House Additions Approved Despite Flooding Concerns

An application to allow additions to a Valley Road house came to a heavily-debated, controversial  4-3 favorable decision at the Borough of Madison Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting on Thursday.

Bo Xu and Qiang Ma, who recently purchased the property at 26 Valley Road, came to the Zoning Board looking to make several renovations and additions to their home. Additions include adding a second story to the house and increasing its overall living space to approximately 2,759 square feet.

The proposed size of the house after construction, which sits on a property that is only 50-feet wide, had some zoning board members and residents concerned that the structure would not only infringe on neighbors, but the space occupied could make the surrounding area prone to flooding, if another major storm were to come through the region.

Helen Crozier, who lives at the adjacent property at 24 Valley Road, was especially concerned about excess water coming over onto her property and flooding her basement, and spoke at length about taking pre-emptive measures to make sure such events do not occur.

“I don’t want to wait for the problem to say, ‘now what do I do?,'" Crozier said. “I can’t afford for that to happen.”

Variances added to the application to prevent flooding and water damage include the possible addition of up to two sump pumps, which would make three total sump pumps on the property, and a drywell. Those structures would prevent water from filtering into the street or onto neighboring properties. There will also be six-foot gutters around the entire roof of the house to collect water.

Some members of the zoning board saw these changes as enough to approve the application.

“I think you’ve made every effort to change the architecture. I don’t know that there’s that much more you can do,” Zoning Board Member John Ciulla said. “The water can be an issue, but it seems like there isn’t that much more of a problem there.”

Others, however, still thought the property was going to be stretched too thin by the additions.

“I think they’re trying to put too much into that lot. It represents a large change as far as the neighbor’s view,” Board member Ronald Poeter said. “The improvements are there, but I think they could still improve. I think it’s still too much for the neighborhood and the lot.”