With Mayor Thomas Vahalla saying that Metuchen was moving in “the right direction,” the Borough Council at its Aug. 17 meeting approved a change in the ordinance that can make it easier – and less expensive – for a new business to open in town.
“This ordinance will help to streamline our zoning [process] so that changing from one use to another use in our business area would [be] easier, with less red tape, and with less cost to prospective businesses,” Mayor Vahalla said at the meeting. “In fact, even though it is being adopted today, there is one business for which it really came through by using some of this.”
Vahalla was referring to printing business Print Tech at 567 Middlesex Avenue that had earlier this summer received approval from the borough to become the Mona Lisa Café, which Vahalla described as an “Italian family type” restaurant. The restaurant is the second location of the established Brooklyn bakery, confirmed an employee of the main Brooklyn location.
Revising the ordinance in this fashion was originally championed by councilman Justin Manley in his bid last fall for election to the Borough Council. As part of his campaign, he had advocated streamlining the borough’s procedures by revising the change of use criteria.
How this works
Sometimes, when a new business applies to open in town, it may need approval for a “change of use.” However, what’s important here is how we define that phrase. For example, it can be a business that requires only a minor change of use, such as changing from a retail store to a bank. On the other hand, it can be a major change of use, such as changing from a retail store to a hotel, which is a wholly different type of business.
Until now, a new business that applied to open in Metuchen would have been considered a “change of use” if it met at least one of the following three criteria:
1) if it changed classifications according to the state building code, which classifies a building according to approximately 10 general uses: Place of Assembly, Business, Educational, Factory/Industrial, High Hazard, Institutional, Mercantile, Residential, Storage, Utility; or,
2) if it changed uses according to the borough’s zoning code, which is far more specific; or
3) if the new application requires more parking than it currently has but does not provide that parking.
Now, as a result of the change to the borough ordinance, the second requirement has been removed altogether, so that an application that satisfies the state building code can skip a municipal site plan review or meeting with the technical review committee (TRC), meaning it can go faster through the zoning process and at less expense.
Normally, the purpose of these initial meetings with the regulating boards is to allow applicants to review concepts and proposals for the particular site before larger expenditures are made in a formal presentation and to make sure that the applicant’s plans for the site are in line with the community’s standards and expecations. However, the Metuchen Chamber of Commerce, the Development Commission, and the Planning Board have all supported this change in the local ordinance.
So, using the above example, let us say someone buys a convenience store on Main Street but wants to convert it into a bank. Even though they are different uses according to Metuchen’s more specific zoning code, both uses fall in the Business group of the state’s building code and so would not need a TRC meeting or site plan review.
Council attorney David Frizell gave other examples of how the change in the ordinance could now come into play.
“I believe if you go from restaurant to somatic therapy, that is a change in building use,” Frizell said. “But if you went from some sort of quasi-medical use, such as an optometrist’s office, which is a personal service, to somatic therapy, you would not require a TRC.”
At the meeting, Mayor Vahalla described somatic therapy as a “type of massage,” and said that three new somatic therapy establishments had recently opened in the borough.
Frizell is correct because though Metuchen has added somatic therapy as a specific type of use according to its zoning laws, it would fall in the more general Business group of the state building code, same as an optometrist’s office. On the other hand, the state considers a restaurant to be a Place of Assembly, and so changing the use of a building from a restaurant to a massage parlor would require a full site plan review and/or TRC meeting.
As a result, Frizell noted that this change would make it easier and less expensive for a somatic therapy business to open in the borough.
“I have no real issues because we have a very extensive code regulating somatic therapy, which we adopted from another place,” Frizell said. “I don’t think it is an issue. I just want the council to be aware that this actually would make it less expensive to open a somatic therapy clinic. What this does is it allows them to get a zoning permit without going to the TRC if they satisfy the building code aspect. But if they are going from a residence [or a restaurant] to a somatic therapy [establishment], they have to get site plan approval.”
Vahalla also gave a quick review of the recent progress the borough had made in attracting other new businesses to town.
“We also have a new Irish pub opening,” Vahalla said. “We have a new jewelry store, Martin & Son, coming in. We have a new yoga and tai chi area coming in. From talking to the zoning officer, there are two other applications which are coming which now don’t have to go to TRC or through the site plan approvals. So, we have seven new businesses, of which six are in the downtown and one is on South Main. So this is a plus in economic times like this, and we are moving in the right direction.”
