e e e e e e e good evening and welcome to the March 18th meeting of the city of summit Zoning Board of adjustment my name is Joe Steiner and I am the chair of the zoning board please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and Justice in accordance with New Jersey statute 10 colon 4-10 adequate notice of this meeting meeting has been provided by the newspaper of in the newspaper of record and has been posted here at City Hall this meeting is a Judicial proceeding any questions or comments must be limited to the issues that are relevant to what the board May legally consider in reaching a decision and decorum appropriate to a Judicial hearing must be maintained at all times for the benefit of the interested public this meeting is being live streamed to the city's YouTube page and all broadcast on Summit governmental Channel which is Comcast channel 34 and Verizon channel 30 a transcript of this meeting is being taken using the video and audio so we need all speakers to utilize one of the microphones in the room either here at the we'll be using the ones up here uh you can use those the one at the podium and we do have a handheld that can be moved around as well please note that the fire exits are to my right your left and the back of the room where you entered city has a listening system to assist the hearing impaired if anyone needs it please obtain that system here at the Das and return it thereafter Miss suos would you please call the role of the members sure chairman Steiner here Vice chairman lyit here Mr Yuko here Mr Nelson is excused Miss Don is excused Mr Kieran is excused Mr Malay yes Miss to yes Miss chfo yes Mr feskin is excused Mr Chuli yes you have a quorum you may proceed okay let's introduce some people Andy ball sitting to my right is the zoning board's attorney he will advise the board members on matters of Law and is the key interface with an applicant's attorney Mr ball does not vote on the applications Stephanie suos is a city employee and is the zoning board secretary nulos works with the applicants on preparing their applications planning our agendas and keeping our meeting minutes Miss suos also does not vote on the applications also president is May rafy a representative from ker engineering our boards I did it again didn't I no okay uh it's so I I miss your name every time I apologies um and she's sitting there at the table to the audience's left those sometimes we have a representative from our planning firm but they are not required tonight those experts provide input to the board and also do not vote on the applications our board consists of seven regular members and up to four alternates all members can participate in the hearings tonight but only a maximum of seven can vote and as you see we're a little short of that most applications require a simple majority to be approved before we enter executive session and vote on the application you will be advised how many votes are required each case will begin with an applicant or their attorney giving an overview of the application process to date and the variances that are required we then hear from any additional expert witnesses that the applicant may have to help explain the application and why the variances are required the board members may ask questions of the applicant their attorney and the expert Witnesses once the board members and the board professionals have completed their questioning the public will have an opportunity to ask questions this is not the time to tell us what you think about the case that that opportunity will come at the end of the hearing before you ask your questions again please clearly state your name spell your last name and provide your address it is important that our court reporter be able to help keep a clear and accurate public record after all the witnesses have been heard members of the audience will then have their second opportunity to speak and at that time you may express your opinion positive or negative about the application then the public hearing is closed and we enter into what's called executive session where the board members discuss the case and vote you'll be able to listen to our executive session but you will not normally be able to participate in that discussion Chris Anderson the city's zoning officer has asked that we remind all applicants that they must read carefully the resolution that documents the zoning board's decision and to pay particular attention to the conditions contained in that resolution solution for example if a landscaping plan is required you must obtain one and submit it to John Linson the city's Forester if a grading plan is required you must have one prepared by a civil engineer and submit three copies along with the application fee to the city's engineering division failure to satisfy all conditions in a resolution will result in a delay approving your application as it will cause extra work for the zoning staff the resolution documenting the board's decision is normally available one month after we decide the case now we're going to change up just a little bit what we normally do uh I normally call up uh a representative from each case but as I will not personally be hearing two of the cases tonight I'll turn it over to Scott our vice chair thank you chairman um can we have a representative from each case please come up state your name and tell us if you're going to have any Witnesses tonight and how many so can we start with 53 B STW you drew the Short Straw Robert Venia V NE z i a thank you do you plan on have any Witnesses tonight no Witnesses do you expect your uh testimony will take 30 minutes or less yes all right thank you so much 108 Woodland Avenue hello uh John and gado on behalf of the applicant uh we will have uh three Witnesses available but uh really two are going to be focused on for Testimony okay great do you expect your testimony will take 30 minutes or less tonight um yeah it should should be able to get done about that all right great thank you and our last hearing 35 beakman Hi H you I'm Jennifer Chone uh we will have one witness okay great do you expect it your testimony to take 30 minutes or less yes great thank you so much thanks okay then I'm going to disappear all right first up 53 balol please come up and we will swear you [Music] in your choice sir just make sure you speak into the microphone our attorney will swear you in all right and if you'll both be testifying if you could each raise your right hand do you swear from the testimony you're about to give in this matters the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes and one at a time please state your name spell your last name Julia thank you excellent thank you so much so if you could briefly describe uh the nature of your submission and what you're looking to achieve tonight uh basically we're just want to put a deck on the uh back of our property and um we are a little bit I guess looking for relief from the city on U some of the matters that we have um basically could you describe for us the existing conditions you have currently we have a we have a backyard with a patio and we have um a porch That's enclosed and we just wanted to put two doors on the porch and put a little deck and can you please share with us um what are the variances that you're looking for tonight um we have the rear rear yard setback which um we're proposing that 2747 ft whereas 30 ft is required and that's in the uh northwest corner of the um deck and also building coverage we're proposing 23 71% where is 20% so we're going to be over both of those can you tell us a little bit about the deck itself is it going to be elevated what what are the materials yeah um do you can we give you a packet each one of you just so you have it' got more you have more share yes yes all right we're going to have to mark that as exhibit A1 you thank you do you get one you can skip me if you don't have enough I thank you could you please okay describe in detail you yeah there was an issue where we said that well first of all we bought our house in 1978 and we were young and the attorney represented us and the owner and for some reason there the deed didn't include the patio and the driveway so Christ we told Krista we bought the house with the patio and a driveway because there is a garage so it was pretty obvious but in the meantime our neighbors our very first neighbors um came back to visit us at our house about two years ago and they brought and we were telling them about the deck and now we were on a problem and they said well we have pictures of when they were children and the patio was put in and so you know we didn't put the patio in the patio was there and that was an issue Pro you know so so at least dates back to at least 1963 or four when it was actually put in m so then um we were supposed to saw cut the patio um off of our neighbors I guess curb so we did that and we were supposed to move our driveway because there was a little like pie shaped part that didn't it was on our neighbor's yard and and she said she would give us a variance and we thought if we were going to sell the house we might as well change the driveway so we redid the driveway and put it all recurved and put it on our yard and um we just wanted to have a deck but anyway we're in about $12,000 on this deal so far and we just you know are trying to do the right thing but we don't seem to be getting anywhere can you uh briefly describe the shape of your lot um can you do that it's not really a normal shape uh we haven't been the bend of balaw we have bridale Avenue right across from us uh and it's actually our basically our lot is actually probably the smallest lot on walterw road when it when it comes to that because of that curve so um you know as far as depth goes uh we're like 129 maybe 130 ft and basically you know a little bit over 50 ft across so we don't have a lot of room but um we did um put some pictures in of backyard U just to show you what we've got oh like actual pictures yeah because it is a weird property not weird I mean weird in a good way could you please let us know who took these pictures and they were taken um I took them actually this week okay great thank you so I know the deck height was uh also brought up deck Height's going to be 40 in figed we get that in um the other pictures that are in there basically to show uh the first line is where the deck will go out to um the smaller line is basically where the P will be so and just a shot of basically backyard yes again it's not very big but it's small and then we do have a picture of what we did um s cutting that thank you which was sad since it's been there for I don't know 43 years so for us that's how long we've been there just a question to clarify that saw cutting of the patio um our zoning officers memorandum notes that the patio is currently on the lot line you know setback of zero feet whereas 8 ft is required did you saw cut it from that lot line or is it still on the lot line now or is it further back than the exact lot line oh we took it back it's 12 by4 it's it's way way back she want so do you have a a measurement or approximate measurement from the lot line that you're asking for the setback for that patio now we're not we're not asking about the patio one of the things we the patio right yeah but does that show is is the curb now on the lot line or is it back further away because one of the things the zoning officer noted was that the the patio is zero feet meaning it's right on the lot line that's why she wanted us if you look at the picture and that's that's what I'm asking is does this show after and and this is now cut back from the lot line yeah so so the patio was over to here to this curve and so we cut it here and this whole piece is what is the distance from the the cut patio to your lot one where all that gravel sits it's four feet fouret we took we took out four feet okay so what you're explaining now is then the setback is more approximately 4 feet whereas it was previously zero feet yeah okay thank you um let's open it up to board questions yeah actually that was the main question I had I mean I I normally like to look at at properties I did not get a chance to look at this one so I was working off the pedal survey which made it look like it was still on the lot line but it has been cut back it's not on the lot line so that's good um and even even when it was there when it was up against the lot line it was it was not not a lot coverage issue um but I'm I'm happy to see that you cut it back um I have any other questions um I guess that really going be my only questions so glad to hear that anyone else you have any questions sure well I just wanted to clarify um that we looked at it the additional building coverage and it's less than 300 Square F feet so there's no um storm water mitigation required um is that is that true that you're adding less than 300 Square F feet yes yes okay um um are you removing any trees as part of this um that's all I wanted to clarify great during this part of the testimony we're going to open it up to the public for any questions remember this is uh not time for statements but questions only uh regarding the testimony that's been given for this case anyone okay uh with that do you have any concluding remarks that you'd like to give before we deliberate um I have just one question on Christ Anderson's uh memo on the review um this kind of came out um out of the blue and that is um basically maybe approving this um it may require us taking the rest of the patio out um it's a heck of a sentence to put in there um and I'm wondering you know ation are because uh you know just taking the section we took out uh cost us over $2,200 and removing the entire patio will be well over 13 or $4,000 and then to Rel landscape that area well first of all I don't want to take the patio out we've had it forever and you know then it I just don't even understand how why that would have to be done our deck's going to be so small we still have to have a place for a table and for people you know to sit and