Representatives of an applicant who wants to build a hotel in Howell tried to make the case that the business is an appropriate use for the property where it has been proposed.
On June 24, the Howell Zoning Board of Adjustment continued to hear testimony from representatives of Leonard Solondz, who is seeking municipal approval to build a 109-room hotel in a Highway Development (HD) zone at Route 9 north and Northwoods Place, Howell.
In addition to the hotel rooms, the four-story building would include a 200-seat restaurant and a 400-seat conference and banquet facility. The structure would be built on a 26-acre parcel.
Planning consultant Peter Steck testified on behalf of the applicant.
Steck said while hotels were removed from the list of appropriate uses in the HD zones along Route 9 in 2009 by way of an ordinance, public policy supports a hotel in the HD zone and Howell’s master plan supports hotels.
Steck said the conference center and restaurant in the hotel could be justified by the granting of variances.
The board’s attorney, Ronald Troppoli, said the 2009 ordinance was adopted in a specific case dealing with an application for a hotel, day care facility and “white elephant area,” or undisclosed plans for an area, and that the zoning board members would have to decide if it is applicable to Solondz’s application.
“In my opinion, we can satisfy the requirements that would get the use variance that is needed from this board,” Steck said.
He said representatives of several hotel chains have expressed interest in the application, and he said he believes their interest affirms the applicant’s contention that the property is suited for a hotel.
In attempting to make a case for the hotel as an appropriate use on the parcel, Steck said the site is naturally buffered from nearby residential areas; that a hotel will generate less traffic than an office building or strip mall; that drivers will not make impulse stops at a hotel that they might make at a strip mall; the property’s location on a major highway; that guests of Howell residents will have a nearby location to stay; and the size of the property, which will allow the hotel to be set back and “allow remoteness.”
“The standards [of planning and constructing a hotel] should be used in a way to obtain nationally qualified operators, according to the Howell master plan,” Steck said. “The master plan acknowledges that some sites are good for hotels.”
Zoning board Chairman Stephen Meier said there was still no evidence of a need for a hotel, and said the board would need to hear testimony on that issue. “Comments from people do not qualify need,” board member John Armata said, following up on Meier’s remarks. “There needs to be a business plan that proves to us this is a desirable endeavor.”
The June 24 meeting also produced additional testimony on behalf of the applicant from Maurice Rached of Maser Consulting regarding a concern about large events taking place at the hotel.
Those concerns were expressed at the May 20 meeting.
On an undisclosed date, Rached said, he monitored traffic patterns at a wedding at the Wilshire Hotel, West Orange. “The event was 300-plus people and the hotel is about the same size as the one that is proposed on Route 9,” Rached said. “It also has one exit road like the proposed hotel does.”
Rached said vehicles trickled in and out of the event, as opposed to having periods of mass entrances and exits of the type the zoning board members were concerned might occur at the Howell hotel.
Contact Greg Kennelty at [email protected].