JACKSON – The members of the Jackson Zoning Board of Adjustment have unanimously rejected an applicant’s request to subdivide property on Denton Lane with the eventual goal of constructing 21 single-family homes and a four-unit residential building at the site.
Denton Lane intersects with Whitesville Road (Route 527).
During a meeting on Dec. 2, representatives of Denton Holdings were seeking preliminary and final major subdivision approval on an 8.75-acre parcel. The proposal called for 21 lots for single-family homes, one lot for a building with four affordable housing units and one lot for a storm water basin.
Attorney Adam Pfeffer and planner Ian Borden represented the applicant at the meeting.
In discussing the application, Borden said the property is in Jackson’s Region Growth 2 zone. He said in 2019, the zoning board granted a variance for lot depth, and variances for width and depth for the storm water basin lot.
Borden said a Jackson ordinance permits a density of up to three units per acre and the applicant was proposing 2.8 units per acre. The developer was proposing the construction of 21 single-family homes to be sold at market rates and the construction of a building with four affordable housing units, for a total of 25 residential units.
Affordable housing is defined as housing that is sold or rented at below market rates to individuals and families whose income meets certain guidelines.
Zoning board member James Hurley noted he was not a member of the board in 2019 when certain variances were granted. He said the decision was subject to additional action to be taken by the board, which was the grant of the subdivision.
Hurley said he rejected Borden’s assertion that a site plan was not required to obtain subdivision approval.
He expressed concern regarding what he said was a lack of information about the multi-family building, such as where the parking area would be located and how vehicles would circulate in the parking area.
“I am still quite confused as to how many bedrooms will be in the multi-family units. Every time you add a bedroom, you are adding at least another child. So you have a couple and a child, two children or three children, however that works out. So you are going to have kids there and some pedestrian traffic in there.
“Without having (a) site plan showing me what that building is going to look like or showing me where emergency vehicles will access the building … Are there going to be areas of no parking (to accommodate) emergency vehicles? Is this lot large enough to handle all of that? We don’t know that, they have not presented this (information),” Hurley said.
The board’s vice chairman, Scott Najarian, made a motion to deny the application based on changes that had been made to the proposed residences.
Hurley, Najarian, Chairman Carl Book Jr., Kathryn McIlhinney, Steve Costanzo, Gary Miller and Jeanine Kaunitz Fritch voted “yes” on the motion to deny the approval being sought by Denton Holdings LLC.
