In Your Backyard: Subdivision and Two More Houses

About 40 minutes after three Scotch Plains homeowners spoke-out against a stalled residential development, the township's Planning Board approved an application for the construction of two new houses on Alton Way.

The application, submitted by Fox and Foxx, of Edison, called for the demolition of a property on Cooper Road, and the subdivision of its property into three separate parcels: two for the houses, which will abut Ashbrook Golf Course, and a third that will face Cooper Road on a narrower sliver of property.

"We're not sure what we're going to build yet," project manager Jeffrey Kraft said of the third parcel.

Dense growths of trees, some of them more than 100-years-old, currently stand where the Alton Way houses will be constructed. The developers and their counsel emphasized, however, that their workers will proceed with caution once demolition and construction begins.

"We go out of the way [to be careful]," said Patrick Diegnan, one of the lawyers on-hand for the presentation.

Residents of Alton Way, a winding cul-de-sac, expressed resignation to the development.

"I'm not happy," said one woman, whose home faces the grove of trees where the new houses will be constructed. "But I knew that was going to happen eventually. I've known since we built this house 24 years ago." She declined to provide her name.

For photos of the proposed houses, check out the images above. Tune in later for a blueprint of the subdivision.