Hopatcong Family Ordered to Renovate Room Used for Handicapped Son

Ashraf Sheikh's son, Mohammad Ali, is handicapped. At age 32, Mohammad Ali "is like a baby of six months," his father said. He's fed via gastronomy tube. He can't walk or talk.

So, a few years ago, Ashraf Sheikh added a room onto their Hopatcong house, which Sheikh said the family uses to cook their son's food and store his wheelchair.

But Sheikh never got a permit for the addition, nor had it inspected. On Wednesday night, the zoning board told Sheikh that while he had its permission to keep the extra room, Sheikh must either renovate it to building standards or tear it down and make a new one.

Zoning board Chairman Ken Trumpore said he felt sorry for Sheikh, but couldn't allow the room to exist due to legal concerns.

"I can sympathize with this guy," Trumpore said at the meeting at borough hall. "He's got a horrible situation.

"But we can't approve it and allow them to keep something that is not up to code. We become liable for it. The town becomes liable for it. [What if] the house burns down? If we let them keep it, they'll come after us."

Sheikh's had to deal more than his son's disability. In 2004, Sheikh had open-heart surgery. It's become difficult for him and his wife to care for their son, he said.

"He's very heavy for both of us," Sheikh said. "We are too old, you know. We're using [the room] for him."

Trumpore said there were many problems with the room, aside from it not possessing a permit. He said the room was built directly below a deck and atop a concrete patio.

"So they just put up walls and put up a ceiling and they built a room underneath the deck with no permits, no variances, no inspections. The slab of concrete that they built on…has no footings. There is no insulation in it; [building] code requires insulation. They made a kitchen out of it. And there's plumbing in there, but I can't see what's in the walls.

"There's electricity in there. They could but that place down. We don't know whether [the electrical system] was installed properly or not, and there's no way of telling because the walls are all closed up."

Trumpore said he spoke with an expert who said it'd be cheaper for Sheikh to tear up the room and start over again than to renovate it.

"You have a legitimate hardship," Trumpore told Sheikh during the meeting.

"I can understand the need for [Sheikh] to have that room. [But] the fact remains that the room was built with no permits and no inspections."

Editor's note: Click here for more coverage of Wednesday night's zoning board meeting.