Change primarily affects Country Classics residents
By:Melissa Edmond
Some Hillsborough residents may find it easier to build a deck or pave a stone driveway if an ordinance introduced at Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting is passed.
Committeeman Steven Sireci Jr. said the ordinance was a correction to an earlier ordinance affecting the impervious surface limits for residences that was misstated. The new ordinance changes one word in the existing ordinance, from "less" to "greater" to fix a typographical error and return the intended meaning to the ordinance.
The ordinance applies to homeowners in developments built under court-mandated standards only. Currently, the ordinance limits the impervious surface coverage ground covered by structures or materials preventing water drainage to the lesser of the court-mandated standard or 20 percent of the lot area.
Dr. Sireci noted the ordinance is "illogical on its face," since if a court settlement ruled for an impervious surface limit greater than 20 percent, the township can’t enforce the lower limit.
Dr. Sireci said the ordinance was incorrectly written when passed in 1996, and should have allowed homeowners the greater of a court-mandated limit or 20 percent, instead.
"This applies to a homeowner who wants to pave their driveway or add a hot tub, but the zoning officer says, ‘Oh, you’re exceeding the impervious surface standards, so you’ll have to spend a thousand dollars and go through a zoning board hearing," Dr. Sireci said.
Hillsborough resident Chris Jensen and former committee member Sonya Martin both questioned the ordinance, asking if it would apply to any developments besides the Country Classics subdivision.
Dr. Sireci replied that the ordinance would currently apply only to Country Classics because it’s the only subdivision meeting the ordinance’s criteria of having court-mandated limits below 20 percent.
After discussion, the committee approved adding the words "Excepting the mountain zone," for further clarification of the ordinance. Dr. Sireci said that the mountain zone is an environmentally sensitive area and they did not want the ordinance to be applied there.
This ordinance will be sent to Planning Board for review at its May 12 meeting, then come back to the committee for a public hearing on May 24.

