Millstone farmer applies to build six estates
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

Millstone

MILLSTONE - A township resident who wants to create a six-lot subdivision on Route 526 will have to ask neighbors if they can spare a little land in order to do so.

At the Oct. 11 Planning Board meeting, Attorney Kenneth Pape presented an application for Country Road Estates, a property owned by Millstone's Lee family that will be developed by Millstone-based developer Gerry Baldachino under the name DENJ.

The almost 59.5-acre tract, located on the corner of Route 526 and Old Noah Hunt Road, is in the township's Rural Preservation (RUP) zone, which requires a minimum of 10 acres per building lot.

The applicant's engineer, Julia Algeo, of Maser Associates, provided the measurements for each of the six lots, which are 10.129 acres, 10.062 acres, 9.718 acres, 9.692 acres, 9.661 acres and 9.143 acres. Pape said the average lot size is 9.9 acres.

When it was pointed out that the site could accommodate five lots without variances, Pape said his client was not satisfied with five.

Township Committeeman and Planning Board member Steven Sico asked, "What exactly does that mean?"

Pape replied that he had nothing further to say about it.

Board member Manuel Blanco said that one lot is basically an acre short.

"We have an ordinance of 10 acres per lot," Blanco said. "If it were 9.9 acres, I'd say it were just under 10."

Blanco said one of the lots measures 9.143 acres.

"It bothers me that it's nearly an acre short," he said. "I have a rule that says it has to be 10 acres, and four lots are not."

Pape said the owner of the property to be developed is a farmer who chose not to develop when the township's zoning was 3 acres. He said the development around Lee's property is on 3-acre lots.

Pape said his client is not asking for a cluster, new roads or lot averaging.

"We're comfortable the master plan intention and zoning ordinance have been met," Pape said.

When asked if his client tried to buy any property from an 18-acre lot on the eastern side of the tract, Pape said the owner had been contacted but was not interested in selling. However, Pape said his client had not yet tried to buy land from the owner of the property on the south side of the tract and that he would do so.

Pape also spoke about a driveway plan for the homes. He said the county has designated Route 526 a scenic roadway and denied his client's original application to have six driveway cuts into the road. He said his client has now come up with a shared driveway plan, in which every two houses will share a driveway.

Sico asked who would take care of the driveways when it snows.

"We can't always assume neighbors to the left and right will get along," Sico said. "It doesn't work."

Sico said county officials may have suggested the shared driveway solution for their own reasons, "but they don't live in Millstone."

Pape said the 20-foot entrances to the driveways could be divided into 10-foot sections on each side by Belgian blocks or some other physical delineation.

Board member Chris Pepe asked why some of the houses in the subdivision would not front on Old Noah Hunt Road, which would solve the driveway issue. Pape replied that situating the houses there would encroach on a stream corridor at the rear of the property. He also said the land there does not perc.

Because Route 526 is a scenic roadway, Pape said the county will also require his client to provide extensive landscaping and berming along the roadway.

The board decided to carry the hearing until Nov. 8 so Pape could send a certified letter to the property owner on the south side of tract. The letter would ask the owner if he or she would be interested in selling enough land to make the Lee application conform to 10-acre zoning.