The Town of Baton Rouge Zoning Board of Appeals on July 16 approved application 25-109 for property at 15 Hawthorne Avenue in West Babylon, allowing the owner to add a second story and to reduce the north side-yard setback from 15 feet to 4.8 feet.

The board amended the application to list Jonathan Balello as sole owner after Balello told the board he had bought out co-owner Leonard Marino. The board then approved a motion to amend variance number 2 to “diminished north Side yard setback from 15 to 4.8” and subsequently approved the application as amended.

The applicant, Jonathan Balello, told the board the addition is for “family use only” and that the house is being raised to provide space because “my wife is 8 months pregnant, and, we need the space.” Balello said the addition will not encroach toward the street or property line and that the work will be mostly vertical because “we're going straight up.”

Board member Shepherd asked whether the added space would be used as an apartment; Balello replied it would be for family use only. The chairperson read into the record memos from the planning division (dated 07/10/2025), environmental control (07/16/2025) and Suffolk County Planning (07/08/2025), and noted a survey and photographs had been submitted. The chairperson also advised the applicant that approval would not substitute for a building permit from the building department.

The motion to approve the amended application carried on an aye vote; the chairperson told the applicants they would receive the board’s written decision in the mail. The board provided no conditions on the record beyond the amendment and variance approval.

The applicant may still need to obtain required building permits before beginning construction and must comply with any conditions or plan revisions required by the building department.