The Aberdeen Township Zoning Board has agreed to allow used car and truck sales and service on a highway commercial (HC) lot along Route 35 where it wasn't permitted, according to SP-09-505 in the current agenda's list of memorialized resolutions. Just like the issue I brought up in July when the Planning Board's July 2011 agenda came out, the Township is being asked to squeeze ratables into lots that are far too small to be in compliance with accepted zoning standards.
In this case, the sales floor (?) will have only half the required square footage (roughly 1500 sq ft instead of 3000 sq ft). Parking and signage will offer only 1 ft setbacks where 20 ft to 50 ft are required. It has a billboard where one isn't permitted. And the lot was and will continue to be used for residential purposes.
Like I said previously, no one wants to be the bad guy and quash someone's dream. No single request for zoning waiver is outrageous on its own, but combined they signal an assault on community standards that were established to preserve quality of life.
I'd be interested to see a temporal study of requested and granted zoning exceptions by neighborhood over the past ten years. The study presumably would demonstrate the gradual deterioration of particular neighborhoods over time. I'd also like to see a study of the degree to which properties in the Township meet the zoning standards now versus ten years ago, irrespective of granted exceptions, again by neighborhood. That would provide a useful baseline. Perhaps the Boards already have access to this data? I don't believe it can be found in the Township Plan.
Thank you for this and for every one of your very sensible advocacies.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the town could possibly consider that the posting of a Community Bulletin Board on one of the many vacant weed strewn lots on 35 north might not be in the best interest of our neighborhood. Announcing a clothing drive for the needy on said sign, only feet away from THE GOOD WILL STORE, is not exactly an advertisment for the high quality of Aberdeen community life either....keep that sign up, Aberdeen Township, and neglect to mow the weeds for one more week, and I was personally champion a campaign for a mass attending of every single town hall meeting until they do a tax reassessment of every single one of our properties.....count on it! Mow the lots and get that sign out of there!
Sorry, Aberdeen NJ Life but....Really!