WESTFIELD – The Zoning Board of Appeals voted last night to grant a variance needed to allow a property owner to erase the present property lines and create fewer, but larger, new lakeside lots in a Hampton Ponds neighborhood.
David Weiss of 18 New Broadway said that he is attempting to create lots that are more attractive to perspective buyers. Weiss said that his father purchased the property, on Pequot Point Road, and in the 1930s constructed a number of cottages which originally were intended for seasonal use only. The cottages were built, but lots never individually defined.
Weiss began the process of creating individual lots in 2008 and selling the land, which was a challenging process because many of the facilities were installed during common ownership of the land.
“These houses were built in the 1930s as summer places, not intended to be year-round residences,” Weiss said.
Weiss has been before the ZBA on several previous occasions, seeking permission to carve out chunks of the property to “allow single homes on single lots.”
Weiss appeared before the ZBA in 2010 to divide a lot with two cottages separated by only eight feet, meaning that each lot would have a four-foot side-yard setback. A third cottage was 10 feet from the middle cottage, meaning that setback was only five feet for each structure. The ZBA granted that petition, creating three separate lots.
Weiss said that he was back before the board with a new plan.
“I have not been able to sell those lots and I need to go in a different direction,” Weiss said. “These are narrow lots and I have not been able to find buyers.”
That new direction involved demolishing the existing building and creating two larger lots with a 60-foot frontage. Weiss said that he requested the variance to allow for construction of larger houses on the lots of equal size. The 60-foot wide lots allow for 15 foot side setback and a house with a 30-foot wide footprint.
The ZBA typically does not vote on the same night as the petition is presented at a public hearing. Typically, the vote is slated for the board’s meeting on the first Wednesday of the month to allow members time to physically inspect the property.
However, members felt comfortable with making a decision because they have dealt with the Weiss properties in the past and are familiar with the specific parcels in this most recent petition.
