Jock v. Zoning Board of Adjustment

In this land-use case, involving an application under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(c)(l) for bulk and dimensional variances to develop an isolated undersized lot, we are called upon to address the separate but related issues of merger and self-created hardship. More particularly, we have been asked to determine the scope of the merger doctrine enunciated almost forty years ago in Loechner v. Campoli 49 N.J. 504, 231 A.2d 553 (1967). There we held that, despite separate designations on an old tax map, adjacent undersized lots in common title should be considered part of a larger tract or parcel for…