Local homebuilder Rich Mashura said bump-outs add "aesthetic value" to houses.
By Donald Wittkowski
City Council’s meeting Tuesday resembled an art class when Councilman Jack Gibson had a flip chart carried to the front of the room and he began making rudimentary sketches using a magic marker.
But the subject wasn’t art. It was architecture.
Gibson used the flip chart to persuade his fellow Council members that a proposed zoning ordinance regulating “bump-outs” – a decorative architectural feature in home construction – was flawed and needed to be rewritten.
After looking at Gibson’s sketches and listening to his arguments, Council tabled the ordinance. The measure will now undergo revisions by City Solicitor Paul Baldini before it comes back to the governing body at a later date for more discussion and a vote.
“We’re all struggling to get to a spot. I get it,” Baldini told Council of the difficulties of crafting an ordinance that will finally address the bump-out issue once and for all.
Zoning laws in Sea Isle City currently allow bump-outs only in side yards. That would have changed under the proposed ordinance that Council was supposed to vote on Tuesday before Gibson raised last-minute objections. The measure would have allowed homeowners to have bump-outs in their front and back yards if they live on corner lots.
Homes built on interior lots would be unaffected by the ordinance. They can have bump-outs only in their side yards.
Bump-outs are ornamental roofs or decorative canopies above windows and doors. They are considered far more attractive on homes than just having long, blank exterior walls. Council wants to give builders the freedom to add bump-outs to make homes more aesthetically pleasing, but with certain limitations.
An upscale house at the corner of 56th Street and Pleasure Avenue features a series of bump-outs along the side wall.
Building requirements such as bump-outs are a touchy subject in Sea Isle, a town that has been dealing with complaints from residents about large, high-end “monster” vacation homes gobbling up precious open space on the narrow island.
Local homebuilder Rich Mashura said bump-outs add "aesthetic value" to houses.
During Tuesday’s meeting, local homebuilder Rich Mashura told Council that bump-outs add “aesthetic value” to houses, especially the ones built on prime, corner lots.
“It’s an architectural enhancement that, I think, would provide a lot of value in the appearance and beauty of corner lots,” Mashura said. “These corner lots are often tagged as trophy lots because you have the opportunity to do something really special. I think not having bump-outs on the long side of the property really takes away from that.”
Mashura also told Council that bump-outs would help to embellish homes throughout the island – including some oceanview and bayfront properties that have an expanse of blank exterior walls – if they were allowed in all yards.
Mashura’s Ocean View company, Mashura-Burger LLP, specializes in building high-end homes in Sea Isle and other seashore communities. Mashura said he took some of the Council members around Sea Isle to show them bump-outs on homes that he has built, including an upscale, three-story house at the corner of 56th Street and Pleasure Avenue.
The front entrance of the home faces 56th Street, but the side of the house runs along Pleasure Avenue. The Pleasure Avenue side includes a series of ornamental canopies and bay windows to make the house more attractive.
“At 56th and Pleasure, that’s a good example of what we would like to permit,” Gibson said, referring to what will likely be allowed in the rewritten ordinance.
