HOWELL — The Planning Board has approved an application proposing the construction of a 5,200-square-foot storage/ warehouse building on Route 33 between Colts Neck Road and Route 34.
The building will be a storage and maintenance facility for trucks and includes 600 square feet of office space. The entrance to the facility will be from Route 33.
The board took the action on Oct. 15.
Professional engineer and planner Joseph Kociuba, representing the applicant, Frank Sutton, said the intent of the application was to provide storage space and maintenance space for the applicant’s commercial vehicles. Sutton owns a trucking company.
No materials that Sutton’s vehicles transport to and from various locations will be stored on site or brought back to the yard, according to the testimony.
It is expected that there will be two employees at the site — a secretary-receptionist and a mechanic. There will be about 20 trucks on site and Sutton’s clients will not be coming to the location, Kociuba said.
Sutton said the hours of operation for the facility will be 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with no weekend hours unless there is snow.
“We plow for the state. We actually plow Route 33 right there in front of our lot,” Sutton said.
Attorney Timothy Middleton, representing the applicant, sought several design waivers. The requests included not providing landscaping because members of the public will not visit the site; not paving the truck area (to be gravel); not providing a 5- foot landscape strip against the street line; not providing a private walkway or public sidewalk as there are none in the general area; and to allow a 50-plus-foot blank uninterrupted wall (the building is intended to have an 80-foot-long uninterrupted face).
Some board members had concerns about the applicant’s request for the sidewalk waiver. Board members said they believe some people may walk to a QuickChek convenience store that is under construction at the corner of Route 33 and Colts Neck Road. The location of the planned warehouse is close to a mobile home park.
Board Chairman Stephen Johnson said the board might want a sidewalk on Route 33 for safety purposes.
However, Mayor Bill Gotto, who sits on the board, said sidewalks “may provide more harm than good. I don’t think sidewalks are necessary in this area. We are talking about businesses where people are going to drive in. I don’t expect residents to walk up and down Route 33.”
No one from the public spoke on the application for the warehouse.
A motion was made to approve Sutton’s application with the waivers and passed in a 7-2 vote. Johnson, Gotto, Vice Chairman Paul Schneider and board members Arthur Fankhauser, George Gravatt, Kenneth French and Deputy Mayor Robert Nicastro voted yes. Board members Brian Tannenhaus and Thomas Boyle voted no on the motion.