A proposed seven-lot subdivision at 125 Roxboro Road has gained final approval from the Lawrence Township Planning Board – seven years after the board granted preliminary major subdivision approval in 2012.
The subdivision plan calls for six lots for single-family houses and a seventh lot set aside for a detention basin. The lots will range in size from 8,450 square feet to 13,750 square feet, which meets the minimum lot size of 7,500 square feet.
A house which had been located on the property has been demolished.
When applicant – The Boro’s of Lawrenceville LLC, formerly known as Edward Bucci Builders -appeared before the Planning Board in 2011, seven building lots were initially proposed. It was later agreed to drop one of the building lots and to incorporate it into the lot for the detention basin, thus enlarging the detention basin.
The larger detention basin eliminated the need for 20-foot-wide drainage easements in each of the rear yards. Instead, there will be a 15-foot-wide drainage easement in the rear yard of two of the six lots. The easement would restrict the property owner’s ability to install swimming pools, fences, landscaping and other amenities.
The Boro’s of Lawrenceville LLC had planned to come back to the Planning Board for final major subdivision approval, which is needed before development can occur. Instead, the applicant sought a two-year extension of the approval – once in 2015 and again in 2017.
During the recent public hearing on the application for final major subdivision approval, the Planning Board and the applicant reviewed reports prepared by the board’s professional staff and advisory boards.
It was suggested that a mix of tree species would be preferable along Roxboro Road, but the applicant will not change the species. It was also suggested that a few bushes should be planted in front of the houses to landscape them.
But Edward Bucci, a principal in The Boro’s of Lawrenceville LLC, said there are no plans to build any of the house until there is a buyer for a house. The houses will be custom-built, and the landscaping will be left to the discretion o the new owner.
The 1.8-acre lot contains many large trees, some of which are being preserved by the developer. But many of the trees will be removed because they had not been maintained and they are in poor condition. The developer will plant new trees.