By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — The Zoning Board of Adjustment has given the green light to Karl Mey’s Collision Repair Center’s proposal to build an addition to its existing business on Route 130 North in the township’s Windsor section.
The 3,300-square-foot addition to the existing 11,200-square-foot building will house two “spray booths” for painting cars using a water-based base coat that is more environmentally friendly than solvent-based paints, according to Charles Dey, a co-owner of Karl Mey’s Collision Repair Center. The new painting process for the base coat is already a requirement in California and Canada, and New Jersey is expected to adopt similar regulations within the next two or three years, Mr. Dey said.
The addition will be one story with a flat roof — the same as the existing building, according to the applicant’s architect, George Fett. There will be two rooftop exhaust stacks painted “cloudy gray” that will be approximately 4 feet tall and 16 inches in diameter. An existing row of mature evergreens on the property will not be disturbed during construction and will screen the addition from view.
Rob Korkuch, the applicant’s engineer, said the addition would not generate any additional traffic. A parking area now located where the addition will be built could be easily relocated to another area of the property.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment voted 6-0 on Jan. 11 to grant preliminary and final site plan approval for the project, which needed a list of variances and waivers because the 42-year-old business is a “pre-existing nonconforming use” in the new township’s recently rezoned Highway Commercial Zone on Route 130.
Mr. Korkuch said because the Karl Mey’s was not a retail business, such as an auto parts store, there was no need for the board to require paved, striped lanes and parking spaces behind the building. There are already five paved, striped parking spaces in front of the building for customers and there is no need for more because it is not the type of business that attracts a high volume of customer traffic, he said.
Similarly, landscaping and lighting plans that would otherwise be required in the HC zone are not necessary for this type of business, Mr. Korkuch said. The building addition does not involve any new outdoor lighting or signs, he said, and there is already sufficient mature landscaping that screens the building.
”We are just upgrading the equipment to keep competitive and to be environmentally compliant,” Mr. Korkuch said.
The zoning board members agreed, with the board’s chairman, Dennis Shennard, calling it a “cut-and-dried” application.
”It’s a simple structure … an extension of a successful business that I think we would like to see continue operating in that location so from that standpoint I don’t see an issue,” zoning board member Paul Gibeault added.
Mr. Dey said he hoped to break ground on the project in the spring.

