HOWELL – Township Council members have adopted an ordinance amending certain bulk and dimensional requirements in residential areas zoned Agricultural Rural Estate.
The permitted lot coverage (all impervious) has been increased from 15 percent to 30 percent and the permitted building coverage (principal and accessory structures) has been increased from 12 percent to 15 percent.
Deputy Mayor Robert Nicastro said members of the Planning Board determined the ordinance was consistent with Howell’s master plan.
Mayor Theresa Berger, Councilman Robert Walsh, Councilwoman Evelyn O’Donnell and Nicastro voted to adopt the ordinance on March 20. Councilwoman Pauline Smith was absent.
And, council members adopted an ordinance regarding the abandonment of a property. The ordinance now states that “a nonconforming use shall be adjudged abandoned when there occurs an intention to abandon and some overt act or failure to act which carries a sufficient implication that the owner neither claims nor retains any interest in the subject matter of the abandonment.” The amendment omits the term “for a period of 366 consecutive days.”
Berger, Nicastro, Walsh and O’Donnell voted to adopt the ordinance.
Finally, council members appointed Matthew Hughes to serve on the Howell Zoning Board of Adjustment for a four-year term that will expire on Dec. 31, 2021.