Lacey Property Owner Required to Provide Site Plans Following Land Use Violations

The township zoning Board of Adjustment on Monday deemed the application for the owner of three commercial properties on Lacey Road who violated land use codes technically incomplete.

Applicant Bryan Bittner owns properties where Bamber Lake Auto Recycling and Shore Tractor Trailer Training currently sit. Four commercial auto part storage and recycling structures covering 2,472 square feet were illegally built.

The location consists of an existing automobile salvage yard and the commercial buildings that were placed on the lot include one 1,600 square foot building, two 336 square foot buildings and one 200 square foot building.

The zoning board denied Bittner's waiver to provide actual site plans. He originally hoped to provide photos of the site.

“I find this strange to say the least,” board alternate Ed Scanlon said.

The site is difficult to see from the street due to large trees, site engineer Bruce Connell said.

“The impact of this particular improvement to the neighbors or people who would travel past the site is somewhat minimum,” he said.

The site owner put the buildings up anyway, Chairman Tim McDonald said. Receiving site plans would be in the “best interest” of the board.

The location is also a part of the Pinelands Preservation Area District. The new commercial buildings are in violation of land use ordinances and the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan.

The Pinelands Commission is OK with the changes as long as there’s a provision within the site plan approval providing that additional buildings won’t be built, Connell said.

The property owner is seeking a use variance because auto salvage yards are not a permitted use in the Preservation Area District, a setback variance for an identification sign that is located on the railroad right of way and a bulk variance for a chain link fence that is 6 feet tall rather than the permitted 4.

In addition to providing site plans, Bittner will have to present setback lines and tree clearings.

The application is an expansion of a previous non-conforming use in which Bittner sought and received a variance in 1996 when part of the lot was converted into the tractor-trailer training school.

Bittner will return to the zoning board on Monday, May 7, for a public hearing.