-tall wall or fence set 30 feet back from the property line, and the second violation notice was for the expansion of a nonconforming use.
Junkyards are not a permitted use anywhere in Marlboro, but there are 11 pre-existing nonconforming uses as a result of a 1983 lawsuit settlement, Paris has previously explained.
On July 1 the zoning board determined that scrap metal recycling is not a permitted use at the three Schechter-owned locations and that the applicant did not have a pre-existing nonconforming use in terms of scrap metal.
Following the board’s decision in July, residents of Tennent Estates reported that a pile of junk cars had been moved near the property line that Schechter Enterprises shares with their development on Tennent Road.
Paris inspected the Schechter property on July 2 and July 7 and then issued the notices of violation.
In response to those notices of violation, Schechter was seeking the zoning board’s determination that a fence is not required for the Tennent Road property and that she did not expanding a nonconforming use.
At the board’s Dec. 2 meeting it was determined that the fence was not a matter for the board, but would be a licensing issue. Any action pertaining to the fence would be brought when the owner renews its license with the township.
Testimony has ensued during the past couple months with witnesses testifying that the section of the Schechter Enterprises property in question had always been used for storing cars. Adam Schechter, Elaine Schechter’s son, who now manages the property, had previously testified that 8 acres of the property was surrounded with a 4-foot high chain link fence and that the fence enclosed the area which had always been designated as the junkyard.
Residents testified against the Schechters, stating that trees had always inhabited the area in question and that nothing was ever stored in the section. Residents also questioned aerial photos which over the course of the past couple decades never showed a vehicle stored within that section of the Schechter Enterprises property.
When it came time for a vote on Dec. 16, members of the board upheld Paris’s notice of violation regarding the junkyard owner’s expansion of the non-conforming use.
It is not known if the applicant will appeal the board’s decision.
A published report in another newspaper stated that the Schechters are suing the zoning board following its July 1 decision relating to the scrap metal operation. A telephone call placed to attorney John Giunco, who represented the Schechters before the zoning board, seeking confirmation of that legal action was not returned.