##VIDEO ID:hgZP73ngXms## I'm going to call to order the Zoning Board of adjustment meeting for October 8th we're running a few minutes late it's about 8 after 7 and Mr ol is going to read the Public Announcement thank you uh both adequate and elect electronic notice of this meeting specifying the time place and manner in which such notice was provided in accordance with the open public meetings Act andj sa 10 col 4-6 at SEC specifically on January 9 2024 proper notice was sent to The Courier News and the Star Ledger and filed with the clerk at the township of Bridgewater and posted on the municipal buletin board Please be aware of the Zoning Board of adjustment policy for public hearings no new applications will be heard after 9:30 p.m. and no new testimony will be taken after 10 p.m. okay all that can please rise for this of the flag PL to the flag of the United States of America to the repblic for it stands naice uh ncy thank you for all you've been doing to fill in can we please have a roll call uh here legal service chair Miss Zan M Mr Sweeney here Mr Fresco here here Mr gesi here Mr Cat here Mr kulak here Mr vessio here Mr gabbit here record sorry so we have a quorum so we're good we have a quorum okay good good thank you um board minutes we have none resolutions we have the Senior Life um resolution to go over it was some people didn't get it it was emailed to everybody and I believe Rich has some changes couple of couple of minor changes on the first page where at at number one where it indicates the applicant provided required written notice to Property Owners I would add Within 200 ft on page two paragraph three the name shimanowitz is misspelled I don't think I've ever spelled that name right in my lifetime um page six paragraph 19 uh one two three fourth line says adult daycare use crosses the boundary and quotes between child care and Senior Housing and that instead of saying that that there's a double that there so the first word that should be changed to and otherwise no other changes any BS have any changes can I get a motion to approve it I make a motion to approve with the changes with the changes will I get a second second so that's um Mr Min and Mr banono second it uh roll call please chman widley I yes M mean yes weenie yes Mr Fresco yes yes I don't think I can no nope correct Mr cak would be right yes was it okay um the other applications are still pending we're going to to go to Mr ol for an update on our five applications that are still pending so applications that continue to be carried by the board are uh 821 Bridgewater LLC and Jewish Community Center application is carried till um October 22nd without further notice um the application filed by Bridgewater realy LLC otherwise known as Starbucks is is carried to November 12th um there will be new notice with that application since there'll be a new plan um CX Towers is being carried to November 12th uh also with new notice belly Holdings LLC being carried to December 10th um with new with new notice and 1,200 Route 22 land investors and 1200 route22 LLC holding is being carried to uh December 10th also with new notice do you have any updates on the 1200 Route 22 that's been quite a while do you hear anything I do not okay just curious okay so that's an update so that would take us through the end of the year actually on our meetings correct okay we're going to go to our applications tonight and St Bernard's is coming up first good evening Mr chairman members of the board Michael larano Norris mclin appearing on behalf of St Bernard kvo Mr chairman we were all ready to go this evening uh late in the day it was informed that a property jent property owner had filed some concerns on drainage concerning the application and we were not able to properly address them in time for the board's meeting uh we don't believe in coming forward until we're ready to go especially if you have a property owner that has issues so we' respectfully asked that we be carried to a meeting the property owner was actually here I've talked to him and we'll be meeting with him in the interim to see if we can resolve the issues okay so with that said would October 22nd see yes I believe so sir and I could let you know tomorrow morning for sure if the professionals can't make it but I'm sure they can okay so what I'd suggest is we carry it to October 22nd so they don't have to Ren notice and in the event it's not ready cuz if there are new plans Mr liano as you know would have to be filed 10 days in advance which is only four days from now so if it had to be carried again we would just CCH a new date I believe that the nature of the uh property owner concerns would not require the plans to be changed as from our discussions this evening and I would let I know you're busy so I will let you know immediately tomorrow if there's any problems with our experts and if it happens we have to Reen notice we have to Ren notice that's the name of the game I'm afraid okay is he going to let you know or Nancy know he'll let Nancy nany no all right you can copy me on the email yes I will absolutely so for for purposes of the public with respect to uh the St Bernard um application number 24-11 um that application is up being heard this evening it's being carried till October 22nd at 700 p.m in this room and there'll be no further notices from the applicant thank you to the board for your courtesy and I'm sorry about the delay okay thank you good evening have a good night okay the next application is uh Michael's coming up with the chin application Chen application Michael it's all yours than Mr good evening board members members of the public my name is Michael silbert from the law firm D Francesco baitman located Warren Township New Jersey and I have the privilege this evening of representing X Chen also known as Jesse Chen uh this application concerns property located at block 633 Lot 56 as shown on the town Township's tax maps more commonly known as 950 Sunset Ridge property is located in the Township's R40 Zone uh we are here this evening to request a simple variance related to a privacy fence