Zoning board approves patio and shed variance but bars rain-barrel-only mitigation

The Lower Makefield Zoning Hearing Board approved appeal Z26-12 on June 2, allowing an applicant identified as Ballinger to add a patio and storage shed that would raise the property’s measured impervious coverage from approximately 23.12 percent to about 26.12 percent, with the condition that stormwater mitigation be engineered and approved by the township engineer.

Ballinger told the board the existing impervious surface predated his ownership and that a mature maple tree on the lot provides runoff volume credit greater than required for the proposed additions. The applicant asked that the board consider that background condition as part of the hardship.

Board members and the township solicitor discussed mitigation options including infiltration trenches, rain gardens and rain barrels. The township engineer (Dan) and the solicitor cautioned that trees and shrubs are not a reliable long-term credit in the township’s practice and that rain barrels alone generally do not provide a long-term mitigation solution because they overflow unless tied into an automated daily water use.

The board amended a proposed approval to require stormwater mitigation that would not include rain barrels and required the township engineer to confirm the final approach. The Chair said the motion should require “storm water management approved by the township engineer to mitigate to 18%,” and members agreed to language excluding rain barrels in this specific approval.

The motion to approve the variance with those conditions was seconded and passed unanimously.

The board’s decision allows the applicant to proceed with the patio and shed project once final mitigation designs are submitted and approved by the township engineer.