Decision To Demolish Westfield 'Watcher' Home Pushed To January

WESTFIELD, NJ — The continued hearing of the application to demolish the Westfield home stalked by “the Watcher" has been pushed to January.

The application was initially heard during the Nov. 7 Westfield Planning Board meeting. Controversary over the application caused the meeting to last about three hours until 10:30 p.m. when board members decided to end it and continue the rest of the meeting on Dec. 5.

Now the application has been moved to Jan. 4.

The owners of the Westfield home at 657 Boulevard filed an applicant seeking approval to subdivide the property into two lots, remove the existing dwelling, and construct two new homes.

As part of the application, the owners are also seeking variances for land use ordinances:

• 11.07E2 – Ordinance requires a minimum lot width of 70 feet. Proposed is 67.40 feet and 67.60 feet.
• 11.07E2 – Ordinance requires a minimum lot area of 10,000 square feet within 143 feet of the front property line. Proposed is 9,638 square feet and 9,667 square feet.
• 11.07E3 – Ordinance requires a minimum lot frontage of 70 feet. Proposed is 67.40 feet and 67.60 feet.

The owners — who purchased the $1.3 million “dream home” in Westfield in June 2014 — have been in a legal battle with the current owners after they started receiving disturbing letters from a stalker who identified himself as “The Watcher."

Local neighboring residents spoke out against the plan on a number of topics including the removal of trees, creating a front-facing garage and cutting a large property into two smaller ones.

At the meeting on Jan. 4, a resident is having a planner make a presentation on the neighbors behalf against the proposal. The presentation is estimated to take one hour.

Followed by that there will be questions and then open comment for residents to speak their opinions about the project.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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