Six-home development wins planners' approval
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

JACKSON - The Planning Board has approved a seven-lot subdivision on BennettsMills Road for applicant BMJ of Jackson. The vote to approve the application was 8-1.

Board member Blanche Krubner voted no because she did not like a steep slope at the rear of the property. Krubner said she considered the slope dangerous and said it had the potential for erosion.

There will be six homes constructed and one lot will be an open-space drainage lot, said the board's engineer, Douglas Klee. The proposed lots complied with the R-5 cluster provisions of themunicipal land use ordinance. The property is zoned PA4B, rural planning area. Klee said there will be shade trees along the frontage on Bennetts Mills Road.

Clustering of the homes is being proposed by the applicant, and the cluster provision requires that 50 percent of the tract area outside of the lots shall be non-wetlands, said the board's planner, Alan Dittenhofer.

"The entire area appears to be a wetlands area," he said. "There are 12 acres of wetlands and 32 acres are non-wetlands, and the 32 acres will be rededicated to Jackson."

"With regard to affordable housing, we calculate their obligation at $150,000," Dittenhofer said. "The applicant's engineer's statement said they are prepared to satisfy the $150,000 affordable housing obligation under protest."

Dittenhofer said the obligation is mandatory and not voluntary.

Later in the meeting it was noted by attorney Ray Shea, representing the applicant, that the objection to the affordable housing agreement was the result of not knowing exactly what the township's new affordable housing obligations will be.

"It was done under protest not because (the applicant) objected to the introduction of the (affordable housing) responsibility, but simply because nobody knows" what the new affordable housing requirements are, Shea explained.

Engineer John Palus, of Dynamic Engineering, Lake Como, representing applicant Sam Chung, said the parcel is about 51 acres in size and is a vacant wooded area. There is about 1,200 feet of frontage on Bennetts Mills Road.

"On the south side of the property is a 150-foot wide JCP&L easement and it is open with low vegetation," he said. "There is a dirt access road from Bennetts Mills Road which runs to the back of the site and there is a gravel parking area for people to park who need to access that area."

The property is covered by 23 acres of wetlands that are primarily to the southern and western portions of the tract. There are also transition or upland areas. Palus said there is also a small wetlands area in the northeast corner of the property.

Adjacent to the property are three residences to the north in a neighborhood commercial zone. There are two residences to the east.

A recently approved subdivision, Harvard Square, is to the west and the JCP&L easement is on the southern property line.

"We chose to go with a cluster development and we pushed all of the development to the northeast corner of the property away from the wetlands area," Palus said.

One road is being proposed off Bennetts Mills Road. That will be a 28-foot wide road to provide access to the new homes.

"There is a cul-de-sac and we're proposing sidewalks along the westerly right of way of the proposed road," Palus said. "There is no curbing, but we are authorizing curbing at the intersection with Bennetts Mills Road."

Astorm-water basin with a depth of less than 1 foot is included in the development plan.

A septic system will be provided for the homes and water is being extended via a 6- inch water main. There will be a fire hydrant in the cul-de-sac, while gas and electric service will be provided from hookups on Bennetts Mills Road. The applicant will also provide six additional trees per lot.

The applicant agreed to install a sidewalk on the east side of the property line on Bennetts Mills Road.

No member of the public spoke during the public hearing on the application.