RV, Boat Storage Facility In Manchester Expected To Get Final Go-Ahead

Nearly seven years after receiving approval to build a storage facility for oversized vehicles, boats and the like on Route 547, a developer is expected to get the final approval to move forward tonight, as the Manchester Township Council is scheduled to approve execution of the developer’s agreement.

Jack Bettio’s site plan for the parcel at 2985 Route 547, was approved by the Zoning Board of Adjustment in July 2008. But a dispute over the tax assessment on the property between Bettio and the township left the matter in limbo, as it worked its way through the court system.

The parcel is on a mostly undeveloped stretch of land on Route 547 near Route 571, not far from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

Bettio took the township to court after the assessment on the 5.57-acre site rose from $262,000 for the 2008 tax year to $684,000 for 2009, according to a May 2012 court decision, claiming the township’s tax assessor increased the assessment on the site purely as retaliation for Bettio’s successful tax appeal the previous year. The court sided with the township, which argued the increased assessment reflected the added value of the site plan approval granted by the zoning board, according to the court decision.

The site plan includes 14 enclosed storage units of 20 feet by 40 feet, designed for items not suitable for storage in a traditional self-storage unit, such as recreational vehicles or boats.

Only items by reason of their size and/or total volume that would not otherwise fit in a mini- or self-storage storage unit may be stored in the enclosed units, under the zoning board’s resolution adopted in January 2007. The board also permitted the outside storage of vehicles, boats and other items, such as trailers, registered with the New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission or a comparable agency of another state.

In granting Bettio’s request for a use variance for the site, the zoning board found that the “site is particularly suited for this use in that the site is not visible from the roadway, there is a need for said use in the area,” and it would generate less traffic than other uses permitted in the area, the zoning board said at the time.

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