Major renovation at 105 Upper Mountain Avenue carried for revised plans and township-engineer stormwater review

The Zoning Board on June 3 continued the variance application for 105 Upper Mountain Avenue to the board's July 15 meeting and instructed the applicant to submit revised plans and to complete township-engineer review of stormwater controls before the matter returns.

The application seeks several variances tied to a significant renovation: accessory-structure side-yard relief for a garage (existing 8-foot side yard where 12 feet is required), a diminutive height exceedance for the accessory structure (proposed ~15.3 feet vs 15 feet permitted), and an increase in impervious coverage to approximately 44.1% where 35% is allowed. Contractor and owner representatives said prior work by an earlier contractor left the site in a compromised state; the present team outlined extensive corrective measures, including a substantial seepage-pit retention system intended to meet major-stormwater (1/2-acre disturbance) requirements.

Engineer Bruce Rig (licensed professional engineer) and planner William Stimmel testified that a 12-seepage-pit system and associated underground piping and stone infiltration beds were designed to collect and retain runoff and to reduce overall post-construction runoff compared with existing disturbed conditions. Rig said the system was sized to meet the municipality's major-stormwater criteria and described challenges such as groundwater mounding and the need to model mounding impacts on neighbors.

Downhill neighbor Seth Yellen submitted a written objection and said sediment from prior excavation washed onto his property in 2024, causing roughly $9,700 in documented pool remediation costs, and he urged the board to require a full independent township-engineer analysis before granting any impervious-coverage relief. Yellen also identified a southern gully along the shared border where he says the existing seepage pits do not provide coverage.

The applicant's team and the site supervisor (hired after the earlier contractor) said controllers have reworked the retention system, installed silt fencing and replaced a problematic sewer line that had been causing neighborhood backups. After extensive testimony and questions from board members about elevations, inlets and the detailed grading plan, the board asked the applicant to submit clearer, revised drawings showing elevations, retaining-wall details, proposed inlets and site grading and to obtain a written engineering review from the township engineer. The board agreed to carry the application to July 15 without further public notice to allow those materials to be submitted and reviewed.

The board recorded no final approval; that decision was deferred until after technical engineering review and revised plans are filed.