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Property Law Keyed to Dukeminier
Commons v. Westwood Zoning Board of Adjustment
Facts
A 1947 amendment to the zoning ordinance required that all one-family homes be located on lots with frontage of at least 75 feet. Here, the lot was located in a residential area, which has historically and has continued to have many nonconforming lots with frontages under 75 feet. The Defendant denied an allowance of a variance that would allow Plaintiff to build a home on a lot with only 30 feet of frontage. The Defendant zoning board had found that the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate evidence of hardship, even though plaintiff offered evidence showed it was difficult to sell the lot to the adjoining neighbor’s for a reasonable price because it assessed at a low value. The Defendant zoning board had also found that granting the variance would “substantially impair the intent and purpose of the Zone Plan” presumably because of a number of concerns expressed by neighbor’s concerning the plaintiff’s application for a variance.
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