Overnight Parking Ordinance Draws Support, Critics In Howell

HOWELL, NJ — Howell Township is planning public meetings for residents to address questions and concerns about an ordinance that will require permits for overnight parking on the town's residential streets.

The ordinance, which was introduced Tuesday, would ban overnight parking on residential streets from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. without a permit. Residents who want to park vehicles on the street would have to apply for permits for those vehicles. The number of permits allowed would be based on the number of bedrooms in the home, and they could only be used by vehicles connected to the specific address.

The permits would be free, and the ordinance makes a provision for residents to notify police when they have temporary overnight guests, such as people who stay following a party.

Violations of the ordinance would incur $50 tickets.

The proposed ordinance says in part that it is a response to "excessive and persistent overcrowding of residential streets, including long term and overnight parking," which it said "creates unsafe conditions, reduces emergency vehicle access, interferes with snow removal and refuse collection, diminishes the quality of life for residents, and contributes to noise, litter, and other nuisances." (Read the introduced ordinance below.)

It is set for a second reading and potential adoption on March 10, township attorney Caitlin Harney said. Workshop sessions will be announced in the coming days, she said.

The proposed ordinance has drawn criticism.

The website FAA News — FAA stands for First Amendment Advocate — said the proposed restrictions would expose members of the Orthodox Jewish community who attend neighborhood shuls to worship to repeated fines. Observant Jews are barred under their religious beliefs from driving during Shabbos (the Jewish Sabbath) from sundown on Fridays until after sunset on Saturdays.

Residents who spoke at the council meeting supported the proposed ordinance. No one spoke against it at the meeting.

One man said several other towns in New Jersey have similar ordinances that bar parking on residential streets overnight without any issues. Randolph, Nutley, South Orange and Oakland all bar street parking from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. New Providence bars it from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Toms River bars overnight street parking in some parts of town but has a more complex system in place.

A woman who praised the proposed ordinance said critics of it "only want to change the entire environment of Howell." She said those who called the ordinance Antisemitic are "minimizing the real violence done to Jews" during the Holocaust. "You are not doing justice to those who lived through the Holocaust," she said.

"Instead of seeing this as an attack on your culture, see it as a compromise," she said, adding the shuls are creating issues because they are not regulated. According to an ordinance approved in 2022, a house of worship in Howell needs a minimum of 5 acres and can only be located on a connector road or an arterial road.

Mayor John Leggio said the proposed ordinance is "context neutral".

"We want everyone to understand the fairness of the ordinance," he said, adding he hopes the public workshops will address those concerns.