HOWELL – The Township Zoning Board of Adjustment rescheduled the hearing for a proposed farm and home where the owner would also have a skeet shooting range.
The application for “Wildbrook Ranch” began last year, but was restarted at the January 23 meeting. An engineer for the property, a sound expert and a shooting expert were all interviewed during that meeting. It was supposed to be continued at the February 13 meeting. However, notice was given from the board postponing that meeting to April.
The plan calls for tree orchards, crops, an indoor riding area, a barn, paddocks, a clubhouse for personal use with three residential apartments above it, and a skeet shooting field.
The owner, Alex Adjmi, told officials he planned on this property all being for his own personal use. There would not be customers coming to the property. There are five lanes for the skeet shooting, and it would not attract more than a handful of friends and family. He said he would eventually be building his own home there, as well as homes for each of his three sons. The business interests would include crops grown, fruit from trees, and breeding horses.
The property owner needs to apply for a use variance to build and operate there. It is currently in the ARE-6 agricultural rural estate zone,
The neighbor, Lori and Bryan Oakes, retained Freehold attorney Mark Williams to represent them.
Board members wanted to make sure that the skeet shooting would only be done during certain hours, and that an expert was always on hand. Other questions from the board included the height of a decorative cupola above the barn, fencing, and lighting.
There were still a few more experts to be interviewed in the case. The application was carried to the April 3 meeting at 7:30 p.m.