whatever it's not going to go on the deck it's just a little tiny deck I mean speaking for myself I was going to suggest before I knew that you did cut it back that you cut it back to at least even with the side edge of the house which I think oh it went further you went further that was about less than three feet and you went farther than that so I certainly have no inclination to ask for anything more know I can't speak for anybody else but but I can't speak for anybody else so we'll just listen to you thank you Tom is anyone else on the board have any concerns or would we like to consider granting that extra variance for the sidey yard setback to the patio as cut back in its current state I think we should consider it y okay I mean and Kristen notes also that the house is close to the sidey yards I mean let's make if if if we're going to Grant this application we should tie it up in a boat perfect we have letters from both of our immediate neighbors and um they they have no problem with it it's in your packet they they wanted to come a lot of people wanted to come but we thought you know I think it's an imposition to have people come here for this you know it's that's what a harder thing to do understood um before the board delivery is there any public comments regarding this case seeing none so um we have just one condition it's our usual condition here that you comply with those conditions noted in the board Engineers memorandum is that acceptable okay okay uh and then I'll just note we're down to six members currently usually we have seven so you will need four affirmative votes to approve the application tonight uh since it's C variant is being requested okay Claire you want to start us off okay um no just noting up front that I have known the ven is for several years though there's no Financial conflict but I can certainly support this um trying to remember my high school geometry I think this is a rhombus I looked it up on my phone yes okay this lot is a rhombus so particularly with the diagonal in the back um I I can appreciate how one corner of your deck is a little too close it is certainly well screened from the neighbor with with the skip laurel um the neighbor directly behind them is set very far back and if the neighbor 51 balst rooll has no objection she wrote a letter yeah I S I saw that she wrote a letter the in the winter the Landscaping looked a little thin but if she supports you that's fine I think this is a very modest request it's certainly in keeping with houses throughout Summit to have some sort of deck outdoor space um I think it's a very reasonable request um they're not pushing limits and I can certainly support this application yeah I I can support it as well I think I think if we were looking at this differently if you were coming here and said you had a deck and wanted to a patio I might be inclined to say no but I mean since the patio's already there and you already cut it back by 4T which is more than I was inclined to ask um and the Forester noted it's well screen so I don't think there's any need for screening um and you're not you don't have you're not you don't have a lot coverage issue with the with the variant so I I can support it too thank you anyone in this side I too can sorry I too can support it I think it's very reasonable as for for similar reasons yeah I mean I mean the deck is not not that big um and you know lot being the size it is is a you know constraining and um I I you know I have no problem with it great thank you uh I concur with my colleagues I think this is a very reasonable request and you are clearly being penalized by the odd shape of your lot um and it's obviously going to improve the quality of life it's all taking place in the backyard um so with that I can certainly support this application so can I get a motion to approve some moved no second Stephanie can you call the rooll please Vice chairman lyit yes Mr Yuko yes Mr Malay yes Miss to yes Miss Cho yes Mr Chuli yes the motion carries congratulations thank you good luck with your project thank you do it for you okay can we have 108 Woodland to come up please for for ready Excell perfect our board attorney Mr ball will SAR you in no if you have an introductory statement you can go ahead thank you good evening Mr chairman and members of the zoning board Johnny Mado of Dempsey Dempsey and Chen attorney for applicant Ramsey mum who is the present owner of the subject property 108 Woodland Avenue further identified as Lot 23 in Block 1203 uh and situated in the r25 single family residential zoning District tonight we respectfully request the board approve our application seeking to install uh fencing and the driveway gate uh around portions of the property there are two small sections of the proposed fencing and driveway gate which the applicant kindly requests variant relief to deviate from the strict application of the portion of the city's development regulations ordinance 35-1 14.1 uh section k5a which regulates the fence height permitted in the front yard to a maximum of 4 feet prop portions of the proposed fence and driveway gate are six uh or 7 ft in height considered uh to be in the front yard uh which I have further just highlighted in pink uh are just the sections of the fencing which um would fall under that uh that above the 4 feet uh in height uh this application is focused on taking the necessary steps to protect applicant and his family from Intruders Bad actors and other Uninvited threats from easily accessing the property applicant is a prominent public figure whose fortune and success has caused him to receive threats uh to his and his family safety and well-being recently applicant's family was placed in Jeopardy when a suspicious unknown person person trespassed onto the property parked a car in the driveway and began suspiciously investigating and taking photos of applicants home before leaving uh this recent event shows quite clearly the lack of security presently existing on the property and the urgent need for approval of this application to allow applicant to make these incredible these incredibly important improvements the variant relief sought here is cognizable under sections 40 colon 55 d-7 C1 and C2 of the ml uh due to the exceptional topographic conditions and existing uh configuration of the property and the existing improvements thereon the application the applicant suffers a hardship um of where the proposed driveway gate and fence may be placed uh additionally we are entitled to variance relief because the purposes of the ml are further Advanced by the minor deviations from the zoning ordinance proposed here the benefits derived from this relief sought uh substantially outweighs any detriment is affecting the public good or surrounding neighborhood this application encourages development of land that promotes the public safety and well-being secures safety from natural man-made threats and promotes a desirable visual environment furthermore the proposed in uh improvements are harmonious and consistent with the existing character of the surrounding neighborhood to offer testimony tonight and support of this application are Elizabeth tansky serving as the applicant's representative and Jeff Scotty the landscape designer uh we also have uh Andrew Clark surveyor and engineer here uh if needed uh I thank the zoning board for hearing this application and absent any questions the board may have for me applicants are prepared to call its first Witnesses please take oh I did have one question yeah just um want to clarify that we're looking at a C1 variance not a C2 variants yes thank you well they're they're asking for Relief under both sections so whatever board even if we don't find one we can grant it under thank you yep yeah thank you um I'd like to call Elizabeth tansy to uh the stand uh and then really quick before I start um during some of her testimony we were going to show a video um I don't know if I need to get him or if the the cord to plug in yeah I could I'll text him okay okay I'll I'll pause once we get to that all right if you could please raise your right hand do you swear from the testimony you're about to give in this matter it's the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please state your name spell your last name Elizabeth tansky t a l a NSK k y thank you good evening members of the zoning board my name is Elizabeth Lansky I am employed by Mr musum and I am his chief of staff for eight years now um I'm very familiar with the property at 108 Woodland Avenue related to this application uh and Miss toiny you're testifying under oath tonight as applicants representative correct yes um Mr M new here tonight because we're in the middle of a fund raise meeting right or fund raise right now he's in meetings um with people all over the world right now currently Asia but that is why I'm here on his behalf um and so what what is the purpose of this application um so the reason we need to put a fence up is Ramsey and family have had multiple people cars just driving on his property taking photos videos um it's I think we've had to call the cops a lot of times um we have Ace like somebody who actually watches the cameras and it's just nothing stopping people from going into the property at this moment um so that's the yeah we had U just the most recent of incidences on on that which was caught on the home surveillance video system we we have it here we wanted to show if if the board wants to see play that sure go if you're able to connect this should work is that I think this this one should work is this cable work that P work too oh it is exter scary nothing's happening hold on say sor there we go go what's the date of this video um this this particular video was a few months ago well I think the very beginning showed a 2022 date this is just one of many many times happened I thought I saw 2022 up in the top there is that see is it says just 06 colon 09 colon it's just the time um do you want this submitted as an exhibit yeah if we're showing it it should be submitted and uh marked I imagine it we're on A1 right looks provide the okay great doesn't look like you're saying this was within the past few months yeah like probably like last summer but this happens all the time people walk up the driveway they take videos while Ramsey and Laura are in their kitchen cooking dinner and it's just it's very unsettling um okay uh and so uh uh clearly right now it's it's your opinion that uh you know Alin doesn't feel as though the property is adequately protected against these these easily preventable uh uh intrusions uh correct yes and and and uh why is the existing security and privacy not meeting applicants urgent needs so Mr M's property is examed to be presented in secluded Mansion unique put sitting at top on like a small hill I would say you can see it from many different angles um around from the neighborhood but um once assessed the site is deed unsecure because a large open space with the front yard all the way to the home applicant has become very concerned for him and his children's safety there is presently no deterrence or protective measures in place that deter or prevent easy access to the property and his personal Abode U okay and you've had an opportunity to review this St review comments uh from the board of professionals and uh you had uh any comments or issues or yes I had the opportunity to review the administrative staff comments and do not have any issues or concerns with them I I have nothing further for this um for this witness if the board has any questions feel free otherwise I can move on to let me just give one little blip um so I've been with Ramsey for eight years now um in September 2021 he was named as wall Street's top secret billionaire he's currently number 92 on Forbes 400 400 list due to the due to his high net worth He is threats which I cannot go into detail about made to him and his family on a daily basis this gate will provide just an extra layer of security for him and his family thank you thank you I assume that one of your um other Witnesses is going to testify to the specifics of the fencing okay great okay does anyone on the board have any questions for this witness um I do what does are there deliveries made to the house currently do they have or do they get there packages where how how are the packages delivered currently yes they delivered through that driveway yes so so if you were to put so the cars that are driving up the driveway are also Del deling packages too yes but we have a uh camera monitoring and can also open the gate to let the packages in and then they watch them leave the property and that's in the proposal for the for the camera okay um I'm sorry one other question um the fence height do you the security concerned are they mostly people arriving by car or is anyone actually going onto the property by foot by foot as well okay and then the f you the security I'm assuming you talked to some Security Professionals they believe that size fence I mean obviously you can't go higher because it's the front yard that that's going to deter people I mean you still jump over the fence yes but it's if someone's jumping over the fence and they're calling the cops okay yes but this yeah but but if they're on the property it's also they'll be the most reasonable um fence height without you know trying to se a bearing for the whole entire fence um you know the the the property is is located in kind of where wood the na still sort of snakes uh uphill um so there's an existing retaining wall but it just doesn't it doesn't do anything uh so you know I know I think the applicant uh really seeks this to actually bolster some sort of prevented uh preventable easy access to the property which right now uh it there's nothing surrounding it you pretty much just enter from essentially any direction uh you know clearly it's for the safety of the family in nacin to have some sort of um measures that they can prevent easy access and um you know have that peace of mind and the wall so there's already the retaining