uh this is a c variance for an existing privacy fence located on the property uh just a few housekeeping items um I had we were originally scheduled to appear on October 8th I had provided notice for that and uh after actually going to the property and looking at the fence myself taking measurements with Miss Chen I realized that there were portions of the fence that exceeded what was indicated on the application the initial application I believe calls for a height fence in certain sections at 9.6 ft and in actuality the fence in certain areas reaches all the way to 15.5 ft so we had Ren noticed for this hearing um but I just wanted to put on the record that I hadn't submit uh I did not submit a new cover letter indicating the the change so the reason for the delay was the size of the fence that's correct want to make and Mr chairman I can tell you I reviewed the uh the revised notice it was uh done in proper form and served by certified mail and published um more than 10 days ago so the board has jurisdiction okay and then everybody's been noted IED that within correct correct so correct um so the uh part of the ordinance that this speaks to this application speaks to is section 196 d2b uh the maximum height permitted for a fence is 6 feet along the side property line if the F if the fence terminates no less than 3 feet behind the front of the principal building and the applicant's fence as I had mentioned exceeds 6 feet in height along portions of the northern side of the property line the applicant's fence height back IES across the property due to changes in the grade um in certain areas the fence complies with the 6t height requirement while in other areas it exceeds this limit at its highest deviation which affects only a small portion of the overall fence the fence height reaches 15 ft uh Additionally the fence extends into the front yard beyond the front facade of the home by 7.7 ft uh to ensure privacy from the adjoining property at 948 Sunset Ridge I'm sorry yes at 948 Sunset Ridge the neighboring property uh so I had submitted uh with the application uh video which I have up on my computer to demonstrate uh one of the re reasons for this application and why the privacy fence was constructed was because the uh Jason property at 948 Sunset Ridge had put up a video camera to overlook into the applicant's yard I don't think I can certainly show the um video just from the standpoint that you can see I can point to the camera and uh Miss Chen will obviously will do that but the real reason was uh to show to the board the audio the the video camera actually has a motion sensor and announces to the public namely Miss Chen that whenever she's in her yard she's being watched it's voice uh motion activated um the video since there's no sound will not be able to highlight that if board members were able to review the materials that were sent electronically or the members of the public they can certainly see that so um uh just speaking to some of the review memos and the reports uh Mr dorber who's in attendance this evening the Township's former zoning officer notes that the distance between the property line and the video camera is approximately 15 feet and while Mr dor barrier was was inspecting Miss Chen's fence uh the neighbors video camera actually announced it was recording Mr D barrier's movement so I intend to call Mr dor barrier also to testify to the the grade changes on the property as well as uh his on-site visit um so one of the things that we're arguing is that due to the Contour of the land and the purpose of fencing as a privacy barrier um and that this is indicated in Mr dor barrier's uh review memo that we're we're asking the board to Grant relief for Miss Chen fence height so while the board and the applicant must evaluate the variance request under the C1 criteria of the municipal land use law which focuses on whether exceptional conditions or physical features of the property justify the relief being requested it's I think also critical for the board to understand some of the background in history of why this fence was constructed I'll try to be quick as will miss Chen just to uh provide some context and clarify why the fence exists at its current height and how it interacts with the steep slopes on the property so so if I may uh Mr chairman I'd like to call my my first witness Miss Chen who is the property owner and applicant thank you m CH they're just gonna swear you and you can would you raise your right hand please do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give to this board will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God thank you and while we're at it Katherine if you would uh yeah sorry do you s we swear that the testimony you will give to this board would be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God and for the record thank you just so uh before we get into the nitty-gritty details here I just wanted uh to authenticate some of the exhibits that were submitted with the application um there is an exhibit a photo exhibit consisting of two pages uh it consisted of a total of four photos um you the board has a colorized version I just have a black and white copy in front of me uh Miss Chen I was wondering if you could just authenticate this exhibit that you had taken these photos sometime in 2024 in preparation of this application yeah I did take these photos and this is your this these photos are pictures of the subject property um your neighbor's property and it also shows the fence that's in question yes great and then the video that was submitted um to the board uh did you take that video are you familiar with that video video so I'm just going to pull it up on my computer um you know approximately when you took the video speaking the mic um couple months from now and that's the existing fence now that is the existing fence now um and sometime sorry I want to back up to that so sometime in August please speak into the microphone so we canar yes okay so so just so for Clarity on the record Michael I'm going to even though we have these photographs in our