Commission blasts new business plan
Environmental group urges against car wash
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - Members of the township's Environmental Commission testified against the proposed car wash and oil lube facility at the Aug. 22 Zoning Board meeting.

The Zoning Board unanimously voted the project down later in the evening. A company called 537 ABR, LLC, had gone before the board seeking a variance to construct a 9,820- square-foot facility in the township's highway commercial (HC) zone on Route 537.

Car washes are currently not a permitted use in the HC zone, or anywhere else in the township.

Prior to the board's vote on the issue, Environmental Commission member Mary Pinney, who is also a member of the township's Planning Board, said that within the last few months, the Township Committee considered an ordinance to allow car washes as a permitted use in town but decided to table the matter. Pinney also reminded the board that all businesses and residences in the township rely on the use of wells and septic systems.

"We're an environmentally sensitive community in every way," Pinney said.

She told the Zoning Board that it was being asked to approve a use variance for a business that would not necessarily be a service to the town, as other nearby towns have similar businesses.

"Given the environmental pressures we have in the township, and the governing body deciding not to add this use to the master plan, we have to look at the real justification for adding this use," she said. "As far as I know, there is no justification."

Environmental Commission member Benny Quaglierini testified that the car wash use is not in the master plan because the township does not want it.

"I don't think we want to have problems with wells," he said, adding that his own well just failed two weeks ago.

Quaglierini told the board that there are many car washes and repair shops within an 8-mile radius of the proposed site for the new facility.

"We have to go eight miles out of town to get groceries," he said. "I don't see the big deal to get your car washed eight miles away."

Environmental Commission Chairman Eric Davis told the board that the commission had a lot of discussion about the application. According to Davis, the commission's charge is to raise public awareness about Millstone Township's environment. He said that the township contains the headwaters of the Millstone River, Rocky Brook, Ivanhoe Brook, Manalapan Brook, Assunpink Creek, Toms River and Doctors Creek and that issues that affect Millstone could also affect towns downstream.

"The question is, Is the [car wash] use beneficial to Millstone down the road, vs. the environment?" he said. "The Environmental Commission feels strongly [that] the application should be denied."

Zoning Board Vice Chairman Barry Frost said that the applicant would need to show that the facility would not have a negative impact. He alleged that the proposal has many possibilities for negative impacts.

"It's not good for Millstone," Frost said. "People don't come to Millstone for something like a car wash. It's not something we like."