HILLSBOROUGH: Proposed zoning rule would allow Internet car sales

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
   Hillsborough ordinances may not allow used car lots, but businesses may be able to store and sell used cars on the Internet, if the Township Committee approves an ordinance allowing the practice in certain areas in town.
   The ordinance, number 2010-26, was introduced at the July 27 Township Committee meeting, and will open for a public hearing on Sept. 14.
   ”New technologies are always changing zoning ordinances,” Township Planner Bob Ringelheim said at the ordinance introduction. “This is another case of that. This is a case where we’ve had some people inquiring about the sale of used vehicles, which we don’t normally have in town. In an industrial zone, under this ordinance, a businessman would be able to have a storage yard of used vehicles which could only be sold through the Internet.”
   Ordinance 2010-26 amends the township’s code to allow the storage and sale of intact, damaged, and used vehicles, providing the vehicles will be sold online in the I-1 districts. Vehicle dismantling, junkyards, crushing, stacking, repairs, or parts sales are not permitted, however.
   The ordinance does not change the restrictions on retail vehicle sales, and all transactions for the vehicle sales would occur through the Internet, Mr. Ringelheim said.
   ”Rather than having people driving by the highway and pulling off and on, this creates a situation where there’s very little traffic,” Mr. Ringelheim said. “The only people that would come to the site are the people who bought the vehicles to get their paperwork, get their titles, if need be, and even that could be done through the mail.”
   The I-1 districts include areas on Route 206 North, Old Camplain Road, along the CSX rail line near the Manville-Hillsborough border, and Weston Road, also near the Manville border, Township Clerk Kevin Davis said.
   Business owners would still be required to submit a site plan to the Planning Board for approval before being able to store the vehicles on the property, however. The ordinance requires a minimum lot area of 7½-acres, with a minimum lot width of 225 feet.
   One existing business in an I-1 zone handles Internet-based car sales, and is doing so through an older variance notice held by the site’s previous tenant, Mr. Davis said. Though the business already exists, it would also need to present a site plan for Planning Board approval.
   ”They are operating under a something that is now obsolete, given the new technologies,” Mr. Davis said.