Van Noy Speaks Out During Zoning Interpretation

, a longstanding business in town came before the zoning board on Tuesday night looking for an interpretation on whether their use of a part of their property for seasonal storage was allowed or an expansion of an existing non-conforming use. 

The lawyer representing the family owned business said that the company had received several summonses as a result of this question and that court proceedings were on hold pending the determination of the zoning board.  

At issue was whether the owners of the business should be able to sell things like stone or firewood as part of their farm market operations. Chris DiGregorio, one of the owners of the property said the items they were selling there were the same as have been sold their in the past by previous owners. He also said the particular area of the property in question is only used at certain times during the year. Currently there are pumpkins for sale on the site as part of the Halloween festivities. 

His brother Gary said the work they do is not only done to for the benefit of the business, but also of the township as a whole. "We try to help the town as much as possible," he said. "We grew up in Howell, we are a true Howell farm. We are one of the last vegetable growing farms in this town. I grew up as a little kid playing in the dirt and I want to teach my kids to play in the dirt."

Betty Lou Textor, the township's director of land use and code enforcement said prior to the DiGregorio's purchasing the lot of their country market she had told them that they would not be able to extend their Nursery property operations on Havens Bridge Road to the Route 9 location. The DiGregorio's told the board that they did not remember that comment but believed an expansion meant an added building and not additional items to be sold. 

Textor said she believed the lot would only be used as a convenience store after greenhouses that had been on the property were removed by a prior owner. "At that time I did not want to discourage any type of farming, but at the time I realized what the use was," she said. "I wanted to maintain the farm nursery and the convenience store to remain as the convenience store."

The township official said she did not believe that the display of items like stones and firewood for sale were not a part of the certificates of the rental property or the building. "This was the reason why the code enforcement officer issued violations for the extension of the use," she said. "I had no problems with them selling things within the convenience store. It was a matter of the firewood display in that area which is between the store and the residential house which became the problem."

Another issue that was brought up but was not part of the complaint before the board was about signage used by the business without a permit. Van Noy said that with that question as well as those of the complaint he believed there was a better solution than violations. "I know it's our duty as doing due diligence here on this board to equitably and fairly administer what's in front of us," he said.

Pointing to the signage ordinance, Textor asked Van Noy if it should be a restrictive ordinance and one that her department should not follow. Van Noy said it should be more a matter of common sense than the letter of the law. "We are so saturated with reams of paper of laws that are almost impossible for honest people to follow and still conduct their business in this town," he said.  

Textor said one of the duties of her department is to receive any complaints and alerts through the township's website and report back on their validity. While Van Noy said he understood that, he said there should be more to the process. "I am sure in your conscience you would feel you wouldn't like to have to implement this to the same degree that perhaps it's showing in the law," he said. "Whatever it is we're human beings first and we have to live together, we have to be reasonable and even though it's not so common anymore we have to employ common sense the best we can."

At the end of the night, the board agreed with the applicants that they were utilizing the part of their property as a permitted accessory use by a unanimous vote.