By Jane Meggitt, Special Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD Farm stands are part and parcel of the township’s rural community, but just who can operate such a stand and where was up for discussion at the Feb. 7 Township Committee meeting.
At an earlier meeting, a person operating a farm stand at the corner of Route 537 and Millstream Road told the governing body that construction official Ron Gafgen had been to his property and told him he could not operate the stand under the township’s current zoning.
At the Feb. 7 meeting, Committeeman Robert Faber said he thinks that any township resident should be able to sell produce or firewood on their own property, as long as they have off-site parking. Upper Freehold doesn’t allow parking on any of its streets.
”Why is one person being picked on when others in town are doing the same thing?” he asked. Mr. Faber added that the committee should consider changing the zoning ordinance.
Township Attorney Granville Michael Magee said that the state’s Right to Farm Act permits farm stands on individual properties if a minimum of 51 percent of the produce or goods come from that farm. However, in order to qualify, the property must be at least five acres, which is not the case on the tract in question, he said. Mr. Magee said that towns could enact their own laws permitting lower acreages on locally-grown sales. However, enforcement to ensure that 51 percent of produce sold was locally grown was also an issue, he said.
At a January meeting, the possibility of starting an Upper Freehold Chamber of Commerce was broached. Mr. Magee said if the township had such an organization, it could set up a co-op with people who grew produce on their own properties.
Rather than make changes in the town’s zoning ordinances, Mr. Magee suggested that the property owner could go before the Zoning Board of Adjustment and request a variance. If he were to do that, the people most affected, those living within 200 feet, would be noticed and could voice their opinion at the public hearing, according to Mr. Magee.
Mayor Stan Moslowski Jr. said that many people in town sell produce from properties of less than five acres. If that were a problem, it needed to be enforced throughout the whole town, he said. Mr. Magee said the issue could be intensity of use, since many simple roadside stands or tables don’t have structures, refrigerators and generators. It’s also a question of whether such a stand is a person’s primary source of income, he said.
”That’s what [Mr. Gafgen] must look into,” Mr. Magee said.

