We will be doing presentations so, yes, there are additional changes coming this is a preliminary one,” Howard said. We will be going public to the Planning Board with that document very soon. “We have a master plan element under construction right now, it is almost complete. He explained how the ordinance could impact the future. They would need zoning board approval for a use variance,” Howard said. They will not be going to the Planning Board for site plan approval. So if somebody comes to me with a statement of use that sounds like a fulfillment center they will not be able to get a permit. “Two of the definitions, warehouse and distribution, are permitted in certain zones in town, one of them, the fulfillment center, is not.

Howard said the having the definitions the ordinance provides will allow him “to pinpoint what the use is.” Matthew Howard, who was Howell’s zoning officer and director of land use and development and is now the township’s director of community development, responded, saying, “So right now changing the definition as the zoning officer, it gives me something when somebody proposes a use, whether it is to a board, and I review it for jurisdiction depending on what type of variances (the proposed facility) needs.” Distribution will not include fulfillment warehouse/centers, according to the ordinance.ĭuring a public hearing that preceded the council’s vote to adopt the ordinance, resident Joan Osborne asked why the legislation was needed. Warehousing will not include fulfillment warehouse/centers.ĭistribution will mean facilities engaged in the receipt, storage and distribution of goods, products, cargo and materials, including trans-shipment by boat, rail, air or motor vehicle. Items are brought in and distributed in bulk with little to no material repackaging, repurposing or breakup. This use includes e-commerce activities.”Īccording to the ordinance, warehousing will mean facilities involved in short-term to long-term storage of bulk materials and products. The ordinance defines fulfillment warehouse/centers as “those facilities involved in receipt of bulk products and the storage, separation and distribution of those products on an individual basis to individual end-user consumers (not retail). Mayor Theresa Berger, Deputy Mayor Pamela Richmond, Councilman John Bonevich and Councilwoman Evelyn O’Donnell voted “yes” on a motion to adopt the ordinance during the March 15 council meeting.

Howell township zoning