The question of whether to allow bed and breakfast establishments will have to wait a little longer in Morristown.
On Monday a committee of the town planning board decided to explore the issue later, as part of broader revisions to Morristown’s zoning master plan that are expected to start within weeks and continue for months.
Town planning officials said they cannot study B & B’s separately because they are racing to amend existing ordinances before developers can exploit a state law that takes effect on May 5.
“Right now we’re in triage mode,” said Bill Mikesell, a representative of the town’s planning consultants, Jonathan Rose Companies.
In May, New Jersey’s “Time-of-Decision” rule will be replaced by the “Time-of-Application” rule. The change will grandfather existing zoning ordinances from the moment a developer submits an application for consideration. Presently, municipalities have leeway to change zoning while developers’ applications await approvals.
Proponents of the change say it’s fairer to developers, who won’t have to worry about towns moving the goal posts on them. Officials in Morristown and elsewhere are scrambling to plug any holes in ordinances to prevent builders from gaining an upper hand once the law kicks in.
Councilwoman Alison Deeb has been pushing for B & Bs to stimulate tourism and help preserve historic mansions. The Morris County Tourism Bureau endorses the idea. The matter was sent for a planning board opinion after the councilwoman failed to win council support to make bed and breakfasts a permitted conditional use in mixed business/residential zones.
Two decades ago, the planning board recommended allowing bed and breakfasts in mixed-use zones on a trial basis. But the council vote 5-4 against going forward with the experiment, Bill Mikesell said.
Planning board member Dick Tighe was planning board chairman in 1992.
“A lot of people were for, and a lot of people were against” B & Bs back then, he said.
Dick remains in the latter camp.
“If someone wants a B & B, they can go to the board of adjustment. I have reservations about putting commercial operations into residential neighborhoods,” he said, citing Franklin Street as an historic neighborhood where mansions have been preserved without B & Bs.
Board Chairman Michael Pooler and resident Linda Carrington echoed Dick’s sentiments.
“In my opinion, Morristown is not a B & B place,” Michael said.
Linda expressed concerns that mansions in Morristown’s historic district, where she lives, might be snapped up by speculators awaiting a B & B zone change.
A study 20 years ago included a survey of residents that elicited an impressive 30-percent response, according to Dick. Residents should be surveyed again, suggested planning board member Stefan Armington.
Planning officials, meanwhile, must determine which master plan is up for revision–the one adopted in 2003, or a 2008 “re-examination” of that plan. Board Attorney John Wyciskala told the board’s long-range planning committee that he is preparing to wade through town documents to figure it out.
The 2008 re-examination did not follow proper procedures, according to Dick Tighe, who said master plan revisions did not originate at the planning board like they were supposed to.
Nor was there any study to see if the town’s transportation infrastructure could support the increased building heights and densities approved that year, Stefan Armington said.
That’s one question that officials hope to answer if the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation funds a mobility plan for the town.
