BERLIN – Plans for townhouses on Maple Avenue are expected to move forward following approval from the Berlin Board of Appeals.
The board last week voted unanimously to grant a conditional use request as well as a variance that will allow plans for 33 townhouses on Maple Avenue to proceed.
“I am pleased that the Berlin Board of Appeals granted the requests to develop townhouses in the R-3 Zoning District, as well as allowing the width of the units to be 16 feet instead of 18 feet,” said Mark Cropper, the applicant’s attorney. “My client looks forward to proceeding to the planning commission in order to obtain formal site plan approval.”
Cropper told the board his client intended to purchase the vacant Maple Avenue property — as long as the board granted the needed approvals — and build 33 townhouse units. Cropper said his client needed conditional use approval from the board to construct townhouse units and also needed a variance to reduce the width of each unit by two feet. Though the code requires townhouses be a minimum of 18 feet wide, Planning Director Dave Engelhart said he hadn’t been able to find any fire safety or building code justification for the requirement. He said he’d also checked with the Worcester County Fire Marshal’s Office.
“There’s no life safety issue,” Engelhart said.
Cropper said there were other townhouses in Worcester County, such as those at Sunset Village in West Ocean City, that were less than 18 feet wide.
“It’s not that I’m opposed to it but I’d like to know how the planning commission established the 18 feet, how they feel about the reduction,” board member Woody Bunting said.
Though Bunting also had some concerns about the square footage of the site, Cropper said it met the code requirements in that regard.
Board member Doug Parks asked if there were any issues with traffic on Maple Avenue, as there is already construction underway at another property on the street.
“We’ve had discussions internally with town staff and the police department,” Engelhart said. “Maple Avenue is wide enough to handle this kind of traffic.”
He added that the developer of the project currently under construction, The Willows at Berlin, would be resurfacing the street when that project was done.
The board voted unanimously to approve both the conditional use request as well as the reduction in width for the townhouses.
