HOWELL – During a recent meeting, the Town Council heard a public comment from one of the town’s residents that was intended to raise concern over a pole barn in the back yard of 126 Darien Road that he says violates local zoning laws.
According to the resident who spoke at that meeting, it appears that the entire back yard housing the pole barn has been concreted. That happened just before the weather changed in the fall. In January, a truck pulled up to that property, and just a few days later, a fully finished pole barn the size of the house appeared in the backyard.
This pole barn is believed by the property’s neighbors to be a mikvah. A mikvah is a spiritual bath in the Jewish faith that can be performed in a pole barn, so long as it is connected to natural water.
At the most recent council meeting, the same resident stepped up to the podium to talk to the council about the happenings in the backyard at nearby 11 Lexington Road in Candlewood. According to the resident, in March of 2025, he witnessed cement trucks going into the property’s back yard, and after calling the town to see what was going on, he found that the new owners had filed for a land use permit, but not a building permit. Despite this, construction continued for five months until August 14, after an inspector took a look at the site and handed out a violation for illegal work done and issued the property owners a summons for shed conversion without permits. According to the resident, construction has not continued since August.
A few weeks ago, he submitted a foyer application, and during the process of that, he found out that the land use application for 11 Lexington discussed building walkways and did not mention any building. The landowners had submitted a few permit requests over the ensuing months, with their permit application in January being a development application. According to the resident, page two, Line E, which asks for a brief description of the proposed development, says “Legitimize Mikvah in the Shed.” That application has since been denied, but it is expected that the proposal will come before the zoning board at some point.
To wrap up his five minutes of speaking time, the resident pleaded to both the council and the zoning board to get the building removed from the property and to wake up to the supposed happenings at 126 Darien Road.
There was no comment on the issue regarding the property because it is likely going to go before the zoning board, and specific comments by the council and experts would be considered inappropriate.
Later on in the meeting, Town Mayor John Leggio announced that they will be moving their housing inspection efforts from code enforcement to the fire bureau. This is an effort to streamline operations in that regard by making it so that a single inspector can complete the process rather than needing two. The council also used the meeting to introduce the 2026 municipal budget. There will be a public hearing on the budget and adoption on May 12.
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