wall from I mean I walked the property at least on the outside from my recol recollection it is retaining wall does go around most of the property gets a little lower I guess when you go on to woodc yes so there's that existing retaining wall it's essentially you know a couple few feet uh it just goes around the front yards uh where the property fronts uh Woodland and woodc they don't it doesn't totally extend the the whole length of the property on those sides it's just uh the large portions you know just from the street view uh you know it's more of an aesthetic touch uh but you know clearly doesn't prevent any sort of access to the property okay and just another Cur um when incidences like this happen have the police Sumit Police Department been called yeah and what have they have they made any recommend I mean they have they made recommendations they have either seen some of the people but ever Happ okay okay couple questions I don't know maybe one of the other witnesses can answer them um I just want to be clear that the proposed fence is basically on top of the retaining wall yeah I think the landscaper will be oh there's a landscaper yeah yeah I'll fill in all the details um great um anyone in the audience have questions for this witness no okay on to the next thank you thank you I'd uh I'd like to respectfully call uh Mr Jeff Scotty to the to the stand uh as a next witness if you could please you raise your right hand do you swear airm the testimony you're about to give in this matter is the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please state your name spell your last name Jeffrey Scotty SEO TTI thank you and can you briefly describe your background and experience for the board uh I'm the owner of Jeff's landscape design and construction I've been in business um this is my 30th year we're at a Cranford and majority of my work is in Summit now okay and are you licensed as a landscape architect I am not okay any questions from the board experience with heart aping yes I I've been in the bus I've been doing the business since I was 12 so I'm 52 now so I think I got a lot of experience great well accept your credentials accept my credentials yes go ahead okay uh Mr Scotty have you testified before a board in the past uh and if so were you were you accepted as an expert in the field of landscaping yes uh Summit cramp for Westfield okay uh and are you familiar with Summit and have you worked in Summit before yes we've done several projects uh big one for me was 167 Beachwood which I think I was in front of you guys twice for um 57 Prospect uh uh 54 Templar road which are some of the larger ones okay uh and are you familiar with this project yes I did I was the one that designed it okay and then uh we just have three landscape renderings we wanted to enter as exhibits um should I Mark the first yes please that'll be 82 through four two through four it's easier can is okay if I Mark the back just that's fine yeah for um so Mr Scotty uh you you designed these uh uh redering Concepts correct yes the 3D dra uh and and what is this first one this is this is Mark Exhibit 2 uh what is this first one kind of show that's the side entrance off of Woodcraft I believe it is um there's currently one gate there now that we put uh last season because kids cutting through the property um but a gate just in front of the walkway and no other fencing is really not doing the trick um so that's why we came up with the design to put the fence around the entire property um the reason there's a transfer from six foot from the 4ot to 6 foot is that the 4 foot is mainly on top of the wall which the wall is approximately from 2 and 1/2 ft to 4 feet in height so with a 4ot fence on top of the wall it it's going to help prevent or I would think people would think twice about jumping over it plus the fence is black aluminum so it's pretty transparent with the the plantings behind it we have viburnum um and large trees behind it so it's going to blend in nicely uh but where we did the six foot and the gate at the entrance that's to kind of keep it um one for security purposes but also to keep things in line with the for foot on top of the wall Mr Scotty why is the fence um not following the property line at this location and it's set in here yeah that's a very wooded um terrain there and it's steep in the back okay thank you but just one more thing just if you notice how the pathway is and um where where the backside is in pink there that's where we are also adding Evergreen so you're really not going to see the this 6 foot um from the street same with the entrance when when you'll see right right so and and this this view is consistent with with this looking at this area correct and then uh this is marked exhibit 3 uh and then uhe correct if I'm wrong this is the driveway area that's the driveway entrance correct yeah that's also up here MH so as you see that where the six foot fence is it's mainly going to be screened by Evergreens and you're really just going to see the gate and and Mr Scotty this is the the proposed fence uh all the way from the uh side yard near the driveway through to um about halfway through that side yard this is all open style uh fening correct where where it's you know pretty much uh defined under the ordinance is transparent yes pretty consistent with the neighborhood okay and and this is this this this Project's designed in a way where um not only are you not seeking to remove any Landscaping but essentially you're placing the fencing where the Landscaping does a really good job screening that correct M okay uh okay um and have you uh had an opportunity to review the staff review comments of the board of professionals and if so do you have any comments any issues with any of them nope okay um and just to confirm uh the city Foresters comments uh let me just find the date uh dated February 2nd 2024 um it's correct that it it states there's no objection there there there's no uh trees being removed okay all right thank you Mr sorry Mr Scotty can you tell us what the spacing is for the verticals on the fencing typically if you had to guess ballpark um 3 to 4 Ines okay thank you it does have finals on top so it's going to not want to have people jump over it decorative and a little bit harder to jump over and Mr Scotty this is this is the you know the most efficient way to have these these improvements um done correct there's no there's no better layout that you know no I think the fence is really transparent um especially with the large Shrubbery behind it okay uh and and uh from have you inspected the the property in the surrounding neighborhood yes okay and and there's there's properties nearby uh from your inspections that have similar improvs 100 Woodland has a 6ot gate same style okay um 128 which is on the next corner has the aluminum on top of their stone wall which is pretty much the same thing we're proposing with no Landscaping behind it yeah this is 120 Woodland um I'm 12 120 sorry okay uh and if the board requires it or you know wants to see it we we have uh you know uh examples from his uh inspections of similar uh improvements in in the neighboring area um you know I wasn't sure if it that's when the board feels compelled to look at if if they do we have it to submit um so uh and so after your inspection of these of these sites uh is it your your opinion as a landscaper that the proposed improvements here uh really fit into the character of that surrounding neighborhood I do yes okay uh and that that's all I have for for this witness if the board has any questions uh yeah um so I think you've answered my question but this would be sure so the Forester was concerned no trees removed you said none are being removed we'll be adding really say that again we'll be adding and that he asked for dark colar and I think I heard you say it was black that's part it's dark as you can get and um would it be your I mean you're giving a few renderings here is it I mean I don't even see a fence I mean it just be the rendering how visible do you think this fence will be when when it's landscap I think it's pretty accurate the way you see it it's because it's going to blend in with the tree we're putting trees behind it in front of it um so it's really to kind of you'll get a glimpse of the house but it's not going to be as visible it is now and I'm I'm just wondering I mean is is there I I I accept your testimony it sounds like it will be invisible is there a reason to to get the Forester to see some specific plant any anyone else share that concern because it sounds like he has maybe hasn't seen specific because he asked about the color you know he asked about you know the landscaping around the I deal with John a lot so I mean he knows my work so could be a question for him but yeah I would anybody else anybody else share my concern about it maybe the forest are seeing something more specific I mean it's his testimony they're not Rel living trees and he testified to the color of the fence feel like generally satisfyed yeah I I I think if if the rendering is accurate it takes away any concerns I had about that's for sure okay um I'm curious that the the retaining wall around the property is stepped um up and down and if the fence is behind it is the fence going to be one continuous height or is it stepping up and down along with the retaining wall it's going to be stepping with the retaining wall okay and okay and so then I mean as level you know yeah yeah so we're looking at perhaps as much as 8 ft from the sidewalk to the top top of the fence yes okay it will be staggered back a little bit though okay yeah so it's not going to be in your face you know and then with the vibrant there's PL things that are existing that will be growing through the fence so any other questions was there three new exhibits or just two I thought there was a third there we can show it so this this last one is just to show kind of it blending um this this portion would is technically permitted as as right as of right but you know in case they the want to see there an additional landcape rendering just kind of shows you know obviously the property is large so this is just portion of it what will look like with fening as you can see if if I could maybe ask you to maybe just kind of put your hand finger there across that where the height of the fence is or where the fence is where the fence would is in that it's right here okay the Landscaping is very mature so the I guess right behind the fence is what I'm saying the viburnum planting so there is full as they are in the rendering great so this this essenti shows this board at any questions from the audience for Mr Scotty can I ask just GNA get to you fire away um all right so I could you just clarify what you were talking about with the transition between the four feet and the six feet because it is there is there going to be a transition is it going to be four feet and then you got a six foot fence next because the the the area where the six feet starts that's where the the gray drops so the 4 foot is going to be on top of the wall so that's why the six foot will blend but on the on the plan showing that 4 feet is going to transition to six feet all on so next to the next to the grade that's on top of the wall yeah if I could so what's proposed is essentially it's fourt all the way around and then where the front yard fence would connect with the sidey Guard fence essentially it's this six foot um rise and this is on both sides it's like the grade of the property as well goes up um you know but it's it's proposed that you know it's G to be full of vegetation landscape so right but the train is pretty rugged okay so you're you're saying that there will be no abrupt change from the four feet to the like a twoot change no could you talk about the um the gate and how that's opening and closing um is it is it going into the property when it opens it's a it's a two panel gate that's what the detail look like right but it has to open out it's opening out yes okay so it's so it's not like what's on the proposed fence plan it's going to open this one shows that it's opening into the property which when I'm looking at whatever the that's what Defence company has that so if you could go back to that um rendering of the driveway with with where the gate would be I don't know if that works with the grade because that fence isn't going to be able to open in because I can see there's a that goes up right well that's we're proposing sorry we're proposing to do a whole new front apron there so the grade is will be changing oh so you're um okay so that that looks different than what is out there right now and what is shown on here is that right you're changing some of the walls and some no the walls we're not touching the walls just the we're going to do a red brick to kind of incorporate the house which is red brick okay and we're going to frame it with Belgium black which is the gray um and then up where the gate is there's going to be some regrading so that the gate opens and closes freely okay I'm I'm concerned that that doesn't really match what's on this plan then because it's it seems to me that you have to I I I don't see any elevations on this but if you're doing some regrading on the property I wasn't aware of that well well as I understand there there's no proposal to alter the grade of the property it's essentially just um I guess essentially re revising sort of the entry way they have now it's pavement um so so I think you're more satisfying that they're going to you know there's not it's not a huge change in grade um but that fence as shown on the proposed fence plan is a is a good distance in the driveway it's not it's not right at the road no me 25 to 30 ft in from the sidewalk I'm I'm just not sure how it's going to open in like it's to match when they cut the bottom of the fence high enough so that negates the safety concerns I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out which no no no to me it only seems like it could open out towards the road at least on