HOWELL – Municipal officials have voted 3-1 to end a process that permitted appeals of certain Howell Zoning Board of Adjustment decisions directly to the Township Council.
On Aug. 13, Deputy Mayor Evelyn O’Donnell, Councilman Thomas Russo and Councilwoman Pamela Richmond voted “yes” on a motion to adopt an ordinance which eliminates the direct appeals to the governing body.
Councilman John Bonevich voted “no” on the motion and Mayor Theresa Berger was absent from the meeting.
Previously, any interested party had the option to appeal a zoning board decision regarding an application for development to the Township Council. Now, an interested party’s first step will have to be to file an appeal of a zoning board decision in state Superior Court.
A public hearing preceded the council’s vote to adopt the ordinance.
“Why would we want to give up any of our power?” resident Tina Smilek asked. “I mean, wouldn’t we want to keep our power here? This is your job. Don’t you want anybody appealing coming to you (the council) if they are not happy with (a zoning board decision) before they take it to the next step? Maybe you can decide (the matter) on your own.”
O’Donnell said there is a mechanism in place for appeals of zoning board decisions and that mechanism is Superior Court.
“So you are fine with letting somebody else make your decision for you?” Smilek asked.
O’Donnell said the council is not obligated by law to hear appeals of zoning board decisions. She said she approved of the change that was before the council.
“We have to have enough confidence in (the zoning board members) that they are making the right decisions,” Richmond said.
“We elect you to make decisions. We did not elect you to pawn it off on someone else,” Smilek said.
The public hearing included comments which indicated that prior councils had considered eliminating the appeal of zoning board decisions to the council, but eventually tabled the matter.
Commenting on his vote not to adopt the ordinance, Bonevich said, “I heard a lot this evening. Basically, I worked really hard for the right to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and listen to the residents. I am voting ‘no’ on this.”
After the meeting, Russo explained why he supported the ordinance.
“One of the main reasons why I supported this ordinance is that it promotes easier access to the courts. An additional layer of litigation for either party could be the difference between someone choosing to pursue their day in court or not,” he said.
“(Right now) there is a group of Howell residents (who) are challenging a zoning board decision. They decided to go right to court (and not appeal to the Township Council), likely to avoid the additional layer of costly litigation.
“But let’s say the reverse happened; let’s say the zoning board denied the (application that is being appealed) and the applicant chose to appeal to the council. This would have resulted in the residents (who oppose the application) having to proceed with an additional layer of costly and time-consuming litigation.
“Even though the residents would not necessarily be a party in this scenario, they would absolutely be a potential party and as such, need to have an attorney present to make the appropriate objections and put their positions on the record,” Russo said.
“Not only would that have cost the residents more money and time, but it also could have the unintended effect of (the residents) possibly deciding not to fight (the zoning board’s decision) at all, depending on their financial situation.
“In my line of work,” said Russo, who is an attorney, “this kind of stuff happens all the time. To avoid additional expensive litigation and delay wherein the case would ultimately end up in court anyway, I decided it was best to remove the additional layer so as to allow an easier path for an appealing party to get their day in court as fast and as cost-effectively as possible.
“I simply do not want to see any of our residents or local business owners having to dig deeper into their pockets and fight through layers of litigation before they can even step foot in the courthouse,” Russo said.