Planners say yes to buffet
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

HOWELL - The Golden Corral Buffet and its signature all-you-can-eat steaks is coming to Howell.

The Planning Board at its Oct. 5 meeting voted 7-0 in favor of an application for the restaurant.

The Golden Corral Buffet will sit between Route 9 south and Kent Road with access to the site from both roads. Attorney Mark Williams, representing the applicant, said the piece of property is adjacent to a Pizza Hut restaurant.

Planning Board engineer Ernie Peters said because of existing nonconformities regarding frontage and other technical issues, the restaurant's plan is "pretty much a variance-free application."

Franchisee Charles Alario described the nature of the restaurant, which will enter the New Jersey market for the first time, according to Golden Corral Buffet's Internet Web site.

"This is a family-style restaurant with 500 [units] nationwide," Alario said. "There are 200 different food items, it's an upgraded Old Country Buffet - we cook food in front of guests. It's a step less than Atlantic City from presentation. We cater to families."

Alario said the 10,000-square-foot restaurant will have 316 seats, "but generally max out with 180 guests," since six-seat tables will accommodate families of four or five.

To the rear of the property is an existing two-story home, according to Peters.

The applicant planned to turn the first floor of the home into office space, with a single-family residence on the second floor. Instead of making a payment to Howell's affordable housing trust fund, the applicant expected to satisfy the affordable housing requirement on-site.

Township officials expressed optimism about that idea.

"We have a deficit" in affordable housing, township planner Charles Newcomb said, noting that Howell officials will need to determine how they plan to place affordable housing units elsewhere in the community.

Still, Peters said, "it's not a big house," and he expressed concern that it would be too small to accommodate a family.

As such, Alario said he will try to make the residence larger to meet the township's request. If Alario cannot expand the residence, he will need to make a payment to the affordable housing trust fund.