One zoning amendment would change the AMC 24 movie theater zone to highway commercial.HAMILTON — Residents and property owners turned out last night for a crash course in zoning and land use law as council prepared to adopt a new ordinance prompted by the recent revision of the township's master plan.
Nearly 100 people showed up for the council meeting, which included a public hearing and a presentation on an ordinance adopting numerous zoning changes.
The township was forced to give notice of the public hearing to any residents or property owners within 200 feet of proposed zoning changes. That attracted property owners who were curious about how changes would affect their properties.
“For the vast majority of you here tonight, that doesn’t mean zoning on your property is about to change,” Phil Caton, of Clarke Caton Hintz, the township’s planning consultant, told the crowd. “It simply means zoning is proposed to be changed on a property near you.”
The massive master plan document, revised for the first time in nearly 20 years, dictates land use and future development within the township. Any zoning changes recommended in the master plan must be reviewed and put to a vote by council.
According to Caton, most changes included in the master plan fall into two categories: revisions intended to spur economic development at underused or vacant properties, and minor changes that will update zoning maps.
The ordinance up for consideration last night consisted of the latter — minor tweaks to allow zones to “conform to development that’s already occurred,” Caton said.
For example, one zoning amendment would change the AMC 24 movie theater zone to highway commercial. The Sloan Avenue area was originally zoned for industrial businesses, but because the theater has been established there, the master plan suggests switching the zoning to the highway commercial designation that includes and allows theaters.
Residents studied zoning maps that had been set up in the Nottingham Ballroom, where last night’s meeting was held to accommodate a large crowd. A number questioned council and Caton on how their homes or properties would be affected by any zoning changes.
Residents from the Briarwood development — which includes condos, townhouses and single-family homes — spoke out against a zoning amendment that would permit more businesses, including bars and drive-thru banks, to move in along the area of Kuser and Yardville-Hamilton Square roads.
“It’s going to take away from our neighborhood,” said Dorothy Frascella, a board member for the homeowner’s association at Briarwood.
Council members withdrew the Briarwood area zoning change and carried the public hearing to the next council meeting on Oct. 4 in order to give property owners one more chance to comment.
Contact Erin Duffy at (609) 989-5723 or [email protected].
Follow the Times of Trenton on Twitter.