what I'm seeing there fence is not in that you can't see the fence the fence is all the way up the driveway right that's the reason no no you can see it from the road it's just that you don't you want me to grab it for you yes can you the fence I but this grade is relatively flat so once you get around the bent it starts going up the keys hard oh all way back there so there's going to be screening of horn beams which are on this side right now and then you're going to have the ARB where the six fo fence is it's here and here and then this to the gate okay so you're testifying that it'll be shown at the location it is on the plan and it's going to open into the property not out and there's not any significant creating on driveway you have any cross-section showing the stone wall uh regarding the uh defense what's the uh offset between the def fence and the stone one approximately 2 ft 2T yes okay so it's not uh all it's not going to go it's not sitting on top of the wall yeah but it's all all around the property okay thank you and what's going to be in this two feet they have pack of Sandra right now okay like a ground cover I have a question the the gate on woodc what color is that gate right now is it it's is it black it's black it is black okay yeah so it's that's going to stay it's not going to be changed out no that's being taken out yeah to match style wise or the the existing gate yeah the gate that's on the walkway on the walkway I'm confused you talking about the gate that there is there now the 4 foot gate that's coming in out or the little gate that yeah that's coming out that's coming out and the gate's going up further up the wall so right now we have there's an exting we don't want to have it down here again it's the screen okay thank you I think you're good I think we confirmed that uh we don't have any public questions for Mr Scotty so why we switch gears to Mr Clark all right thank you does the board have any specific questions with regards to the surveying or the uh any components of the existing conditions no I don't think so okay if that's okay anything you would need to hear from Mr Clark well I I I I don't have any um elevation um or greeting on the plan so um so I I do have anything to offer about that greeting that's on the property maybe particularly at the driveway Mr Clark has to earn his fee do you swear airm the testimony you're about to give him this matters the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do please state your name spell your last name Andrew Clark c l a r ke e thank you on I'll note for the record you've appeared before us a number of times including recently any changes to your credentials since the last time you appeared no everything in good standing I imagine the board would like to accept you again welcome back Mr Clark thank you so it to my knowledge there is no significant grading that's planned for the gate area um I think it's a good point I think at worst in a space of maybe 10 or 12T you know which would be more than enough for the swing of the gate they may have to adjust slightly the the driveway grades just to make sure it marries up with not having too big a gap on the bottom and being able to make the swing but um as uh Jeff testified when you first come up and you pass where that new surfacing of the brick apron is going to change out to Red it does level off a bit before beginning a climb so I think there's ample opportunity in that space where it's planned that there shouldn't be any significant grading and to the extent there is a little bit of minor grading I think it's just going to be a slight flattening for a small section of the driveway and um there there's a um a drainage grate at the end of the driveway is that going yeah that will be maintained that'll be maintained um you know and they'll integrate the new surfacing in with that existing grate and repair it if it's necessary all right so I think that should probably take care of any any problems of of drainage run off but any swailes that need to be um you know put in to accommodate any um changes in grade that might happen at the driveway to any run off into the road yeah that that can be accommodated easily actually because in this case um I I've been involved in this property for a number of years uh before they integrated the adjacent property that um was merged with it and they first did an addition on the house and then and then merge the property that they purchased to incorporate it into the overall property as part of all those projects it's not clear on the surveys because they're relatively small uh periodically along the edge of the driveway existing there are small um drains that so there's like a a little network of drains that runs down the driveway in addition to the trench strain at the bottom that's all integrated into the design of the driveway as it was uh laid out originally so there's like pavement and then there's like a stone gutter Edge and then these periodic drains so if we need to supplement with anything there's already pip in place is I guess what I'm saying that we can connect to quite easily thank you thank you great questions for yeah this is just more for my knowledge than anything else I am guessing it's important for the gates to swing in rather than out to help an emergency vehicle get up the driveway as fast as that's c as possible is that one reason that's one reason I'd say another reason is a little more practical so say you're a guest who's coming to to visit the residents you're going to pull up and there's probably a keypad or you know some way to communicate um if you've pulled up too far and the gate begins opening that way then you have a conflict um so so opening towards the property is the is the the best way for that to happen in addition to what you just mentioned thank you any questions from the audience for Mr Clark see n great thank you no other Witnesses uh no other Witnesses fantastic no other Witnesses concluding remarks for us uh sure thank you uh uh inmation applicant uh respectfully request the zoning board approve this application uh for for variance relief to permit the certain portions of the fence and driveway gate improvements that EX exed 4ot maximum height permitted in the front yard of the property uh the statutory criteria has been met as set forth in the testimony and evidence presented here tonight by applicant applicant experts which demonstrates that the proposed fence and driveway gate keeps out trespassers without resulting in it substantial detriment to the public good the the the RW iron style black aluminum fence is attractive open style fencing that provides an aesthetic uh and pleasant visual appeal uh from the street view the existing Landscaping of the property provides screening that further minimizes any perceived negative visual impact that may result from the installation of the driveway gate and fencing uh the fencing the proposed fencing is in custom and fogue with the surrounding neighborhood uh and uh the proposed development will neither result in a substantial detriment to the public good nor a substantial impairment of the intent and purposes of the zoning plan and zoning ordinance um thank you again to the zoning board uh for hearing and considering this application thank you so much all right and I've just got our usual condition here of compliance with those conditions noted in the board Engineers memorandum yeah I yes thanks who'd like to start thank you um in fact safety here is a is a major issue and I uh I believe that the fence won't uh uh uh uh won't be have any negative impact on the view of the beautiful property that you have uh I do support thetion excellent thank you yeah um this is at least the second time I've sat on hearing with this applic with this the applicant and property same applicant at the time same owner beautiful property you know that no question about that um and I understand the applicant's argument the need for security and um that the fencing you know assuming the renderings are accurate it's certainly not going to be visible um and obviously that means there's no detriment to the public good and um and there's nothing there's no impairment to to the intent of the zoning ordinance and um you know I'm I'm happy that they're committed to maintain the Landscaping to look as nice as it is now maybe even better so I I can support it as well and I too can support it um without repeating what my fellow board members have said the the six- foot portion of the the fencing 6 and 7t um closer to Woodcraft Road um is well off the street it's not going to be visible it's heavily wooded um the area to the left of the driveway as you're standing at the base again very heavily wooded um I'm there on your security camera this afternoon try trying to figure out exactly where the fence fits in there so really the only portion that could even be visible from the street would be the um the gate and then the the 6ot section to the right of the gate but the applicants provideed testimony that the height is going to be consistent across the top so it's not going to look jarring um the HPC is in support of this they think it's in keeping with the neighborhood so I to can support this excellent uh I agree with my colleagues for me I think this is an interesting case because once again you could bring in um the notion of scale to this property you have um some frontages that are almost 300 feet long and for someone to be able to tell me they could spot the difference between a 4 foot or six foot fence across a three 278 foot span um seems challenging to me so um maybe that's something else we revisit as we make recommendations on changes to the drro that there should maybe be a scale consideration for fencing um but yes I I absolutely agree that the uh benefits outweigh the detriments I don't see any detriments at all so uh with that I'm in favor of this application um can we get a motion to approve moved second Stephanie call Vice chairman lit yes Mr Yuko yes Mr Malay yes Miss to yes Miss Cho yes Mr Chuli yes the motion carries you could just leave them over there yeah that's fine Y is that okay good plan we're going to take a five minute recess e e e e e e e e e e uh you guys want to the applicants please come forward and this is 35 beakman Terrace uh we're looking at Jennifer shakon and Brian Hamlet right correct yes okay uh well who's going to be doing the majority speak are you both going to testify or if you need one of us we jump in that's fair right so if each of you could please raise your right hand do you swear the testimony you're about to give in this matters the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth and one at a time please state your name spell your last name Jennifer j i r c c yep you just got married she changing your name [Laughter] you're swearing to that huh r i m thank you congratulations and why don't you uh tell us why you are here and put in exhibit a pack first uh A1 is a package or did do you have something you want to say yeah I I I do want to jump in um and I understand I've heard that there has been an agreement between you and a number of the neighbors um I do I was provided a copy of that agreement it's also okay great um so what we would normally do in these cases and what I'll be requesting to do is including um compliance with that agreement as a condition of the application and attaching that as an exhibit to the resolution if the matter is ultimately approved so any any issues with doing so no great thank you and that just for reference it's the uh agreement among the applicants and neighbors dated February 29th 2024 when would be a good time to ask questions about that agreement we I I imagine we would hear their testimony first and then maybe raise those questions afterwards okay so how are we putting this we putting the whole package in as A1 yes and then we're not going to accept this as a separate if it's in in the package what should we do about that uh we don't need it as a separate if it's included in there that's fine okay so then the package is A1 okay please um do we need to talk about Witnesses also I'm sorry procedurally when we talk you could just go ahead with your testimony you need to testify to us what what it is that you're planning to do and give us and then call any Witnesses you may have okay so we are submitting an application for a support court and it's on the the side of our yard and if you look at the the property line which you can see page nine which is the landscape Improvement since we bought the house back in 2021 um the hardship arises when you look at the way the property was built over a hundred years ago where the house was set relative to the property line uh putting a sport court in the backyard would effectively eliminate any sort of livable area in the backyard and doesn't make a ton of sense of where it was in the backyard so the proposal is to put it where a pool used to exist when we moved in we filled in the pool level and leveled out the ground um and just much more space over on that that side piece of the art those dimensions are actually on page 30 which shows uh the dimensions of the East Side yard where we're proposing to put the sport court and also the dimensions of the rear yard um just to give you some perspective of it but there's a uh 134 uh just under 135 ft on the east side relative to 56 ft in the backyard the depth and also from an an aesthetic standpoint if you look at the the side of the yard where the the proposal for the sport court is there is actually a a burm where it goes down so from the street that portion of the yard is sunk in I think seven or 8 ft so if you're looking at the sport court from the road and we have a land plan to provide coverage as well on the Frontage and on the side um where the CH house is um it would hardly be visible even from from the street just given the way that the ground undulates just for normal protocol these pictures who were they taken by and when uh they were taken around Christmas time of last year by myself uh 2023 