Westfield Residents Concerned About Subdivisions Of Older Homes

WESTFIELD, NJ — How old is too old, when it comes to subdividing a property with an older home on it? Some residents of Westfield who want the town to maintain its historic charm are concerned that there have been too many changes to structures built more than 100 years ago.

In a Facebook discussion group for Westfield this week, a woman posted that she feared that an older home in town might be "on the chopping block." "How," she asked, "are these special properties continued to be allowed to disappear?" A commenter responded that that particular home wasn't going to be torn down, but residents mentioned other houses in the area that they were concerned about.

"I live on a street off Central Avenue and the very old home on the corner, I know it was over a hundred years old, was just torn down," responded a commenter. "Then another one just two homes in from Central was torn down last week."

At a Planning Board meeting last month, according to a TAPinto article, officials suggested that an applicant for an older home on Central Avenue obtain input from the Historic Planning Commission regarding an application to subdivide it.

After that meeting, the HPC wrote on Facebook, "At Monday night's Planning Board meeting, the applicant ... was directed to obtain the HPC's input for their proposed project to tear down the existing home on the property and build two in its place. '...it should be cherished,' said Maria Boyes, HPC Chair. The HPC will continue to research this house in order to provide a report on its history at an upcoming meeting."

A representative for the HPC said Monday that a report hadn't yet been discussed at a meeting. The next public HPC meeting is scheduled for March 30.

The issue of subdivisions and teardowns has drawn some heat in the last few years, as property owners want the right to do what they want with their land, but others say the town's landscape is changing too rapidly. According to one article in TAPinto Westfield last year, a property owner filed a lawsuit over a subdivision that was denied.

Mayor Shelley Brindle said, in a recent phone interview, that applications for subdivisions in town are being looked at carefully, particularly for an application that requires multiple variances. She and other officials worked last year to make a zoning change to reduce the chance of subdivisions on New England Drive.