Ditch Witch welcome in Millstone Township
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - The Ditch Witch franchise that has been located in the Manalapan section of Route 33 for more than 30 years will now be able to move into Millstone.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously voted at its Jan. 24 meeting to grant a variance allowing Ditch Witch to do service and repair work, which is not permitted by ordinance, at a facility in the Moto Industrial Park off Prodelin Way on Rike Drive.

Warren Hagenbuch, the chief operating officer of New England Trenchers, which owns several Ditch Witch businesses, came from Massachusetts to offer testimony about the company.

Hagenbuch said Ditch Witch is moving from the Route 33 location because the facility is small and the business requires a place to suit its needs. He said the building that would be constructed in the industrial park would be similar to the company's headquarters in Massachusetts.

According to Hagenbuch, between six and eight people would work in the building.

Kenneth Pape, attorney for the lot's owners, Arlindo and Nancy Lucas, said the site where Ditch Witch wants to move is on a cul-de-sac that was added to the industrial park a few years ago. The site is a 3-acre lot on which the owners plan to build 7,125 square feet of warehouse space and a 4,500-square-foot, two-story office building.

Pape said his clients are willing to commit to having no outside storage of equipment of any kind.

The applicant's engineer, Peter Strong, of Crest Engineering, which is located across the street from the site, said the Montessori Academy, a school for young children, is located next to his client's property. He said the lot conforms in all respects to the requirements of the industrial park ordinance.

There would be landscaping between the the building and an adjacent school.

Township Planner Richard Coppola specified that each tree should be at least 8 feet tall when planted.

Strong said there would be considerable landscaping around the site, and that existing wooded areas would be kept in their natural condition. He said a mix of deciduous trees and ornamental shrubs would go around the building.

The tenant would use a monument sign, the type that is used by most tenants in the park. Such signs have brick or stone pillars with the sign mounted between them, according to Strong.

A chain-link fence and/or gate would separate the rear part of the site and keep the general public out, he said.

The applicant plans to put in 24 parking stalls and bank an additional eight stalls that could either be built or bonded for future use, Pape said.

"Our experience is that it is rare such banked parking is ever needed," Pape said.

According to Pape, the township's current ordinance allows impervious coverage of 50 percent on each lot. He said the applicant's impervious coverage would amount to about 36 percent.

For the purposes of Ditch Witch, the rear area of the lot would have stone rather than asphalt, which is not considered impervious, according to Strong.

Hagenbuch said the stone area is necessary for testing equipment. He said the equipment could penetrate a paved surface.

Ditch Witch machines are about the same size as a compact car. The machines install utilities underground, such as piping, cable and electric lines, according to Hagenbuch.

About three or four pieces of equipment would be serviced or repaired for customers on-site on a daily basis. The business would not have a showroom or retail sales, according to Hagenbuch.

Tractor-trailers would come into the site twice a week, though not from December to February since it is a seasonal business, he said.

The site would not have fuel tanks but may have oil stored in two 55-gallon drums.

Pape agreed to biannual soil and water testing of the site as a condition of approval.

Coppola said the argument for granting the variance was compelling to him, as the proposed use is largely conforming. He said the one deviation from the ordinance is the service/repair use but it has "unique limitations."