2023 yes okay sometimes get confused yeah so um I mean one of the questions I think that came up in this is that you know why has there been so many revisions um we originally applied for this um in I believe no September October November of last year um at the time we hadn't thought about lighting and so we postponed to add in a lighting then and at which time we had some concerns from the neighbors that were brought to us the morning of the meeting I believe which was in January um so given that the concerns that were still existing the morning of the meeting we thought it best to postpone and address those concerns and so we apologize for the multiple revisions of the plan and for postponing it but we didn't want to waste the board's time um given it seems like there were multiple concerns and issues within from our neighbors that needed to be addressed first which which was the Genesis of the the legal document that NE came together with the neighbors um they I think articulated very well what what it was they wanted to see sport court and we made uh concessions against the original plan such that uh any concerns that our neighbors had with it uh were uh alleviated and if you want now go over those concerns real quick um so couple of the adjustments to the plan was the location of it um the court was moved um further to the West away from uh the adjacent neighbor's property line um to make the set back further and it was also moved uh further away from the road so closer to the rear of the property as per their request um the size of the rept was uh reduced uh we originally requested um 75 by 35 um and we've reduced the court to 50 by 30 um as per our requests which is a reduction a significant reduction of like um over 11 around 1125 ft um and the last is we you know scrap the lighting plan Al together and no pickle ball either so the size of the Court will only allow us to play um basketball uh because it's the square footage of it it will not allow us to play any the other sports on it now so there won't be uh another concern was pickle ball so there will be no pickle ball no battle or anything like that um we also provided um some covering um as Brian mentioned the location of it does provide some natural covering um given that there's uh 78 ft that it uh depth is lower how did I say that the land elevation drops the elevation drops um but there's also um uh PL Evergreens and um H and Hol to also further uh cover it from on both the neighbor side the front and um so both the East and the west side so that it provides coverage from the road and also from is is your landscape architect one of your Witnesses or um engine this is Tony our engineer can you answer questions about that yeah absolutely um yeah so what on your list to go uh so I would say as well um we just wanted to show you some pictures of what the property originally looks like um when we purchased the home in 2021 and uh just give you a summary of the work that we've done since we've been there we had an extensive um uh Landscaping plan that was uh executed over the first six months that we lived there um it's all P detailed on page eight for you and there's pictures of what it looked like previous and what it looks like now well unfortunately we did not get a chance to read this ahead of time so you're going to have to take us through it sure and explain it Page by Page and let us I I hate to take the time but I think it's appropriate for the board to hear all of your uh because I think some of this stuff is coming also from Google uh Google Earth uh where you seem to be getting things from other properties so you're going to need to explain sorry almost every page to so that we all understand that's unless ourney differently up to you if you want to hear it and even before we get that could you please clarify the variances you're seeking yes the variance to put a score card on right is that a C1 variance is that a C2 variants I mean what what are you asking us so we know that the standards that so that we know what criteria we are examining I will be talking about the variances later on okay so you're going to be testifying you will be testifying one and C VAR okay all right do anybody want to hear the whole thing or do you want yeah I have a question what would be the main uh purpose of this uh field uh what kind of sports you're uh driving uh there will be uh plenty of guests or just uh for training purposes if you could explain or uh give us more information about the use of this primarily will in basically I would Envision 99% of the time only be used for basketball we have six children four of which are boys uh they are from the ages of third grade until 11th grade all in the summit uh school system so we bought this house with the intention of making it our forever home until you know the kids are of grown age but they're all very active in sports and uh the boys in particular so maybe I uh there will be some exception like lacrosse like football like uh any kind of handball we play football in front typically a condition of acceptance so one of the things they've noted um in the agreement I know we haven't gone through everything line by line um but they have restricted against pickle ball specifically um and I don't believe there's any proposal to address other forms of sport limitations in there Beyond pickle ball do primarily noise basketball court I don't none of our kids play lacrosse um and I don't think you could really play the cross on it anyway and football is generally on a a grass tennis field uh it won't be large enough for tennis so no what sorry um what's the size of a regulation basketball court compared to the proposal uh it it's less than half of the size of a regulation basketball court yeah it's going to be less than half but it's it's essentially going to be like a half court but if you look at the actual dimensions of what a true half court would be this is even less than what a half court is so one net and then like the key yeah and that's why in the packet um starting around page 18 we put comparable not comparable actually much larger sport courts that are already in place in town uh and this one relative to the set of peers and actually on page 17 Page 17 is actually a table you can see that in terms of just the outright absolute size and particularly the size versus the size of our lot it's relatively small wait a second this says 50 feet by 3et that's an eror that should be 30 okay I apologize wor that'd be a really narrow Court um so did you want to go through the we go through the improvements I guess our point of just showing you the improvements and what we did is that you know we take we're great care of this home um it's 120 plus year old home and when we originally bought the home and when we entered all we've done since we've gotten there is try to beautify it and improve it um um try to make it as aesthetically pleasing for the neighborhood as we possibly could um we're not looking to do any different by by adding this court and and I think even beyond that we we a lot of efforts to the improvements we did make particularly on the outside uh the previous owners hadn't gotten around to that when they sold the house um everything we did was consistent with the Georgian design of the house um for example the the patio wrapping around the house when we bought the was bought the house was concrete stepped for concrete we restored it to a stone face uh blue stone and Limestone patio um the driveway was basically dirt road we restored that to a Belgium Block curb with pstone uh gravel all the way around we built FMS out to the left and right of the driveway exits and planted trees out there we removed a ton of really Deadwood pine trees that were in the yard and replace them with Hol dog Woods Birches um and net added I I think probably 10 to 15 trees during that whole process and one of the things as well is there was a very old pool that was in the spot of where we're looking to put the basketball court or sport court now um um so the impervious coverage of which it wouldn't that we're adding relative to the pool that we took out is is is quite minimal um and it's in the exact same location of where the existing pool was when we purchased the home do you plan to add a pool in the backyard no that was actually before we moved in it was that was a thought at the time but no we do have anymore filling that pool was great and there was actually we filled in the're glad we filled in the pool because that area was so wooded and hadn't been I guess taken care of there was Burman there was reptiles there was all kinds of stuff when we started pulling everything out all right um and any other questions for the these Witnesses okay then why don't we go ahead uh anyone from the public have any questions for these two witnesses seeing none anything from you no okay I think it it may make sense just to have Miss Alfonso come up quickly and confirm that everything they've mentioned so far about the agreement and adding it into the resolution Miss Alonso represents the neighboring Property Owners yes that's consistent with your understanding of the agreement is that right yes exactly okay that's why I haven't said anything but if you need me on here thank you thank you thank you Miss alons why don't you grab the seat next to our and that way if you need to jump in thank you we don't have to wait for you to come all the way back okay you have any uh any other from the Tony or engineer from the uh from the public first okay but you now have another uh witness okay so I have a we're going to swear we're going to swear you in and qualifications and all this other wonderful if you could raise your right hand please do you swear Fromm the testimony you're about to give in this matter the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do please state your name spell your last name first name is Antoine a n t o i n last name is haar ha a JJ A R thank you and can you briefly describe your background and experience for the board sure um I was the township engineer for Ron Township for about 15 years and I had my private company on the side now I'm working for the city in New Brunswick as their board engineer and city engineer and Al also working for Bernardsville BAU and Li license in New Jersey is obviously in good standing license in New Jersey is good standing I have a New Jersey professional engineering license New Jersey Professional Land Surveying license and professional planner okay any questions from the board would you like to accept his credentials I think we will accept your credentials I've testified in Summit before as well so okay thank you um why don't you just take the ball and run with it sure so I'm going to take you through the plan I I know they told you everything already so I I don't know how much stuff I'm going to add to it but uh sheet one of the plan is basically the existing condition except that the pool is shown on the plan that has been removed back in 2022 so the existing condition basically two and a half story frame dwelling the driveway um circular driveway and uh covered covered Porsches and that's basically the improvements on the property and the existing shed which is about 90 96 it's it's a vinyl Shed from Home Depot that you know can be moved easily it's not a permanent structure so d the original uh plan this is basically the variance plan the second sheet the original plan we had what which was submitted to the zoning department was a 75 by by 35 uh Sports sport court and was just about 15 ft from the property line the side property line ad joining lot 18 to to the east and obviously that was denied and uh the reason being denied is because a sports sports courts are not permitted in the side yard they're only permitted in in the rear yard so we we did we did fill out the application for a variance plan and we shifted the court a little bit based on the conversation I had had with the zoning office officer she suggested that we move the court a little bit so we moved it so at that time we had uh 18 ft from lot 18 the property line from lot 18 was 18 ft and we had 40 ft from the rear property and we were scheduled to be heard on November 6 and you know this is when it was getting dark at 6 o'clock or four o'clock I'm sorry so the the the applicant uh considered uh that light may be needed so we we requested that the application be carried and we amended our application to include four po lights two on either side of the field with the PS of 12 ft High which are compliant with with your zoning ordinance and then then they they went on and basically they they met with the neighbor and so on and so forth and this is our final revision so the proposed court is now 50 feet long by 30 ft wide it's 30.7 ft from lot 18 cty line and 40.2 feet from the rear of U the rear property line which is lot four so then is basically our grading plan we're doing minimum grading for this project uh the in previous coverage the pool was 1,1 Square ft U and the proposed field is 50 by 30 which is500 so the dep we increasing the in previous coverage by 499 square feet and to mitigate that improv average we're proposing dryw well in the back of the property the dryw is 8 ft uh in di I'm sorry it's it's a 10x10 excavation with the tank being 8 ft in diameter and 2 feet high and I believe uh the your board engineer confirmed that we comply with your ordinance uh so we also proposing uh eight uh Green Giant arui along the east side of the court to screen the court from La 18 which is to the east of our property and we're proposing six Nelly Stevens aali along the front and the side so the Port cannot be seen from uh mman terus in addition on the plan uh in that field the hash area is basically uh steep slopes so the to explain it easily basically we have two Fields one where the proposed court is which is about 3T lower than the front and furthermore that field is about 5T lower than the road so the screening and everything else nobody's going to be able to or it's not going to be uh seen from uh big