HOWELL – At the Township meeting on September 15th, Mayor Theresa Berger and the Howell Council voted to finalize the purchase of 30 acres of undeveloped land on Fort Plains Road from the United Talmudical Academy Torah Vey. The acquisition of the property for open space had been a high priority for Mayor Berger, who rode to victory 4 years ago on a wave of anti-development sentiment.

The property was originally slated for a high-density development project, to include 140 total units, broken down as 28 one-bedrooms, 84 two-bedrooms and 28 three-bedrooms units. Not only was the proposed development high-density, it was also going to be located directly next to the West Farms/Howell Family Apartment project with its 72 affordable housing units.

The September vote finalized the use of $1,060,000 from the township’s Open Space funds for the acquisition of the United Talmudical property, which prevented the 140 units from being built.

Also in 2020, two more parcels were approved for open space acquisition – a 10-acre property next to Deerwood Park on Lakewood-Allenwood Road and a 4-acre property on Preventorium Road.

The support for open space acquisitions has grown dramatically, partially as a reaction to a 2017 Howell Affordable Housing Map that proposed thousands of new high-density units. At a special meeting in May of 2017, Jim Herrman, the Howell Director of Community Development presented a proposal for 3,721 high-density units on 17 development sites throughout Howell.

Despite the objections of Mayor Berger and Councilman John Bonevich, three of the 17 locations have already been rezoned to allow high density rental housing, including the Howell Family Apartments, which was built earlier this year. For all of these properties, the vote to create the special development zones were split along party lines, with the Democrats Berger and Bonevich voting no.

“The development of the West Farm property (Howell Family Apartments) shows what happens when we aren’t proactive.” commented Chris Garrick, who lives in an adjacent neighborhood. “If (the property) had been purchased for open space, it never would have been built.”

The United Talmudical Academy property was also one of the 17 proposed development sites. The purchase of this property for open space will prevent any future development of the site.

Mayor Berger commented, “Preserving open space must be one of our highest priorities. Farms, parks and open space are critical to our quality of life.”