Council adopts ord. to limit size of 'McMansions' The ordinance regulates size, height of houses relative to lot size BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer EDISON - It took five years and countless hours, but the Township Council approved a floor-area-ratio ordinance on Jan. 24, designed to restrict the building of "McMansions." The ordinance, which was unanimously passed by the council, would limit the size of a house, depending on its ratio to the overall lot size. The ordinance states, for example, that a house built in the R-B zone on a lot with an area of 6,000 square feet could not exceed 35 percent of the lot size or 2,100 square feet. The reasoning behind this is to keep developers from building houses on lots that are too small for the size of the house. Many believe such a practice is a detriment to the overall character of the neighborhoods. "These houses can get out of control," Councilman Robert Diehl said. "It's destroying the spirit of the neighborhood." Councilman Charles Tomaro, who is credited with having led the fight for this ordinance over more than a five-year period, said that the new ordinance is in line with the needs of Edison. "We don't want to look like Jersey City," Tomaro said. "We want to look like Edison." Tomaro also said that the houses that could have been built without this ordinance in place did not fit in with the socioeconomics of the town. "Right now, the average person couldn't afford to buy this house," Tomaro said. Councilman Peter Barnes III said that passing the floor-area-ratio ordinance adds "a certain uniformity, a certain elegance" to the new construction in Edison Township. The ordinance does not stop at just restricting the overall size of houses, it also focuses on the height, stating that it may not exceed 35 feet, in some cases, from the original lot grade to the highest point on the house. The council has discussed in the past how previous restrictions on building height would stop explicitly at the pitch of the roof, allowing builders to add height to the houses with ancillary structures not part of the basic structure of the house. The new ordinance would close that loophole. The floor-area-ratio ordinance excludes attic and basement space from the total amount of floor area but does not exclude garages, a point of contention initially made by council members Salvatore Pizzi and Antonia Ricigliano. Ricigliano said that she was not comfortable with including garages at first because she felt that if a person wished to convert that garage into living space, this ordinance may prohibit them from doing so. The ordinance does allow for the conversion of garages into living space, but prohibits those who have done so from adding on another garage space. The only way this can be granted is through a D-variance from the Zoning Board, which Township Attorney Jeffrey Lehrer said was difficult to attain. It essentially forces homeowners to choose one or the other but not both. Ester Nemetz, a resident speaking during the public hearing before the ordinance's adoption, said she was concerned about the enforcement of the law, a concern many council members also shared. Nemetz warned against granting too many variances of the new law. "It is my hope that there will be zero variances granted for this ordinance," Nemetz said, "because that is the beginning of how things start to deteriorate in town." Lehrer said that the ordinance makes variances very hard to come by. "Any deviation from it cannot be granted by the Planning Board," Lehrer said. "Any deviation must go to the Zoning Board as a D-variance, which is one of the most difficult variances to get as a developer." Mayor Choi has said in the past that he supports the concept of the floor-area-ratio ordinance and said that it was part of the larger land use and planning reform policies. "What the F.A.R [floor-area-ratio] ordinance allows us to do is create better balance in our residential communities," Choi said. "There have been a number of complaints and issues stemming from certain homes, call them 'McMansions,' that are disproportionately out of balance with the rest of the community." The mayor said that the new ordinance may not be very popular with some prospective developers. "I think certain developers will find issues with this," Choi said, "but our primary responsibility is to enhance the quality of life for Edison residents. I think developers who are interested in meeting the needs of a community will find this to be favorable."