package I'm going to mark this okay sure so the I'm to go with A1 on the photos A1 consists of four photographs of on two pages and the video will be A2 okay perfect Michael the part of the fence that's on the the driveway the black top that's in compliance that's six foot it it is in compliance at six feet however it does it does uh exceed the principal dwelling by 7.7 feet at the front facade so it was it's supposed to stop short so when I say it's in compliance I mean that it's compliant as far as height height it extends past I was concerned about the height so the height is within the six feet how long has this fence been up um it just along the driveway how long when was it installed when when was it installed when was installed like um um uh summer time yes summer of 2024 yes so it was just put in very recently yeah you're looking to put a new fence in no no we were looking to to maintain the existing fence it it is a non-conforming fence it was installed and it requires variance relief so it's just a couple of sections that are above six feet yes if if you take a a look at um the the first photo on page one of the exhibit marked A1 you can see the section at the top uh well actually most of the fence there is in the upper portion is non compliant the upper portion correct at the at the peak is where the uh non-conformity is at its greatest greatest departure the which goes close to 15 ft it does yes what about the other part of the fence in that photo what's its height um ju with in the first photo yeah yes so I so miss Chan and I measured certain sections and it it decreases by approximately two feet as it comes down the slope the height of the fence decreases by two feet because the height looks pretty uniform it's down as it goes down the slope it's not it's not un well I would I can't testify to it but it's the the height certainly exceeds the six feet requirement but it's not it's not uniformly 15 ft in certain sections it's 15 feet and in certain sections it's decreasing as it goes down towards the Ridge and I think Mr dor barrier's report notes that um I'll ask Mr dor barrier to testify to that the the part of the fence for example that that can be uh perceived from the street view is is conforming for example if you look at the at the video that's on your screen that part of the fence is uh conforming and that's the part of the fence at the top top of the driveway as is visible from the road correct just to clarify the neighbor's camera um shoots at the driveway and the deck and every time you the applicant walks on her deck or her driveway it talks to her I'm going to let Miss Chen answer that um yeah the camera um faces my uh driveway uh front yard backyard uh my garage everywhere um we could just talk a little bit about the the history here so how long have you lived at 950 Sunset Ridge I lived at uh 950 Sunset Ridge for almost 5 years and during this time I've taken great care to maintain the property and ensure it fits harmoniously within the neighborhood um I hired professional landscaper to redesign my backyard and change the new roof paint an exteral and maintained uh the property very well thank you and then I had I had made certain representations about the backyard and it uh can you speak a little bit about your backyard it does it Overlook the ridge uh does it have steep slopes on it when I went tier property if I may say it was it was a pretty stunning stunning yard and and view uh yes my property features a beautiful sering backyard with mature trees and natural Landscaping it overlooks the ridge providing standing views however due to the steep slopes and the significant gr changes in the rear of the property maintain privacy can be challenging for certain angles even without ongoing dispute with my neighbor those topographical features make it difficult to ensure adequate privacy the dispute with my neighbor has only hied my need to ensure proper screening so so let's let's talk a little bit about that just so the board has some background can you can you talk about some issues that you've had W with your neighbor what's going on essentially just just some background information why did you construct a a fence like that aside from the steep slopes um yeah the uh the Steep uh steep slope hopes make it difficult to maintain privacy uh and the fence but talk talk don't don't worry about this put this down okay tell the board what what's going on with your with your neighbor oh when when did when did issues start with your neighbor tell the board what what's happened sure um you know I um the the neighbor um you know the husband always peeped through his bathroom windows and stopped me uh every time time I was outside and he transp passed to my property and called my name on his stack and took pictures and he installed cameras facing my property 24 hours with nonstop uh voice announcement so the the um the reason why you you constructed a fence at this height is really to ensure safety privacy protection from your neighbors that is that accurate correct okay and and you're you're home alone a lot of the time tell me a little bit about what it's like living in your your household yeah my husband travels a lot I usually home Home Alone yeah so you're home alone and you have you have a a son-in-law school is he is he home or is he away at school he's away from school yes so it's usually just you in the house yes and and your neighbor over the past couple of years has made you feel extremely uncomfortable on on a number of occasions yes including going onto your property including in your opinion watching your every move and yes yes okay and so obviously this isn't the the venue that we're going to be able to resolve uh neighborhood disputes neighbors through Bridge Water and all over the state all over the country they have they have disputes but I thought it was important for the board to have some context and and Miss Chen you've filed police reports you're pursuing other means against your your neighbor to handle some of these ongoing disputes is that correct correct okay so all right so now we've