Two family lots approved in Franklin Township,
both needing a variance.
By Justin Kelly
NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson
The Planning Board cleared two minor subdivisions on the same night, 7 to 0 and 6 to 1. Each turns one lot into two, and neither lot was the 150 feet wide at the street the township requires.
What was reported
- Franklin Township's Planning Board approved two minor subdivisions in one meeting, each turning a single lot into two. The Chew Avenue application passed 7 to 0, the Sheridan Avenue one 6 to 1
- The township wants 150 feet of street frontage, the lot's width along the road. One had 137.10 feet, the other 50 feet on a flag lot, and the board allowed both anyway
- Because the Sheridan Avenue land gets the farmland tax break, the county tax assessor may charge rollback taxes on the piece that changes use. The board also dropped the required buffer next to the farmland there
The story
Franklin Township's Planning Board approved two minor subdivisions at its July 21 meeting, each one turning a single lot into two. The application at 2156 Chew Avenue, Block 303 Lot 1, was granted 7 to 0 with none opposed. The application at 2633 Sheridan Avenue, Block 701 Lot 14, was granted 6 to 1. A third minor subdivision, at 592 Proposed Avenue, was postponed to August.
Both are family splits, and both were held up by the same number. The township's ordinance sets a minimum street frontage of 150 feet. The Chew Avenue plan proposed 137.10 feet on the new lot and 1.1 acres against a 1.5 acre minimum, and the owner told the board he is giving the existing house to his daughter and building a smaller one for himself on the new lot. The Sheridan Avenue plan proposed 50 feet of frontage, the shape board members called a flag lot, for an owner who had already split off a lot for one daughter and wanted this one for another. Neither application was turned away over it. Both were given relief.
Sheridan Avenue carried two things worth noticing on their own. The first is that the board had approved this same split once before: the application went in during 2021 and the resolution was memorialized in 2022, but the deeds were never filed and the approval expired. A minor subdivision is not finished when the vote happens. The second is the land itself. The property is farmland assessed, and the engineer put on the record that the county tax assessor may require rollback taxes on the portion that changes use. The owner had already been given an estimate. The board then waived the township's agricultural buffers on the lot, over one member's objection, and attached a condition that the driveway be cleared 14 feet wide and 15 feet high.
The most useful part of the night came after the votes, when the board talked about itself. Members said plainly that the township has no standard for flag lots and that applications like these are being decided one at a time. The engineer suggested the council look at amending the ordinance, and the solicitor said the board needs to become more consistent. Nothing has changed yet, and any change would be the council's to make.
For anyone holding a large parcel in the township, the practical read is narrower than the headline. Neither of these turned on whether the land could hold another house. They turned on frontage, on the agricultural buffer and on how the lot is assessed, and all three of those are matters of public record long before a plan is drawn.
Both approvals carry conditions, and a minor subdivision still has to be filed before it takes effect. The Sheridan Avenue split had been approved once before and lapsed when the deeds were not filed. Written by Justin Kelly, NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson, from the Franklin Township Planning Board minutes.
Our take
On a large rural lot it is usually the frontage rule, not the acreage, that decides whether a split works. If you are thinking about carving off a lot for family, that is the number to check first.