minars uh the the field itself is basically 4 Ines of uh 3/4 Stone dense aggregate uh two inches of Base pavement and inch and a half of surface course so it's like uh small barking area and to uh instead of having it black black top they decided to use these uh metaflex which is basically the flooring do you want me to do this as an exhibit or so I don't know if you want these as an exhibit you want me to pass them around you want to take a look I don't think we plan on holding on to those as an exhibit if anyone wants to see them up close we can I know there was a lot of question about them so we got samples can you describe it for the record please yeah it's basically a 12 by 12 plastic uh rubber PVC to basically when you're running and stuff like that it's soften on your feet and it provides nice aesthetic color to to to instead of being blacked up you know all the way through that's what I was going to ask is this is it going to be blue or black we haven't finalized any colors I know there was a concern about it I think we had mentioned that we would stick to a dark color so like a navy blue not like that bright but like navy blue or like a hunter green that maybe would blend in with grass or something of that sort something that was dark and not light reflecting either um and the specs of the material if you're interested is on page 46 any questions on the materials before we put it away I how how do you install it and is it um is it something that's going to slide around how is it no there basically it Clips together between the the 12 by 12 and there's a trim around the field that gets attached to the pavement so the trim around the side is attached everything else is set in place that's correct that's all nothing else from on these on this anything from the public on the uh on the materials itself good ah ask one question I'm sorry I'll you the board thank you um oh I'm sorry someone asked that question okay just use a microphone hi uh my name is Dolly blano we live across the street um at 30 beakman Terrace my concern with the uh the material is just questions at this point oh I'm sorry oh the color is going to be blue and have you consider the run off from this what about the drainage okay that was actually going to be my question but glad you asked it okay should I sit I'm waiting for an answer that's all that's all that was really my concern was is there going to be sheet run off or you know well that is a question however I don't know how to State it so it's not a question we've got the question we got it anyway so that was um my question had they considered the runoff and I know there is going to be a drrive well but how about sheet run off um and affecting can can the engineer answer sure so basically we we took took in the roof water because the neighbor in the back has complained about some water issues so in that the field by itself is far away from the neighbors 30 fet uh from this lot 18 and 40 ft from lot four so for is going to sheep flow it's I don't I don't believe it's going to even get to their neighbors depending on the Storm but again we we wanted to address the neighbor behind us because he mentioned about having some issue with water so we piped the roof water to to the dry well so I have a I have a question about this um the the pool has already been removed is that right correct yes so in speaking with the city engineer I think um you can't you can't take credit for the pool having been there you actually have to mitigate for the impervious coverage that you're putting in so I think is that correct you actually took credit for the pool I did take credit because I talked to the city and they told me I could do that and maybe I think they brought it up to me that they that could not take credit for it because it was it's no longer grandfathered in um I don't know I mean when was the pool removed sometimes in 22 I'm not sure what the date is I don't recall the exact date before the application was pending certainly then yes so I mean we have seen cases where it's simultaneous work that goes on I don't believe we've seen anywhere a 2year you know approximately Gap has been credited so you know if the board um were likely to vote in favor of this if they if you wanted to leave that up to um engineering discussions to make sure that the water was mitigated so potentially you're talking more dryw right yeah right and right now what they're doing is they're collecting a portion of their roof runoff to to compensate for the additional prvious coverage which is what you you have always um looked at um in this case it might be that it would be increasing the the dry Wells that are coming from the roof and then mitigating all of that um Sport Court by doing that it could be something where they're collecting water actually from the sport court I you know it just as long as they're mitigating for the amount of additional impervious coverage and and I my understanding from from talking with the city was that um because the pool has already been removed that the sport court has to be taken as new impervious coverage and not a difference if I could just say one thing we do also already have a dryw for the roof runoff so this is in addition to the already existing dryw I don't know if you want to speak to that do you know where that dryw is were the existing Drive well I think what we need to know are the numbers what is the number that we need to have it it would be it would area of this of this of this Sport Court which iset so it's it's not too far from the say clean out that's the inspection see oh near the inter came out in the back yeah okay so in this he's um he's saying that the existing seage pit is in the same general area as the one that he's proposing so what are you collecting do you know what part of your roof goes into that I don't know I can't I would just say as a guest but I would think theut we tried to the plan from the city but we could we could I couldn't get them so so is it possible then that what you're proposing to collect from the existing roof is already being collected into another area could be um but again um I know there there's runoff going from there's a pipe where we see water coming out of I believe it's from the roof and that's why you know to prevent it from going to the on L three that's why we propos that dryw well where it is okay I'm just thinking that it needs to be um it needs to be larger than what it is to account for the entire sport court and not the difference between the two what would prevent you from designing a a capture or drainage system for the sport court nothing I mean we could we could we could put TR drain uh where you know the the water will sheet flow from the court and connected to a drywell but again talking to the city when we first applied for zoning I was told that the pool counts so that's why we we didn't do anything with the Sports Court I think when that the application first went in if I recall from prior conversations there was some confusion on the city's part about whether the pool was still there or not so it's entirely possible the city official did not realize that the pool use had been abandoned and the pool had been filled in I did tell him about the pool okay the pool was removed well uh perhaps we can come up and with a compromise that won't delay this it should the board decide to say yes uh and somehow with a condition of approval um require the a negotiation between the two City Engineers ours and theirs and uh when they come up with the uh the the right proper answer that the applicants will uh comply with whatever that uh that decision is and so I think what I've heard so far is a combination of two things a submission of a storm water management plan which would account for both a trench drain collecting water from the sport court itself as well as updated plans for the appropriate size of the drywall and that would be submitted to our board engineer for review and approval does that accurately capture what you're looking for I'm okay with that okay any concerns with that so eliminate the roof part of it just capture the court I think you need to design the system you're not to for right yeah all of it right so so it needs to um it needs to capture the the the water that's running off from the additional impervious coverage which is the equ area of the court that makes sense to put a trench drain in around the court capture that and put that into a seage pit I I I like that idea and I think it it kind of satisfies some of the neighbors concerns as well yes um that's that's what my thought would be so if I understand this correctly I don't have to collect the roof water anymore just collect the the court correct right but you're not proposing to impact the existing dryw that collects the roof water right no absolutely not okay whatever you proposed will be looked at by our by our engineer and approved by our engineer or not approved by our engineer and you won't move forward until it is yeah I'm I was asking my clients to see if they're agreeable yes yeah yeah I already asked okay uh any um so this submission will go to your board engineer or it when the resolutions are passed you'll be able to read it you'll be able to um make your decisions as you move forward so you got a month to wait and you can pick up the phone and talk to the to the two Engineers if you wish and now Marie do you want that to go to you should it go to the city engineer um I I don't know that it matters to me it doesn't matter as long as I mean if that's captured in the resolution um you know the city engineer can certainly handle that okay okay any further questions on this particular topic from the public sir my name is uh L blano I'm at 30 beat in Terrace and uh I'm speaking on behalf of neighbors who were here last time this was presented who are on beakman Road uh who had exper sir let me interrupt you really quick first you you're an attorney or no no so then you're not going to be speaking on behalf of anyone tonight but this portion is also just for questions alone so you'll have an opportunity to provide your opinion at the end of the matter but if you have questions about this topic Now's the Time I will wait until uh thank you thank you okay any other question uh questions from the public none okay um I wanted to continue with the rest of your testimony so that that's concl concludes my engineering testimony if unless there's any more questions I think we covered that are there I guess I have a question can I actually see that the surface um samples and is it in terms of we have to keep because I touch it okay because you touch it um in terms of sound what is I mean if like a ball bouncing off of this versus a ball bouncing off of like asphalt what is does anyone can somebody opinion like so I tried to research some of the stuff about noise and I couldn't find any information regarding noise I'm assuming the plastic will be less but again I I couldn't find any any data regarding noise with with plastic stuff I think this is quite a common material that's used like there's bunch of different manufacturers and a bunch of different types of Brands but in general most courts these days from my understanding are used with this material for one for safety of the children um that they're not getting injured falling Etc so like if you fall and you would break your arm on an ash this type of material that's not the case because of the boyancy that it it provides and then also for adults who are very active in sports and it's easier under joint any other questions the board any questions overall on the gentleman's testimony you have one um is the existing currently working do you see any water ping around now I didn't see any water how would we do that what does that do with the sportt it's it's a water issue and when we cover when we cover them all when we cover one we cover them all um I mean we're providing drywalls for that P we're not doing anything with the house I'm not sure how I understand overall not we're not touching the the house drainage at all we're they were touching it before but now they're not so it would have made sense if we used the other plan but we're not using it anymore no I understand I think that I'm I'm getting to I think there's an existing water issue the neighbors have been can you describe it I think we'll hear that in we'll get to that portion at testimony at the end we're going to get there okay any other questions for any okay do you have any other Witnesses yeah I thought you wanted the applicants to go through this package with us well I now now that we've gone through all of this okay I will ask the board if they feel that they would need to go through the full package with them don't um no but I I guess I have just generalized questions that I thought were going to come up during that okay well we can ask generalized questions anybody okay I got the answer on that side which I heard one no one yes and uh one I didn't hear uh and and what what the response on this side do you want to go through it page my no no I have a couple questions about the agreement which is part of that package oh well we'll get yeah we'll get to that I think we're going to talk about the agreement uh almost as a separate item and I may ask myself pzo to do that and do a review of it but I'd like to hear some testimony about why you should be why why we should be granting this variance what the need is and specifically what the need is when you live one very low traic block from from a school with a bunch of sports facilities around it uh yeah I was going to say the basketball courts there are not usable they have not been serviced and I don't know when the couple of times that my kids have gone down to that basketball court they the pavement is not even it's an uneven pavement that is not maintained and they've Fallen multiple times U most I mean this is a minor thing but the Hoops most of the time don't even have Nets um the rims you can't even shoot the ball because they're so tight and they're probably like 30 