PB 24 16 350 Mount Pleasant Avenue Essex Country Club West Orange Planner Report 8 27 2024

August 27, 2024 Page 12 of 13 PB-24-16 350 Mt. Pleasant Avenue Block 156, Lot 1 105 Grove Street, Suite 3, Montclair, NJ 07042 ∙ Phone: (973) 954-2677 ∙ www.NishuaneGroup.com Max. Building Coverage 20% 1% No Max. Lot Coverage 30% 7.1% No Planner’s Comments The applicant proposes to renovate an existing 1-story structure on the subject site, which has been used as a pool house. The improvements to the pool house include the expansion of the covered walkway, construction of an open-air covered bar area along with a grill area, expansion of the existing patio, and construction of pergola with seating underneath. The existing golf course, pool house and proposed accessory open-air structure are permitted in the R-2 zone. As detailed above in the Project Description, the existing pool house building will have a new open- air structure where its visibility from the street will be obscured by landscaping in the existing parking lot. Standards for Granting Variance Relief C - (Bulk) Variances The Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL) at N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c sets forth the standards for variances from the bulk regulations of a zoning ordinance. C(1) Variance - The Board must find that there is either undue hardship or practical hardship with the strict application of the zoning requirements as stipulated in the Zoning & Land Use Regulations, as a result of: exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific property, or by reason of exceptional topographic conditions or physical features uniquely affecting a specific piece of property or by reason of an extraordinary and exceptional situation uniquely affecting a specific piece of property or the structures lawfully existing thereon. C(2) Variance – The Board must find that the proposed deviation from the Zoning & Land Use Regulations will advance the purposes of the MLUL and that the variance can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good, that the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment. The benefits identified in granting a C(2) variance must include benefits to the community as a whole, not only the applicant or the property owner. Here too, the Board must be satisfied that the variance can be granted “without substantial detriment to the public good” and “without substantial impairment to the intent and purpose of the zone plan and zoning ordinance” of the Township.