Conversion of a stand-alone building on South Mountain into a residence has been denied.

The Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board voted 5-0 to deny the appeal of Marie Oliver, 445 E. Rock Road, for a variance to Chapter 27, Zoning Ordinance Section 306.2, Accessory Building Conversion to a "livable space."

The property is in the township Conservation Residential Zoning District.

A previous use of the two-story garage was as an office and store, Oliver testified at the July 7 hearing in the township municipal building.

The 5.8-acre property has a four-bedroom house which has an attached garage. There is an on-lot septic system and well water. Access to the stand-along garage is via a gravel road.

"I'd like to throw my 25-year-old son out and put him there," Oliver said of her plans to convert the garage.

"That's not a very long throw," James A. Kelley, board chairman, said.

Oliver said she had planned to attach a septic system for the converted garage to the existing septic system or put in a new septic system.

The house's attached garage can accommodate two cars and has a deck on the roof. Oliver said one bay of the attached garage is used as a gym.

An accessory use is not permitted in the CR zone.

"That's the problem. There's no way you can make this compute with the zoning law," board member Edward Hare, said.

Opined Atty. Victor F. Cavacini, board solicitor, of the law firm, Gross McGinley LLC, "The board [zoning] is inclined to let people do what they want as long as there are no objectors."

No objectors attended the July 7 hearing.

If the attached garage was to be used for a living space, "the zoning provisions would perhaps fit that," Cavacini said.