Land Use Board, Zoning Question, New Member - Sussex Boro, NJ

[Patrick Hannigan]

Hello All!

      I've been meaning to make a new member post for some time now.  I will start a seperate thread there at some point, but as I am in need of help with my first property, I figured that I would do a brief introduction along with my question.

23 year old from northern New Jersey, began looking for a home to move to after realizing that I could be approved for a mortgage with my employment history. I applied after receiving one of those generic FHA mailers. After a bunch of self education, attending a Than Merrill event, and two attempts at closing on different properties, I was finally able to close on a left-right two unit building in Sussex Boro NJ.

     After closing I made the decision to try and blowout the back kitchens of the house onto the back porch to add a half bath on each side along with a wee bit of extra kitchen space.  I've gone as far as having an architect draw up preliminary plans for the permit application.  Hardyston township here handles the building permits, etc. for a few smaller boroughs including Sussex.  For the record, the back porch was not a permitted addition to the structure or on record with the town whatsoever.   Hardyston says that I am required to get a zoning permit prior to them accepting a building permit application.  Sussex borough has their own zoning and land use boards.  Initially speaking to the sussex zoning guy he made it seem that the zoning permit would be no big deal, wouldn't require a survey, and just asked us to draw a simple diagram of where the building is located on the property relative to the neighbor's wall, front curb, etc.  After submitting the application I got an answer from the secretary this monday with the fact that the application was denied because of something about a Land Use Board couldn't talk to the main guy until today.  Found out that the application would have to go through the land use board, then spoke to a land use lawyer who said he will speak to the town's zoning attorney and see if he can get them to approve the application or what needs to be done.  I was curious if anyone has had any experience with this sort of thing.

Thanks in advance,

PJ