Howell planners approve 27 homes on Oak Glen Rd.

By JENNIFER ORTIZ
Staff Writer

HOWELL — The Planning Board has unanimously approved an application that proposed the construction of 27 single-family homes on Oak Glen Road.

The board took the action on Sept. 17.

The subdivision was approved many years ago, according to attorney Salvatore Alfieri, representing applicants Janice and Perry Willet.

“We took some time to get the outside agency approvals and get plan revisions. We are here tonight to seek final approval,” Alfieri told the board.

The applicant received approval to subdivide the property into 28 lots to be known as Hawk Point — 27 lots for homes and one lot for a storm water basin. The total acreage of the development parcel is 19.8 acres and the average building lot size is one-third of an acre.

Alfieri said all conditions of the board’s preliminary approval for the project have been satisfied.

LED (light emitting diode) lighting was suggested by the board, which the applicant agreed to.

The board’s engineer, Laura Neumann, said, “this is going to be a public road so I would recommend that although you made the offer to do the LED (lighting), it should be reviewed with our in-house engineering department to ensure those are the fixtures they want. As I recall, with the LED (lighting), sometimes they require more fixtures and it imposes more of a cost to the township …”

Alfieri said he would agree to do what is proposed at the discretion of the township engineer.

Engineer Brian Murphy, representing the applicants, addressed concerns regarding wetlands mapped by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the property.

“We got a letter of interpretation on the property. (The wetlands) are substantially less than what the DEP is showing. The DEP basically goes off of aerial photos. So we got the letter of interpretation. We have buffers and buffer transitioning from the DEP and general permits, as well as for a wetlands piece where the basin is going, so we got a permit to fill that. All permits are in hand and everything is ready to go,” Murphy said.

The board’s tree expert, Shari Spero, said she was comfortable with the amount of trees and reforestation area that will be part of the property.

“They have a variety of species. I have no issues with landscaping,” Spero said.

Chairman Stephen Johnson, Vice Chairman Paul Schneider and board members Arthur Fankhauser, Robert Nash, Brian Tannenhaus, Kenneth French and Thomas Boyle voted to grant the applicants final major subdivision approval.