One year after the Colonial Revival-style house at 140 Hodge Road was destroyed by fire and then demolished, a would-be developer has proposed subdividing the 1.6-acre lot into two non-conforming lots.
Applicant Jarred Michalesko applied for a minor subdivision to create two new building lots, and was set to begin the public hearing on the proposal at the Princeton Planning Board’s July 11 meeting.
But the Planning Board has put the public hearing on hold until its Oct. 3 meeting, at the request of two attorneys who represent neighbors that are opposed to the application. The objectors asked for more time to prepare their case against the proposed subdivision.
Michalesko paid $1.1 million for 140 Hodge Road, located in the Western Section of the former Princeton Borough, in September 2018. The house had been on the real estate market for several years, but there were no buyers.
The house, which was vacant, was heavily damaged by a fire that broke out shortly before midnight on July 16, 2018. The 5,800-square-foot house was built in the 1920’s.
The application submitted by Michalesko would create two building lots, neither of which would meet the minimum lot width of 125 feet. One lot would be 118.35 feet wide and the other lot would be 118.82 feet wide. The Princeton Planning Board would have to grant a variance for the lot width.
The application would comply in all other respects, including minimum lot size. The minimum lot size is 20,000 square feet. One lot would contain 34,662 square feet and the other lot would have 37,602 square feet.
Princeton Planning Director Michael LaPlace wrote in a July 2 report to the Princeton Planning Board that 140 Hodge Road is located in the proposed Morven Tract Historic District.
An ordinance to create the Morven Tract Historic District was introduced by the former Princeton Borough Council in 2012, but never enacted because of opposition from some property owners in the proposed historic district.
The Morven Tract Historic District derives its name from its former ownership by the Stockton family, which built Morven (next to Monument Hall, the former Princeton Borough municipal building).
Morven was built by Richard Stockton, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His grandfather acquired the land on which it was built from William Penn in 1701. The land remained in the Stockton family until it was subdivided and subsequently developed in the late 19th- and early 20th centuries.
The houses in the proposed Morven Tract Historic District -including 140 Hodge Road – were built in the Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival and shingle architectural styles. Some of the houses were moved there from other locations in Princeton.
Meanwhile, LaPlace wrote in his July 2 report that “the most distinctive design feature of the district is the placement of grand homes on large lots, many with circular front driveways.”
“The major issue to be addressed is the applicant’s request to create two new lots which do not meet the minimum width requirement in the R-1 zone and will be narrower than many of the lots in the proposed historic district along Hodge Road,” LaPlace wrote.
Because the property is located in the proposed historic district, the application was referred to the Historic Preservation Commission for a courtesy review. In this instance, the commission can only offer advice because the district was never formally created.
In its July 9 report to the Planning Board, the Historic Preservation Commission expressed concern that “approving a minor subdivision could lead to the construction of two new single-family homes which would be out of character with the neighborhood and inappropriate for the established streetscape pattern along this section of Hodge Road.”
The Historic Preservation Commission wrote that if the Planning Board approves the application, the two new houses must be served by the two existing driveway curb cuts on Hodge Road that accommodated the circular driveway of the house that was demolished.
The Historic Preservation Commission also recommended preserving the existing hedge behind the public sidewalk. The new houses should be sited to preserve the existing plantings.
And finally, the Historic Preservation Commission asked for the applicant to return to it for a further courtesy review of the architectural plans for the new houses.
