BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
MILLTOWN — As the Planning Board considers a heating and air conditioning business that is moving into the former union hall on North Main Street, a public discord has developed with the business owner’s proposal for an easement to use the Milltown Public Library’s driveway.
However, the ultimate decision for the easement will be decided by the Township Council, not the Planning Board.
Because of that decision and the public discord that it has created, board attorney Neil Marotta advised board members Mayor Eric Steeber; Councilman Jerry Guthlein; Felipe Zambrana, who is a school board member; and John Winant, whose brother Edward Winant is a member of the library board, to recuse themselves from hearing the application on March 1.
Marotta said through the research that he has done, which includes dissent from the Milltown Board of Education and the library board, he believes it would be to the benefit of the public good for the board members he mentioned to recuse themselves, adding that just their positions alone would be grounds for appeal if the Planning Board were to deny the application.
The four board members left the meeting; however, Guthlein said he was leaving under protest and Winant questioned Marotta’s reasoning.
Mike Hanna, owner of Hanna’s Mechanical Contractors, Inc., appeared before the Planning Board with his attorney Mark Goldstein of Goldstein Law Group in Old Bridge.
Hanna said he has been a resident of Milltown for more than 20 years and opened up his business at 155 N. Main St. over 10 years ago.
Due to the growth in business over the years, Hanna said he decided to purchase the former union hall property at 44 N. Main St. in hopes of moving his office operations to the larger location while still owning the current business location.
Hanna said his business is a privately owned and locally operated company that provides a full range of plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling services mostly for commercial businesses.
The two-story building at 44 N. Main St. is approximately 2,700 square feet. Hanna is proposing the first floor to be the warehouse of the business that will consist of shelving for the supplies and the second floor will be divided into four offices for Hanna, the engineer, the bookkeeper/accountant and a person to answer phones.
Hanna said his business has seven trucks, all under four tons, that will park at his current business at 155 N. Main St., which is a mixed use site of office space and rental apartments.
The application proposes 10 parking spaces at the new site, which he said would adequately accommodate his employees. The required amount of spaces is 14.
He said his employees will come to check in around 8 a.m. and will leave by 9 a.m. on different jobs but then come back between 4:30-5 p.m. He noted that two of his employees live in the borough and walk to work.
Hanna said his business does not receive a lot of deliveries unless they are packages from FedEx or UPS.
“I pick up my own materials,” he said, adding that bulk deliveries occur once every six months.
Hanna said his business is not a retail business and customers do not come to the site.
Hanna said currently his property is a cut through for many school children as well as adults from Main Street to the library.
He said he is proposing a sidewalk that will be well lit for those people to make it a safer route, thus requesting an easement for the ingress and egress of his business from the library’s driveway if the Planning Board approves his application.
“We feel like this is a good thing,” he said, noting that the cut through is a dirt lot in terrible condition.
Dawn Milburn, a Milltown Board of Education member, said the intent of the sidewalk is very good; however, she said she had concerns.
“It’s been traditionally a cut through,” she said, adding that having a sidewalk there would be inviting more people through the area.
Bonnie Sterling, director of the Milltown Public Library, said she was concerned about the use of the library driveway, telling the board that she has observed trucks coming in and out already utilizing the library driveway.
Board members requested a traffic study of the area, which is expected to be presented at the next board meeting on April 5.