Board approves variances to permit new house on undersized Brook Valley lot

The Montville Township Zoning Board of Adjustment on June 3 approved multiple variances to allow construction of a new single-family home on a pre-existing undersized lot on Brook Valley Road for applicant Donna LoGrasso.

Engineer Kevin Robine, P.E., told the board the lot is irregularly shaped and pre-existing nonconforming, with a conservation easement to the east and a no-development restriction behind the property that constrain the buildable envelope. The applicant requested relief for a 49.1-foot front-yard setback where 60 feet is required, a 30-foot rear-yard setback where 85 feet is required, an undersized lot area (85,175 sq. ft. where 120,000 sq. ft. is required), a reduced driveway width (10 feet existing where 12 feet is required), and riparian buffer disturbance related to Surprise Lake.

Robine said the design proposes to retain the existing driveway and provide a shared 100-foot driveway to serve lot 8; he also described proposed stormwater management measures and indicated the project can meet New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection requirements for disturbance. The applicant will submit metes and bounds for a proposed septic easement and a reforestation plan to the zoning officer as requested by the board engineer.

Board discussion included soil testing and whether blasting would be required; Robine said testing did not encounter rock near the proposed house location. The board approved the application with conditions that the driveway be reduced to 15 feet (subject to emergency services approval) and that a tree-removal and reforestation plan be submitted to the zoning officer.

A motion to approve the application, conditioned on the testimony and required professional reports and with driveway width set at 15 feet pending emergency-services acceptance, passed by roll call.