At the Tuesday, May 9 meeting, Haddonfield’s commissioners adopted changes to close loopholes to the borough’s land ordinance.
Haddonfield’s commissioners convened in the auditorium of Borough Hall Tuesday, May 9 to address changes to the borough’s land development ordinance in addition to swearing in a new officer to Haddonfield’s police department.
Before the amendments were adopted, Commissioner John Moscatelli, director of public works, parks and property, discussed some of the more notable changes to Chapter 135 of the borough’s land ordinance as a part of the public hearing.
He said the planning board has been working to address some of the ways the ordinance was circumvented, and the changes adopted at Tuesday night’s meeting addressed the quickest ways to mitigate some of these loopholes.
Moscatelli said the most notable change to the ordinance surrounds “existing non-conformances.” He said developers have found ways to circumvent the codes on spacing between homes by leaving a piece of existing structure as a side setback. As written, this was allowed because the small amount of home remaining constituted an existing non-conformance.
Under the amendment, any builder knocking down more than half of an existing structure will have to go to the zoning board and ask for the non-conformance exemption. Moscatelli said he expects this will be a deterrent to developers spacing houses closely together.
“[Builders] don’t like to go through those extra steps, and they will actually build a fully conforming structure,” Moscatelli said. “We may not be able to stop them from turning one-story houses to two-and-a-half, but at least we can make sure we get the space between them that we’re expecting for our zoning.”
The board also worked to address stormwater issues with the amendments. Moscatelli said when a developer buys a house and knocks it down to build a much larger home, they are responsible for offsetting the additional stormwater that is a byproduct of the extra square footage, but any additions to a home as a part of a renovation were exempt. Under the amendments, renovations are no longer exempt from offsetting the additional drainage.
The amendments also standardize the way building height is calculated with a new equation to determine the dimensions.
The board also decided to do away with the requirement that restaurants must have five parking spaces.
“It was very well intentioned, but in a town that essentially has a fixed amount of parking, no restuarant was able to conform to that,” Moscatelli said.
As written, the ordinance drove numerous restaurants to ask for variances — all of which were ultimately granted, Moscatelli said.
In other news:
• Kristina Bowen was sworn in as a full-time probationary police officer for the Haddonfield Police Department. Commissioner Neal Rochford said Bowen is a 2013 graduate of the Cape May County Police Department, and she has since worked as a patrol officer for the last three years. Rochford welcomed Bowen to the force surrounded by her family.
• The commissioners authorized a fireworks display as part of the borough’s annual Independence Day Celebration, which will take place from 5 to 11 p.m. on July 3. Sections of Kings Highway will be closed as part of the day’s celebrations.
• The commissioners also authorized the Partnership for Haddonfield’s next night market to take place on Thursday, June 8 from 4 to 8 p.m. Approximately 19 food trucks will display and sell food on the sidewalks along Kings Highway. The farmer’s market will also set up in Kings Court as part of the Night Market events.
