Walkway OK'd, Impervious Surface a Concern

Constructing a concrete walkway around a pool may not seem like a big deal, but the cumulative affect of adding more impervious surface in a watershed could have a tremendous impact.

That was the message the township Board of Adjustment gave a Steeple Drive couple before unanimously approving Wednesday night their plan for such a walkway.

Mark and Lisa Kwiatek, of 2 Steeple Drive off Hillsborough Road, came to the board for a variance to construct the 548-square-foot walkway around an in-ground pool they want to install in their backyard.

The walkway would bring the amount of impervious surface on the 1-acre lot to 14.88 percent; the township’s zoning ordinance allows 10 percent. An impervious surface does not allow rainwater to drain into the soil.

The existing impervious coverage of the lot is 13.42 percent but, as board member Walter Dietz noted, all of the homes in the Steeplechase development have more than the allowed impervious coverage. The development was built under the standards of the residential zone, which allows 15 percent coverage, but the property is zoned residential-agricultural, which allows only 10 percent.

“It’s something the Township Committee should definitely look into,” Dietz said.

Mark Kwiatek told the board that the walkway would solve some of the drainage problems on the property by channeling water into the existing drains and then off the property.

Because of a high water table, he said, water tends to “back up” on his property and sometimes overflows onto the neighboring lots.

“This solves that problem,” he said.

Though the lot was graded correctly when the house was built, the ground has settled since then, creating the problem, he said.

“We’re hoping it gets back to what it used to be,” he said.

Board members tried to find ways to reduce the proposed impervious coverage.

“We’re not trying to be hard on you,” Dietz told the Kwiateks, explaining that additional impervious surface in the watershed could exacerbate flooding problems not only in Hillsborough, but downstream in communities like Bound Brook and Manville.

The Kwiateks agreed to reduce the width of the walkway around three sides of the pool by a foot that would bring the impervious coverage to 14.53 percent.

Because of a lack of applications, the board cancelled its June 6 and July 11 meetings.