years old um so specifically the facilities that I have used at Wilson are have not been maintained or not really it's not a usable basketball court if you're talking about a baseball field sure um I know they've used the pickle ball courts there and I believe that those from my knowledge I have not used them but I think also just from a piece of Mind standpoint Point particular with the younger kids um had them playing basketball in our yard um which again that's fairly common uh versus them being out of site down the street uh at school from my perspective and the safety perspective it just makes a lot more sense and also I don't believe there are any I could be wrong in this but I don't believe there's any lights down there so again and we're not going to have lights here but if it's dark out and the kids do say I don't care if there's not lights and I want to go outside and play when it's dark at 5 o' in the evening if they want to go out and shoot around in the dark then they can but then we're not going to allow them to go walking down the road to do that especially to nine-year-olds and the other thing is based on what we have here is just canvasing the area around us there's six humongous cours on bman road just right then those are all very very deep narrow Lots with those tennis courts backed up against the railroad tracks there's some on the side on on the side as well like 247 a can place and 80 80 what what well the Kent play the Kent Place homes then back up against Bristol Meyer squibs one of the the Prospect Hill roads is actually an entire lot that sits next to the the residents because they were here before us a few years ago um yeah there's there's one there's a court without principal structure an accessory structure without principal so right that's a violation of no they they were before us um they got variance for it I don't know up the top of my head yeah I thought that that they got the variance for the swimming pool that the tennis court had already been there again that's not yeah there there's no such thing as pres reason for us to necessarily do this and that's what she's asking for what is the valid reason that we should be doing it when I just go back again to the shape of our property um and we you know we don't even have the capability of putting a basketball hoop on our driveway because it's the entire driveway is sloped well one the part of the driveway that's in the rear of the house there's a slope to every part of the driveway so it's not like you can even just throw up a basketball hoop and have them dribble around in the driveway because they're you're on the slope the entire time and there you can also the detriment of not having any space in the rear back if you look in the believe it's the northeast corner of the property um has a very steep slope going down so we would be back here in front of you asking for a variance as well and I think we actually spoke to the town about it previous to doing this and they asked us not recommended against putting it there they want they wanted us to stay away from M who do you know who that was that you talked to uh theot the house is vacant the lated it's in bad shape and who did you talk to that said don't put it there uh the zoning officer okay because Christ Anderson recommended it not be there Christ Anderson correct okay I just want to make sure we're talking who said what just saying I talked to someone doesn't always give us the answer we you um Claire you had others um that's off the top of my head maybe somebody else's questions will spark something okay any well I'm putting the court in the backyard would be beyond the rear yard sitb back correct yeah I mean we'll be closed but again that will eliminate their backyards mhm and it would also be more visible from the street where where is the um the basketball hoop G to go is that a permanent structure or is that um a movable one permanent permanent and where is that is that going to go on the long side the short side I'm not sure I don't think we generally have a preference honestly completely open that well when you paint it you're going to know where you're putting it yeah right well I know they're not painting right they're putting those snap boards this right so you're going to I don't think they're going to move they probably come in different colors to put the lines yes that's correct so you would know you would have to know where the where Pole's going to be when you order your supplies yeah we will what we don't know now is what saying well we don't know go either way going go it'll go on the long side whether it's uh on the east side or the west side is to be determined but it's only one back Fort or is it two it's a half court it's a half court so you only have one back Fort okay I'm not I'm not a basketball I have a expert so that's why I may not the answer all the right after 10 I believe adjustable any other from the board I have go ahead I have a question actually for it's from maray on um number 12 on your report it says no additional sports equipment has been proposed so is that the backboard been an addition to that yeah it was it was that I didn't see anything about next because I didn't know what was going to be played on there when I looked at it I thought you know you could be doing street hockey if you're doing street hockey you need some kind of Nets that are going to be there where are we storing and you moving that over somewhere is it going to be in a shed like I just had questions about where equipment going to be and um there's some things that you could have that would be movable yeah so that was so when you said so there was nothing even even here it said um backboards well they they have a portable shed so I assume most stuff would go into the portable shed if it didn't there's nothing removable what there's nothing removable okay I thought the shed was removable no the shut is but you're asking where the equipment would go to so it's going to be there's no it's going to be a backboard on US basketball court okay okay okay I guess we've heard all of the witnesses so now we'll go to you can have a seat sir um at this point we should go to um opinion from the public so this is the time for you to come forward be sworn and provide us with uh your information your thoughts no no no that's okay you could raise your right hand do you swear airm the testimony you're about to give in this matters the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do please state your name spell your last name uh Lou Blanco BL a n c o and I mainly wanted to make the board aware aare that uh Neighbors on beakman road uh had a lot of concerns in fact last time this was due to come up we had filled a couple of rows here because they've experienced some extensive water issues over the past two years since modifications have been done on the property so I think it's important that uh due consideration go into the drainage and uh and uh the dry Wells and catching we run off from the roof as well as from the Sports Court okay thank you what's your address sir 30 bigman terce and have you experienced the water issues on your property no because we are uh on the high side okay across the street from 35 thank you any other please again I'm Dolly Blanco if you can raise your sorry do you swear from the testimony you're about to give this Mage the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes and please state your name spell your last name yes it's Dolly Blanco Dorothy Blanco BL a n c o and I'm at 30 beatman teris thank you we were not made aware initially of the color of the sport court and I have to be honest we live directly across the street from the property we look every morning I get up bedrooms look out the window at the property my concern is the blue I know that may not be concerned to anybody else but um so it's not going to be that blue right not that blue no these are just samples yeah it's going to be the black it would be yeah you can see the colors in here and I'm happy to give that to you there's dark there's a dark navy blue which is almost a black I I don't feel a piece and there might approve or not approve of it I'm just voicing my concern being that I mean we wake up every morning I look out and right now it's a little country gravel road with no lighting no anything so my concern is the Aesthetics of the road um and being having this visible um and I know they say it won't be visible from the road but um there is a lot of plantings over there now we've done a lovely job with the property I must say but it's my concern is the color and and the view that we would have from our home I also did have a question about with the the the fencing around it I didn't realized you didn't know where the the basketball court would be is there going to be fencing around this Sport Court no fencing okay that's it there will be as is in the plan 15 12 to 15 foot trees right across the bu which given the trees already there you'd have to be at a fairly high angle looking down to actually see any Court just clear those 12T trees that's going to be on top of like there's an indentation so it's on top of the BM so the 12ft tree plus the drop so you'd have to be maybe 80 or 75 degree angle from above to actually see the court anywhere from anywhere near the road and this is 130 ft away from the road right yeah thank you any it's 12T high that time of planting if correct any other public comment I would at this point keep public come and open and ask Miss alonsa who represents the um the opponents and they' come up with a um with an agreement if you would explain to the board the agreement and the highlights of the points it's without that reading thing I hope yes thank you I I think uh thank you to the applicants they think they did a great job of uh explaining the the basics of the agreement um so I'll quickly go through it one was um that the it conform with the revision the revised plan dated February 18th that the board has received I understand that was been submitted and it's also attached to this agreement um and that moved the court as the applicant said a bit further away from uh the neighbors no lighting will be added for the court uh the reduction in size to 30 by 50 the Landscaping discussed at least 12 ft in height at planting there is a notice request requirement here if any changes to the plans were contemplated um the neighbors will not oppose or appeal the decision of the board so long as everything is consistent um that that's really it and also they pick there will be no pick thank you noted in there and as previously discussed I thought I had in there uh this this question on the color um but I think that we uh just agreed that they were going to do a neutral color and I think yes I believe the testimony was a darker neutral color that will be used can can we make that a condition just any objection okay thank you yep and that's been agreed to by all your yes all your clients and neutral dark okay no how I have a question about the color that that's for the main surface and then the lines will be white so they will be light we can use a dark another darker color so we can contrast two darker colors by right for the line so they don't have to be maybe like a gray why are white lines an issue no no I'm just saying it's to say it's a dark cord it's not if there's going to be some there's going to be some lines on the court so it's not going to be to sit there and right say the whole Court's going dark it's not going to a sports Court they're going to have to put some line the main surface color will majority of the darker neutrals okay everybody happy with that good um any other questions yeah I have some questions about the agreement if that's all right um I I I love the idea I'm very happy you all were talk about all this but I'm just wondering what happens when the Blancos or the or the ch's or the Zimmerman move or sell a house and move are do is there any requirement that the new owners have to be made aware of this before they buy the house I mean I I just seeing agreement like this before so it's going to be incorporated into the resolution of approval so technically if there is a string and somebody starts playing pickle ball in the agreement it would be enforcable from a zoning violation perspective regardless of who the next neighboring owner may be so would there be requirement that the new owners be made aware of this agreement otherwise how would they know or I mean it's not like something we put deed restrictions so obviously then they know what a deed restriction is it it would be a matter of public record you know all all resolutions are I know they're not owners need to do their own due right yeah I think that's part of disclosures I'm not a real estate transaction expert I'm not sure exactly um but it would be open public record yeah I know that I'm I'm not a real estate agent either but I know there are some rules that certain things have to be dis any any known bold issues or you God knows what else but I mean Please be aware that 130 ft away there's a 30x50 flat surface that's dark green that looks like grass that's surrounded by 12ft tall trees yes yeah be aware is there any way that uh as condition of approval it will be just for a basketball court period we haven't talked about that we've only talked about the Restriction in pickle ball we could ask or we spoke about basketball here that's what I remember right but we're we haven't as a board contemplated any restriction on any other uses aside from pickle ball that they've already agreed to if the board feels that that's necessary it can be requested I I what what's your concern I'm and what what might be worse than basketball i a a sport a sport court is really a wide range you can do ice hockey you can do there's no SP can you can s basketball is just a one sport and I would be uh concerned and I would not support anything above a basketball because that was what was discussed and and uh discussed with the board and that was the application so I can't the neighbors