Paramus Board To Hear Rebuild Plans For Fire-Damaged Home

PARAMUS, NJ — Plans to rebuild a fire-damaged Paramus home as a two-family house will come before the borough's Board of Adjustment Thursday night.

The application for 33 Spring Valley Avenue is among the residential public hearings on the board's Thursday agenda.

According to the agenda, the house sustained fire damage and the homeowner is proposing to rebuild it from a single-family house into a two-family house. The agenda noted that more of the existing house was demolished than proposed, with “more than 50%” of the structure removed.

The proposal does not meet several requirements of the borough's zoning code, according to the application, including rules governing garages and setbacks.

Under borough code, newly constructed homes must provide at least one garage space for each dwelling unit, with each space measuring at least nine feet wide and 18 feet deep. Existing homes that do not have the required garage can undergo certain expansions, alterations, reconstruction or conversions without adding one, but only when the work affects no more than 25 percent of the home's existing floor area.

According to the application, more than 25 percent of the existing home's floor area was removed, meaning the proposed new home would be required to have garages. The plans do not include those required garages.

The plans also place the front of the home closer to the property line than borough rules normally allow. The proposed front-yard setback is 16.34 feet instead of the required 35 feet, while the combined side yards would total 20.37 feet instead of the required 25 feet.

The proposed front porch would also sit 12.40 feet from the property line; borough code allows a porch to extend five feet into the required 35-foot front-yard setback.

The Board of Adjustment will meet in person at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Borough Hall Council Chambers, 1 West Jockish Square, where the proposal is scheduled for a public hearing. The borough does not list an online viewing option, and the agenda does not indicate that a decision has been made.

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