BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer
Howell HOWELL – Toll Brothers has received Planning Board approval to build 58 homes on Route 524 at Fairfield Road. The board’s approval on Sept. 7 followed two lengthy public hearings on the application. The houses will be built on the Schuch tract.
An initial plan presented by Toll Brothers showed 52 lots, but a revised plan added six affordable housing units and changed the project to a cluster plan, with the 58 houses to be built on 1-acre lots on about 70 of the parcel’s 135 acres.
Affordable housing is defined as housing that is sold or rented at below market rates to people whose income meets regional guidelines established by the state.
In some cases, an applicant makes a payment to a town’s affordable housing trust fund in lieu of building affordable housing units at a development site. In other cases, the applicant builds the affordable housing as part of the development for which approval is being sought.
Toll Brothers did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment on how the 52 market price homes and the six affordable homes will be different in size or amenities, or if they will be different in those areas.
Planning Board Chairman Paul Schneider initially objected to the cluster plan. Schneider said he believed clustering the homes would destroy Howell’s rural character.
However, township planner Charles Newcomb said clustering the homes would encourage and preserve the rural character.
“If you keep doing 2-acre lots all over the countryside you’re going to get sprawl, big-time, and lose your rural character. You’re going to see wall-to-wall houses,” Newcomb said.
He said clustering the homes will provide open space parcels, as required by ordinance.
Schneider opposed the clustering again, saying, “You’re trying to tell me trees, with 2-acre estates … ” before he was cut off by Newcomb.
“No, no, no, no, Paul,” the planner said. “All you are going to do is chew up large pieces of land. [Clustering] breaks up development, that’s what I think we want to maintain with cluster.”
Attorney Todd Cohen, representing the applicant, said that without clustering “there would be a lot less green,” since the applicant would not be required to provide the significant amount of open space, which is 64 acres, or about 48 percent of the total area.
In fact, Cohen said, “If you look at your master plan, clustering is going to be absolutely mandatory,” which Newcomb confirmed.
With that issue resolved, the board turned its attention to the five open space parcels in the plan. Two of the lots will be used strictly for detention basins to gather rain water.
The so-called lot four, which would abut the six affordable housing units and other existing neighbors to the north, was discussed thoroughly.
At present the 34-acre parcel is farmland, which the applicant recommended remain as such.
Nearby residents were concerned that specific parcel would become used for active recreation, such as playing fields, which they said would disrupt their backyards.
“This issue seems to be a quality of life issue, as we surround this property here,” resident Chris Pozo said. “I’m not opposed to having neighbors, but lot four should be made passive open space.”
Resident Don Smith agreed.
“I would ask that the Planning Board recommend to [the Township Council] that the open space be adhered to,” Smith said. “[The residents] are used to it being a farm. If you put active ballfields [in] … you’re going to alienate those neighbors.”
Although the final determination was not his, but rather the township’s, Cohen said he has been in contact with farmers who are interested in the parcel and he said it should not be a problem to keep it as farmland.
An open space parcel in the northwest corner of the plan remained an issue for board member Russell Bohlin.
Since the applicant labeled the piece of land passive open space that residents would be able to use for walking or nature-related activities, Bohlin said he thought parking might have to be provided.
Cohen disagreed and the township’s certified tree expert, Zig Panek, explained why the applicant was correct.
“You want people to walk to passive open space,” Panek said. “You want to cater to people in that neighborhood.”
He said adding a parking lot would add impervious coverage.
For residents like Rudolph Masia, who were concerned with storm water run-off, the applicant’s engineer, Choong Yim, told them measures would be taken to ensure their properties are protected.
Yim said a silt fence and berms would be constructed, but CME Associates engineer Terence Vogt elaborated further.
“You’re going to be putting in a silt fence, but its primary purpose is to collect silt,” Vogt said. “Most of the water is going to be intercepted” from the basins and roads that will be constructed before the houses are built.
One of the final issues involved six driveways that will be placed on Fairfield Road.
Due to the volume of traffic on that road, a recommendation was made that turnarounds be required for those driveways. The applicant agreed to the stipulation and the panel voted 8-0 to approve the Toll Brothers application.