Date: Fri 17-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

conservation-subdivision

Full Text:

Nine-Lot Subdivision Sought In The Borough

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

A developer is seeking land use approvals to create a nine-lot residential

subdivision on 16.6 acres in The Borough.

J. Richard McLachlan of 32 The Boulevard, along with others, have submitted an

application to the Conservation Commission for a wetlands construction permit,

said Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver.

The site of the proposed subdivision is an irregularly shaped parcel which

would be divided into seven lots fronting on Hanover Road and two lots

fronting on The Boulevard. The property lies on the east side of Hanover Road,

across Hanover Road from its intersection with Sunset Hill Road. One of the

lots would abut the intersection of Hanover Road and Hall Lane.

Just over three acres of the rugged, mostly wooded site is wetlands. No new

roads would be constructed.

There would no construction in the wetlands, but because a driveway for one of

the lots would be within 50 feet of a wetland, the Conservation Commission

will review the development proposal, Mr Driver said. The drainage, erosion

and sedimentation aspects of the project will be studied by Conservation

Commission members, he said.

The steepness of the land will require extensive earthen cutting and filling

to provide driveways for lots along Hanover Road, Mr Driver said.

The subdivision would have sanitary sewer service.

The developer proposes no donation of open space land. Developers commonly

donate 10 percent or more of the land to be subdivided as open space for

passive recreation.

Spath-Bjorklund Associates designed the subdivision.

If the Hanover Road subdivision receives Conservation Commission approval, it

would be submitted for Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) review. The P&Z

serves as The Borough's planning agency, handling subdivision requests.

The Hanover Road site is one of the few subdividable parcels left within The

Borough, Mr Driver said. "There's not much [land] left," he noted.

The last residential subdivision approved in The Borough was the three-lot

Sugar Acres, an 11-acre parcel with frontage on Roosevelt Drive and Main

Street. It gained P&Z final approval in May 1998. Its developers had submitted

various versions of that proposal during a period of several years to the

Borough Zoning Board of Appeals and Conservation Commission before the plan

gained those approvals.