HOWELL – An application for two warehouses proposed for construction on Howell Road was presented to the Howell Planning Board.
The testimony was heard on September 2 and an additional session is planned to be heard at the October 21 meeting.
The application was filed by AAFFHW Property LLC as applicant and Clayton, Peter and John A. Forman as owners. According to the proposal, they are seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval to construct two, one-story warehouse buildings with office space.
One warehouse (Building A) totals 325,737 square feet in size. Of that, 305,737 square feet will be warehouse space and 20,000 square feet will be office space. It will consist of 55 loading bays, two drive-in bays, 161 vehicle parking spaces and 68 tractor-trailer parking spaces.
The other warehouse (Building B) totals 98,828 square feet in size, having 89,828 square feet of warehouse space and 9,000 square feet of office space. It will have 28 loading bays, two drive-in bays and 94 vehicle parking spaces.
In addition, the applicant is proposing site improvements which includes lighting, landscaping, aboveground and subsurface storm water management facilities, an irrigation pump house, a sanitary sewer pump station and an optional fire water tank.
They also want to extend a public water main from Fairfield Road and the sanitary sewer force main from Adelphia Road to the proposed warehouses at 29 Howell Road.
At the September 2 meeting, Attorney Kenneth Pape, engineer Patrick Lynam, architect Sean Naeger and environmental scientist Raymond Walker represented the application.
According to Lynam, the site is a total of 29.5 acres. The site would be situated between Business Route 33 and the Route 33 bypass. It’s southwest of the intersection of Howell and Five Points roads at Business Route 33.
Currently, the site would have access points on Okerson Road and on Howell Road, Lynam said.
According to the testimony, the proposed buildings are not intended to be what are referred to as fulfillment centers similar to Amazon facilities.
“The buildings are not large enough to be fulfillment centers, so they are intended to be warehouses with offices, which is a permitted use. Also, we’re considering light manufacturing uses as well, not a fulfillment center,” Lynam said.
The applicant plans to run the operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Pape said.
Walker said that the 29-acre site is an active agricultural field, which has been there since about 1931. He also stated that the site does not contain any freshwater wetlands.
“The property also does not contain any streams, lakes, rivers or other water bodies, and it is not located within the flood hazard area of any water body. All drainage from the property, as Mr. Lynam indicated, is directed to adjacent properties,” Walker said.
Walker stated that the property is not environmentally sensitive, having been farmed for decades and does not contain any steep slopes, wetlands, flood hazard areas, threatened or endangered species, or cultural resources.
The discussion ended with the board’s professionals and the applicant’s representatives wanting to continue looking at the proposed storm water management plan and farmland buffers. They will further analyze the application at the October 21 Planning Board meeting.
