Planning Board paves way for two-lot subdivision

Additional house to be built at Hoover and Foch avenues.

By: Lea Kahn
   Township planners approved a two-lot subdivision on the corner of Hoover and Foch avenues Monday night, paving the way for a developer to construct a new house next door to the existing house on the property.
   The Planning Board unanimously approved an application submitted by Joseph J. Sokolowski. The application called for consolidating three small lots and one larger lot, and then subdividing them into two lots.
   One of the two new lots will contain an existing house. The second lot is a new building lot. Developer Joseph Ciosek of Kala Properties plans to build a house on the lot, which will have frontage on Foch Avenue.
   The Planning Board granted front-yard variances for the existing house, which will be sited on a corner lot. The board approved a front yard variance of 11.9 feet for the house along Hoover Avenue, and 7.7 feet on Foch Avenue. The Land Use Ordinance calls for a 30-foot front yard setback.
   A new sidewalk will be constructed on Foch Avenue along the property frontage, but not on Hoover Avenue. There is an existing sidewalk on Foch Avenue, from the northern border of the property to Lannigan Avenue.
   When Deputy Mayor Pam Mount — who sits on the Planning Board — suggested installing one on Hoover Avenue, Municipal Engineer Christopher Budzinski said it would be "a sidewalk to nowhere." There are no sidewalks at all on Hoover Avenue.
   After the meeting, Mr. Ciosek said he plans to build a two-story, four-bedroom plus two-and-a-half bathroom house on the new lot. The 2,850-square-foot house would have an attached two-car garage.
   Construction on the new house, which Mr. Ciosek said would be similar to existing house in the neighborhood, would begin in the spring. He estimated the price of the house at $479,000.