Zoning Board Wraps Up Eventful Year With Quiet Meeting

The zoning board meeting on Monday night had its own soundtrack as holiday day music from the annual Christmas tree and menorah lighting ceremony outside.

With no applications to hear, the board members got a chance to finish up some housekeeping duties, honor those members whose terms were expiring and look forward to next year. 

There were two applications on the agenda. One was by Atlantic Auto Body to expand their shop on Victory Road which was withdrawn. A second application by looking to build a gas station on Route 9 was adjourned until Feb. 6. 

Board Chairman John VanNoy said it has been a busy year for the board. "I think we had an opportunity to help a number of applicants both residential and commercial get a really fair hearing," he said. "Although you might see at the end of the year reports lots of what seem to be approvals, they are approvals with the best interest of Howell involved because applicants have made compromises and made changes as a result of our recommendations."

When the board and the applicants work together, VanNoy said they are more likely to come to an agreeable decision. And when they cannot, the chairman said the judicial branch has largely found in their favor. "We won every case and we also have been thankful that we had the council that represented us very well in the legal forum."

Looking forward to next year, VanNoy said he knows the board will have plenty more decisions to render. And he believes the lessons they learned this year will help them with that. "We feel that for example years ago there was a lot of cluster zoning," he said. "At that time it seemed great, but the problem was people's economic positions grew. They couldn't have room for a pool, or an extra deck or something like that. We think that we've helped in that way as well."

Their first meeting of 2012 is still weeks away, but VanNoy said he already sees plenty of full agendas on the horizon. "Strangely enough there are more applications coming into Howell, almost than any other township," he said. "There's opportunities here and it's a town in transition. We have to accommodate that transition."

The township council is scheduled to meet Tuesday at at 7:30. The planning board meeting on Thursday has been cancelled bringing their work for the year to an end.