Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A Retail/Residential Conundrum

If one of your neighbors proposed operating an internet-based retail business out of their home, how would you feel about that?  

Would it depend on how many customers came to the house or how many stops the UPS and FedEx trucks would make? If they were going to erect a sign in the front yard?  Have any employees?
Would it depend on what they were selling?  What if it were drugs?  "Adult" items?  Guns?

For one Hillsborough Township residential neighborhood, considering these questions is more than a philosophical exercise.

This evening the Hillsborough Township Board of Adjustment will consider an application from a Brittany Estates development  homeowner requesting a variance to establish a "home occupation for retail sale of firearms."  The home is located on .43-acres on Walker Drive.  There would be no business sign or off-street parking. 

While home occupations are a permitted use, this specific proposed use is not permitted. 

According to the BOA file, applicant Paul Grappone's  PLG Collectibles Ltd., established in 2005,  is an internet-based home business specializing in dealing with military antiques whose primary clientele are dealers and collectors of militaria.  He is requesting a use variance to permit retail sales of firearms from his residence, but states that it would not be a primary retail sales location as the majority of the business is conducted by telephone and internet.  According to the application, there is no intent for public over-the-counter transactions at this premises, but it is permissible under certain NJ and Federal licenses.

The Board of Adjustment meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillsborough Township Municipal Building.

From this evening's agenda:
Paul GRAPPONE – File #BA-12-06 – Block 207.01, Lot 58 – 52 Walker Drive. Applicant seeking a ‘d’ Use Variance and such other variances, waivers and approvals as are necessary to permit the applicant to use 3% of the total square footage of the residence as a home occupation for retail sale of firearms. The applicant is not proposing any additional off-street parking or a sign on property located in the R District.
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Around 1980 one of the HNJJ crew lived in a small town in a neighboring municipality. The houses were on tiny lots.   A neighbor wanted to establish a gun shop in one of the houses which would include the storage of 200-pounds of black powder.  Denied...the gunpowder may have been the deciding factor.



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Seems reasonable to me. People would probably feel more at ease with it, if he were selling flowers or something of that sort. Sadly and inappropriately, many NJ resident have been brainwash to associate guns with bad, dirty, evil, which frankly is not the case. All one needs to do is cross the Delaware River to find oneself in a State were guns are just guns, or kind of like flowers!

Bottom line. It is his house, he is not disturbing the three commons (air, water, tranquilly) so I wish him the very best of luck in his endeavors!