Verona land eyed for retail and housing construction

A developer wants to build a 7,000-square foot complex and two adjoining parking lots on what is now mostly wooded land on Bloomfield Avenue and Westview Road in Verona. The township's Board of Adjustment will review the developer's plan, which requires six variances, at its public meeting Thursday, June 14.

ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING BY JOSEPH M. DONTATO

Construction plans for an L-shaped parcel of land in Verona, bounded by Bloomfield Avenue and Westview Road, are depicted in this drawing put forth by a Sparta-based developer.

Sparta-based company DMH2 LLC has planned a three-story structure on the site, which is located across the street from Everett Field. The plan consists of a retail office or salon on the ground floor and seven residential units each on the second and third stories. Every unit would have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the third-floor units would also contain loft space, according to site plans and architectural renderings submitted to Verona's Building Department.

Sixty-three parking spaces would be split up between the two parking lots, one at the back of the property abutting the dead end of Montclair Avenue and another at the front nearest Bloomfield Avenue. The lots would be entered and exited via the one-way side street on Westfield Road and the bustling thoroughfare of Bloomfield Avenue.

The Victorian farmhouse at 200 Bloomfield Ave. and about 80 trees in the area would have to be uprooted for the proposed project, which spans 1.5 acres.

The farmhouse, known as "The Stonacker House," dates back to the mid 1890s and has retained a great deal of historic integrity including a 'spectacular' Victorian staircase, wide pine floors and period chestnut woodwork that appears 'brand new,' according to Verona Historical Society President Robert Williams.

'It could have been a historic site but it hasn't been landmarked, so as far as I know, there really isn't anything that could be done to protect it,' Williams said. 'It'd be nice if the owner and developer tried to recognize its historic significance rather than demolish it. It's a piece of the community's heritage.'

Both the farmhouse and wooded parcel of land are owned by Ella Theting, according to the developer's application to the township. The phone number listed for Theting on the application and in the White Pages is not in service.

Theting no longer resides in the old farmhouse, according to Westview Road resident Sarah O'Farell. The elderly woman moved into a nursing home, put her home up for sale a few times, and was unable to sell it, O'Farell said.

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Verona land eyed for retail and housing construction