Representatives of Insurance Auto Auctions have received the go-ahead to operate the vehicle storage and auction business off Texas Road, Marlboro, with extended hours.
The Marlboro Zoning Board of Adjustment granted the relief at its Feb. 11 meeting. All board members in attendance voted in favor of the application, except Ira Levin, who abstained on the vote.
The decision came after the applicant amended its original proposal to expand the pre-existing, nonconforming use to include a request for a use variance. The variance permits Insurance Auto Auctions to function throughout the entirety of the rental property at 426 Texas Road, in the land conservation zone, where it has operated since 1988.
“The application has evolved in a way that makes it very understandable, and will clarify and avoid future problems of enforcement,” said attorney Sal Alfieri, who represents the company.
Board members voted to bifurcate the application. That means the applicant will have to return to seek site plan approval for various details such as a 10-foot-high fence, a permanent tent and the dispersal of gravel.
Insurance Auto Auctions must also obtain an approval from the Township Council, Alfieri said.
The extended hours, which are strictly for the drop-off of damaged vehicles, will not kick into gear until the applicant acquires the additional approvals, according to officials.
The business currently runs from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The variance stands to open a portion of the site to automobile deliveries until 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Full operations could occur on Saturday, according to the zoning board’s ruling.
The applicant altered its proposal after attorneys for two sets of objectors claimed that Insurance Auto Auctions did not have the green light to house cars on a specific section of the property.
Representatives of the applicant disputed that notion, but still chose to seek the variance, Alfieri said. He pointed to a 1983 court order, a junkyard license and a prior township approval as evidence for the legitimacy of the use.
Planner James Higgins, who testified on behalf of the applicant, said the recovery and recycling of damaged automobiles, along with the secure nature of the site and its proximity to similar businesses, made the use acceptable.
“… I think the general welfare is advanced due to the particular suitability of the site for the use,” Higgins said, adding that a full junkyard would prove more intensive than the storage facility.
Board Attorney Ronald Cucchiaro said the site did not meet the criteria of a recycling facility, as suggested by Higgins. Cucchiaro also said Insurance Auto Auctions is already limited in what it can do, and he noted that a full-service junkyard is not permitted on the property.
Attorney Kevin Quinlan, who represents a neighboring objector, questioned Higgins about the need for protection from potential chemical spills on the property, which borders the former federal Superfund site Burnt Fly Bog.
Higgins said a buffer could be necessary, depending on the type of leak, but he said he was assured that such spills do not usually occur.
Quinlan has said that a 1,000-gallon storage tank recently poured fluids onto the yard.
The attorney also focused on the lack of a buffer to protect the privacy of nearby residents, the owner’s failure to reforest the site as per the court order and additional issues that may be examined during the hearing on the site plan.
During the public portion of the meeting, resident Isabel Shaw said Marlboro officials should not continue to allow junkyards and similar businesses to exist on Texas Road just because they have for years.
“There has to be some kind of planning and limitation, and I think in the past it has not been done,” she said.