Floor Area Reduction Dies in Point

CAPE MAY POINT — After much public outcry and a recommendation from the planning board, borough commission eliminated sections of a proposed ordinance July 12 that would have reduced the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) required for new construction or substantial improvements to a house from 42 percent to 40 percent of lot size.
FAR is defined as the ratio of the total floor area of a house compared to lot size; it limits how large a home can be built.
Cape May and West Cape May passed FAR ordinances in the past two years, both of which received negative comments particularly from builders and real estate brokers.
Proposed Ordinance 534-07, designed to bring zoning laws in compliance with the borough’s master plan, has been moving back and forth between borough commission and the borough’s Planning Board since spring.
Changing FAR in the borough dates back to 2004 when commission passed an ordinance to include living space built above garages in calculations.
Earlier this year, homeowners drove from as far away as Philadelphia to attend a commission meeting to protest the ordinance. Residents claimed the ordinance would take away a significant amount of living space, not allow the construction of a “traditional, American, colonial-style with equal square footage on the first and second floors and lower property values.
If the proposed ordinance had been approved by commissioners in its original form in May, a 2,000-square-foot house would have been permitted on a 5,000-square-foot lot. If the first floor were built larger, a 2,100-square-foot house would be allowable.
Also deleted from the proposed ordinance, a change in definition of gross floor area. The proposed ordinance defined gross floor area as all habitable areas with a ceiling of at least seven feet enclosed on at least three sides including decks, porches, attached garages and carports.
A resolution passed by commission changes the definition of vegetation in the ordinance from “plants of the area such as flowers, shrubs, and trees,” to “plants of the area but not limited to flowers, shrubs and trees.”
Remaining in the proposed ordinance: no more than 25 percent of vegetation can be removed from a lot without obtaining a landscaping permit which is also required when an addition increases lot coverage by more than 10 percent. The ordinance calls for 60 percent vegetation coverage of lots.
The proposed ordinance calls for all utilities for new homes to be placed underground.
It does away with a requirement that buildable lots must be at least 50 feet wide at their narrowest point. Instead, the proposed ordinance requires a lot to be contiguous for at least 50 feet to a public street.
Minimum lot size remains unchanged at 5,000 square feet.
The ordinance returns to the planning board for comment. It will return for a commission vote September 13 minus the FAR and vegetation regulations.