only had an issue with pickle ball yeah I mean if if their kids want to play hacky sack who cares or or kick a soccer ball and add a goal or something right I have some problem if it's uh it's it uh any anything that's throwing with a racket how about a sport like feet a sport hypothetically there's if there's nothing installed there they could go out and play with a bracket play lacrosse do anything else there's there's nothing preventing Sports in an area of the yard all right so why are we calling it a sport not a basketball court because we're not restricting it only to basketball not as I hear it so we no highlight please that's my opinion no it's it's your opinion and then certainly you're entitled to it and we get appreciate everything you put into all of these things um but again it's up to the whole board board to make that decision I have a I have a question along those same lines so I mean a pickle ball wasn't around when I was little I don't know when it came around and this house has obviously been here a really long time so there could be another sport that is almost more annoying than pickle ball that's not in this agreement I don't think that's [Laughter] possible I just think that to say pickle ball is is just too specific like I said I don't I know when pickle B came but wasn't around when I was younger 1976 76 yes it wasn't around when I was born so there you go specific all and it wasn't around where I grew up okay um we're kind of getting into the executive session portion which I want to hold off on if we can um are there any other opinions to be expressed from the public um at this point we would go uh close everything should we get to I forgotten which way we go we go you with the um I'll talk to the conditions yes um so I have four and the votes too yep and there's only a c variance involved so you need four votes to approve out of the seven voting members and we have four conditions that we previously discussed first is compliance with those conditions noted in the board Engineers memorandum second is that the applicant shall comply with the agreement among the applicants and interested neighbors dated February 29th 2024 third the applicant shall submit a storm water management plan to the city engineer for for review and approval storm water management plan shall provide for a trench drain to collect storm water from the sport court and connect to an appropriately sized drywell to account for the full amount of impervious coverage being added no reduction based upon the previously removed pool um and fourth and finally the applicant shall utilize a darker neutral color material for the main surface of the athletic Court okay before we go into full executive session is I knew I forgot something do you have any final thoughts to present to the to the board wrap up or any no okay uh on behalf of the opponents do you have anything myself Ono no thank you okay then we will go into executive session who wants to kick it off Tom well all right I'll start I mean you know basketball court this is another property which I've been to before we had an application from this property prior owners a number of years ago um and it's a very interesting property very interesting history that for those of you who weren't then the back the properties behind your house used to be part of that property there I think there's carage seems to part of the property so it seems like the back C is kind of short but that's why I think at some point it was sold off and redeveloped whatever um but I I appreciate that you've cut back on the or removed the lighting that was a major concern when I first saw this application I'm happy that you reduced the size of of the Court um being there again today I I I was happy to see that or a little bit relieved to see how much below the main level of the front yard the property is it's recessed and I was very happy to see the 12 foot at time of planting trees all the way around or not all the way around but blocking any visible sides from the neighbors um you know I I I don't have a problem calling it a Sports Court I mean I I you know I I think whether it's basketball or kicking a soccer ball or you know whatever it's not you can't have a huge team sport going on in that small field so that's not going to be an issue but you have a huge front yard where you could have a huge team going on and we couldn't do anything about that anyway you could have a football game on your front yard um so and I I I'm happy to see that the neighbors signed this agreement uh with with you that that's a very positive sign um and there are a number of these other courts in in in the general vicinity so it's not like it's not like it's unprecedented and yours is smaller than some of the other ones um you know it's a very unique property you know you maybe could squeeze it in your relatively small backyard but I you know I'm assuming Chris Anderson really said what the witness said I I I agree with her I think it it does if you're going to have a sports s it makes more sense to put where you're putting it then in the backyard um having said all that I don't see any any significant negatives on on the neighbors or on the intent of what you know we want to have going on in Summit and so I I can support it okay any what anyone else sure I'll speak I really want to applaud the applicants for their willingness to make several changes to their application to listen to the neighbors concerns to work with them um to get an agreement uh that seems to to have sa satisfied a lot of their concerns and for me I think um we can consider this because of the sheer size of the lot um this is really not going to have a Major Impact just because its footprint relative to the rest of the site it seems like a very reasonable request I would agree with Tom too that uh the removal of the lighting is key to the success of this application um and everything you're doing with the landscaping and your willingness to um do some sort of train or address any um runoff concerns to me is a great benefit to this project and overall I can see definitely supporting it anyone from this side no I will tell you oh I well okay I'm going you're up yeah I mean certainly Scott spoke to um the applicants flexibility here but I'm not convinced that they've made their case they that they've met the positive criteria I really haven't heard um it's a unique property but it's a really large property and there's no though there are tennis courts elsewhere in Summit on some other odd properties there's it's not it's still not common I don't see that there's something really special about this property that a justifies this the having the Sports Court um in the first place the fact that there's a lot of slopes in the property just speaks to the fact that Summit is built on a hill and I've heard nothing about the C2 variant so I I don't think that applicant have met their burden and I won't be able to support this you want to tell us about the C2 P variance sure um so we've seen it before plenty of times that you have to weigh the positive and negative criteria um of the application I I think here obviously Miss to's concern is the positive criteria meaning what benefits does this provide um both to the property and to the surrounding properties uh there are some general ones uh you know appropriate locations of residential uses for example I imagine they would argue this is an appropriate location for the sports court on the side of the property um they also have touched on safety concerns uh associated with the use in their immediate yard and whether you accept those as valid beneficial uh criteria that but that C2 is also go to benefit to the community and in keeping with the community overall you know the neighborhood there there are aspects that address benefit to the community but it doesn't require necessarily what's the demonstrated detriment I don't think we have to get to that you have to start with what's the benefit well the the benefits need to outweigh the negatives is is the balancing test that you are tested with and I'd like to offer another benefit I think part of the benefit of this is that it'll keep at least some playing activity out of the front yard and away from the street and in the side yard because you know there's nothing we do about anything they do in the front yard the way it is now they could do all this in the front yard might not be as suitable as a sports court but they everything they do there on the side Court they could do in the front Court except maybe basketball but they could certainly play football football wall around across whatever could be done in the front yard now and that that would be near the street potentially cars coming by could be more more terce I'm not not a lot of cars okay but there are some there are some you're right it's not not a lot at least it's not as visible I'm going to speak too um I appreciate that you got rid of the lighting this reduced the size of the Court moved you know moved it back a little um my concern is what you were saying like they could play in the front yard yes but that's on grass my concern is the sound my my concern is the is the noise is the surface um happen if I can also jump in just want to make sure you're aware they would have to comply with there's noise uh the state noise Control Act it's regulations based on decel levels it applies to all Residential Properties you cannot exceed noise levels at on your neighbor's property boundary based on something you're doing on your property so if for example there's a hypothetical even louder thing than pickle ball later on down the line that would still be in violation and they could face violations on on a Statewide level for that so if noise itself is the only concern U it would be addressed through State regulation thank you anyone else okay this is I really do appreciate all the work you put put into this and uh the application and uh making the Amendments and uh getting together with the attorney and uh finding finding a way to get a uh a compromise built between the neighbors but I do see uh Claire Claire's points in some ways but I also think there's an awful lot of positives here uh when we look as well the positives outweigh the negatives we um we're getting our drainage looked at from not just the you know the uh the uh Sports Court but from the uh the rest of the property as well because we're making sure that our engineer and the city engineer are going to look at everything to make sure that we don't have a problem uh to to any other neighbors uh we have a I I don't you could just call it an activity court if you wanted to I don't know uh it's just a matter of um you could play rugby on that thing uh you know except you might get a little rough rough edges from the plastic um I don't know you could play a lot of different things that are noisy I and you could play some really nice badminton and um I guess you couldn't play croquet but you know you could play a lot of things that are nice and quiet and activities on that that court that are not just the sports court so um I I think this thing meets the criteria and it it's you did bring up a safety prop position with your children um and you know family is one of the things we talk a lot about in Summit and we have it's your responsibility and your obligation to protect your children as best as you can and you're the one who sets up those criteria not uh not us and your uh your criteria are that they are not going to go to other courts that are not perhaps kept to the point that you would want them but uh other people are willing to let their families go there U but that's your your choice and you're putting on a lot of funding and expertise into making this happen so I am going to support this application and at that point I would look for a u motion to approve so second it okay chairman Steiner yes Vice chairman lit yes Mr Yugo yes Mr Malay no Miss to no Miss chfo no Mr Chuli yes okay the motion carries congratulations thank you appreciate it uh the resolutions come out about a month from now I've been saying this every time please read the resolution and follow everything in it because otherwise we potentially have you back here for other issues we have some other business to take care of here so uh Stephanie yes so we have a resolution for memorialization which is 28 Cromwell Parkway that's zb- 23- 2226 that's block 1801 Lot 2 James and Lucy ning our eligible voting members for this one is Chairman Steiner Mr Yugo Mr Nelson Miss Zan Mr Kieran Miss to miss Cho can I get a motion moved and a second second okay chairman Steiner yes Mr Yugo yes Miss to yes Miss Cho yes the motion carries so next we have are the minutes for approval from March 4th 2024 everyone here was present for that meeting can I have a motion so moved and a second second okay all those in favor any opposed okay the motion carries okay we are going to U talk a little bit about the um it's not on here is it it's not on this version on our annual report Scott uh yes so we have a draft please review it um you can send me any notes on it but let's talk about it if we have time in the executive session next time we meet and you know you can give us yay or nay about uh I think we carried a bunch from the last report because I don't think they've been memorialized by um planning or in the drro or anything uh but we've added some new ones so please take a look at those let me know what you think and then let's have a um jovial conversation about um recommendations for changes to the gr next time we get together sound good comment should go to you which will be on April 1 2024 is our next meeting no fooling April and it will be it will be a wonderful meeting that will be uh presided over by I miss toad you are fooling well I'll start now now seriously April first is the date and uh Marie will not be here I will not be here o'ri will be here my voice okay have a wonderful time in Madrid excellent okay uh is there a motion to adjourn so move moved all those in favor I I say good night