Need Help - Zoning Variance for Two Family House in Belmar

[Cody Z.]

Hi All,

Just a quick thanks in advance for anyone willing to read and respond. So here's the (abridged) story so far...

Facts:

• Purchased Two Family in Belmar in April (Two Single Family Homes on One Lot) Using 203k loan with both homes needing "Gut Job"
  • Confirmed Legal Two Family with Tax, Agent, Closing Attorney, and Seller Disclosure
• Hired 203k Consultant (formal written agreement) to prepare a formal Scope of Work for Project with GC leveraging and singing off
• The homes had indications of structural issues (through inspection pre-purchase) and all parties were aware before closing
• Ultimately had to hire Architects with PE in-house to draw plans to repair structures using concrete slabs
  • Called Local Building Inspector and told him the profile of the multifamily homes and that we found major additional issues when demo-ing | He said he would look to only make sure they were up to current code.
• Spoke again before we submitted permits to tell him about the project and he seemed "fine" as long as it was up to code and just a repair with no foundational footprint change | No exterior walls are being moved, sq. foot remains unchanged, no floors added.
• The loan is FHA 203k so one of the units will be a primary residence (actually the back unit)
• Permits were submitted almost two weeks ago with only simple questions returned so far from zoning (the first step in Belmar)

Issue:

PE told me that he was surprised that town was allowing me to due to a rehab of this size considering the two-family structure has the "backyard" style home which they apparently no longer like. He also mentioned that they have a 50% rule in which you can not "improve" the home more than 50% of the assessed value (my understanding is tax value) which is not possible to get around in my current situation. I am nervous that the town will disallow the renovations on the back house even though both of my houses received demolition permits and are now gutted to the studs. I have also heard from other locals that they are trying to get rid of this style of house and do not like letting people fix them up - especially when they are at this level of disrepair.

Questions:

- Is there anyone familiar with a situation like this where a homeowner was disallowed from performing foundation and major repairs as long as they were grandfathered into a variance prior?

- If the town denies my permits, what options do I have considering this was an FHA 203k loan which was granted solely on the premise of Rehab?

Again, a sincere thank you to anyone still reading. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.