Borough Zoning Commission (BZC) members are reviewing the borough zoning regulations in light of some anticipated zoning applications, which may require certain revisions to the land use rules to make those development projects workable.

BZC Chairman Douglas Nelson said February 20 that the commission met on February 13 to study several zoning rules that likely would come into play when expected redevelopment applications are submitted for BZC review. Mr Nelson and BZC members David Francis, Claudia Mitchell, Brid Craddock, and Margaret Hull discussed the zoning rules. The chairman termed the meeting a “working session.”

BZC members discussed zoning regulations that pertain to parking areas, driveways, and building setbacks and the potential need to modify those rules, as such regulations apply to the redevelopment of commercial property at 11 Church Hill Road, he said.

That 1.15-acre site, which is on the eastern corner of Church Hill Road and Wendover Road, has P-1 (Professional) zoning. It holds a two-level building constructed in 1968 that contains professional offices. The owner of the property, known as 11 Church Hill Road LLC, wants to expand the roughly 8,000-square-foot structure to approximately 20,000 square feet of enclosed space. Such a project would expand the structure both laterally and vertically, providing space for more offices and new apartments.

In light of the developer’s concept, BZC members discussed zoning regulations covering residential property uses in P-1 zones, Mr Nelson said. The 11 Church Hill Road project is in the planning stages, and no application has yet been submitted to the BZC, according to Mr Nelson. An application for the project is expected in the coming months.

Inn At Newtown Site

Asked about the potential for new construction of the site formerly occupied by The Inn at Newtown, Mr Nelson said the BZC has not yet received any application for the redevelopment of 19 Main Street, a 3.11-acre property. The structures that were formerly occupied by the inn there are now vacant. The inn closed for business in January 2016.

The centrally located site has long been mentioned as the potential location for high-density multifamily housing, provided that the vacant deteriorating buildings there are demolished to make way for new construction.

The BZC has a set of zoning rules, known as the Residential Open Space Development (ROSD) regulations, which cover the clustering of multiple residences in projects where at least half of a relatively large site is reserved as undeveloped open space land. The developer of the 29-unit Rochambeau Woods condominium complex, which is planned for a 29-acre site at 41, 43, 45, and 47 Mount Pleasant Road, employed those rules in its development application, which has won a court approval for construction.

The BZC, however, has no zoning regulations pertaining to high-density multifamily complexes on smaller lots, such as those found in urban settings like 19 Main Street.

Thus, to allow high-density multifamily housing on a site such as 19 Main Street, the BZC would need to create applicable zoning regulations or to review, and possibly modify, a set of applicable zoning rules proposed by a developer.

For example, in the case of Church Hill Village, a 72-bed assisted living complex that is now under construction on a 3.97-acre lot at 37 Church Hill Road in a P-1 zone, the developer proposed to the BZC a set of zoning regulations that allow “assisted living” as a permitted land use, which the BZC then approved. That action allowed the developer to proceed with an application for construction, which gained BZC approval in October 2017.