NARROWSBURG, NY — The Eagles Nest subdivision project on Hankins Road still has a way to go before it gets enacted. A November 14 meeting of the Tusten Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) gave that project an initial go-ahead.

The project, proposed by Robert Weigers, would subdivide a lot he owns at 437 Hankins Rd. from one lot into two. It needs approval from the ZBA because at least one of the lots will be smaller than current zoning regulations allow, given the size of the current lot.

Ken Klein, attorney for the ZBA, read off a resolution to approve the subdivision at the board’s November 14 meeting.

The original proposal required two variances; each new lot required a variance from minimum road frontage regulations and minimum lot width regulations. The revised proposal moved the dividing line so one lot would conform to regulations, and the other required road frontage and lot width exceptions.

The resolution found the proposal to comply with most of the requirements for the granting of a variance. It failed a requirement that the circumstance must not be self created. Weigers had bought the lot recently, well after the zoning regulations had been put in place.

Other factors mitigated in favor of the application, as the resolution summed up the board’s majority view. These factors included other nonconforming lots in the neighborhood; while the proposed Eagles Nest lot may be smaller than zoning regulations allow, it is similar to other lots that already exist in the neighborhood.

An October 3 letter sent from Jacobowitz and Gubits LLP, a legal office representing neighboring property owners and residents on Hankins Road, objected to the use of nonconforming lots to support the variance. “Although some lots in the SR District have less than 300 feet of lot width of road frontage, those lots pre-date the 300-foot requirement. Those lots were lawful when houses were built, and to even consider this fact as a basis for such approval renders subsequent changes to any zoning law useless.”

A number of neighbors on the road have expressed concerns about the variance; the October 3 public hearing cites 24 neighbors as objecting to the application, specifically to the question of whether it will produce an undesirable change in the neighborhood. The letter claims that the applicant sought the variance in order to make a profit and that said variance will harm the character of the neighborhood.

ZBA member Stephen Stuart objected to one of the examples used to make the characterization that the neighborhood contained a number of lots smaller than those permitted by regulation. The resolution stated that one lot was only 45 feet; Stuart said that it was part of a larger lot divided by a road.

If that was the case, the Eagle’s Nest parcels benefited from that same logic, said Klein; they would be divided in the same way.

The point settled without a resolution. “I’m often the odd guy out, so that’s fine,” said Stuart.

The ZBA voted three in favor, one against the proposal. Weiger thanked the board for doing a thorough job.

The project still needs a review from the Tusten Planning Board before the subdivision can go through.