gotten to the point of why she did let's get on with the I would get on with the fence because I don't think it's a board's job to be the police of the two neighbors objects understood so I think that um which I'll I'll have Mr J beer come up to testify as to the the grade changes and what he observed on the property but I do think that I think um Bruce had a question I have a question as well ahead I let the let the board ask a couple questions yes go Mr Fresco yeah let me uh Jesse um first of all who who installed this fence you installed the fence yourself hold the microphone microphone please hear you yeah uh you installed it you didn't use Home Depot your you oh I I oh of course I bought the material yeah installed yes and you personally installed the fence yourself uh no I hired someone yeah you hired somebody can you tell us who you who you hired uh I have I hired uh couple of people Yeah couple of people yes and did when you hired these people did they tell you that hey you need a permit for a fence um I was going to put the fence uh the the permit later on because of the emergency just I'm sorry just answer my question did they ask did they tell you did they notify you that you needed to get a permit before you installed the fence you didn't know that you needed a permit to install a fence uh it was an emergency so I said you know the it's the uncomfortable situation I said I need to put the fence first then I apply for the light later but you know you're supposed to get the permit sure of of course sir you were aware that you needed yes yes of course sir and and and listen you know I live in town okay I got a I got a fence installed myself this spring okay and will testify if we ask and Mr Fresco came here off hours during the day and I filled out all the paperwork and I jumped through all the Hoops that I needed to of course sir before uh before Home Depot came and installed my fence and they notified me and I had to sign off that I acknowledge that Defence so I think it's important that we just make sure that we remember that just a couple other things um you've been there for five years how long has this neighbor been there two years two years okay do you have any cameras on your property uh now yes do okay yeah before no before no okay okay thank you thank you um he addressed my question okay I just want to point out to the board that it's not really relevant to the board's decision if a permit was obtained or not it's still the same C1 criteria you know there there right now so far we've heard about the topography on the property I understand there's privacy reasons as well um but whether or not she obtained a permit it's not relevant to to uh our decision and our decision should be made based on the C1 criteria only okay he gets C up Let the question go ahead you know your house faces Sunset Ridge right yes so so from Sunset Ridge your property slopes down in the back I'm sorry uh the property your property is sloping towards the back sloping down towards the back side of your property yes it does it does yeah that um Mr Men is asking if your property slopes down in the rear of the property yes yes okay SL see I'm looking at the drawing that was uh given to us in the package and uh in the back it's 9.5 9.8 ft High that's what the survey says here no Mr man that survey is not reflective of the height right it's it's a distance distance yeah that 9.8 ft is a distance so from the property line to the fence is 9.8 okay okay I see so uh so is the fence higher in the back of the property or is it lower no no no it's okay this Chen it's it's at its highest point on the Northern property line right yes correct okay and really just to clarify the survey this survey is was uh was done March 15 2024 the fence that's shown on the survey is not the fence that we're seeing in the pictures is that correct when the this when when did the survey dated March and you said that the you installed the fence in August so what fence you done on the survey if the survey was done March 2024 you installed the fence when I think it's just just uh a little bit before that but there was there was a fence there was a fence that existed prior to the fence that's there now right yes so the survey that the board has dated from from March 2024 does that reflect the old fence a little bit yes uh and was the new fence put in the same location as the old fence or is it more towards the property line uh the the new fence was it was it constructed in largely the same location we know at a higher at it's it's higher but was it constructed in the same location as the old fence at the same location tell the I'm asking the question yeah the same same location yes same length to from front to back same yes or longer H I guess well it's longer because you said it goes past the front of the house now right right but I think this survey is indicating that not my survey you're you're right side of the survey on the right side next to the driveway it does go in front Okay is the is the neighbor that you're in dispute with on the right side side or on the left side on the right side the northern side okay right and you'll see that the the uh the drive the driveway area the fence extends to the end of the driveway area I'm not sure what the the turnaround area that's where the fence extends to on the on the right side of the property okay got you so so the replacement fence the fence that we're seeing in the pictures is in that same location and terminates at at about that same location too okay so it's not any longer then the yeah the fence is isn't different with respect to uh length it's much height right is that that's correct yes okay so she had a fence he did which was within all the allowed took it out over the summer and put in a fence that's nonconforming to what right based upon the ordinance I don't think the original fence would have been permitted because it would have again went past the facade of the main dwelling however again as you heard from from Miss Chen she took out the old fence put up a new fence um and constructed the fence at a uh much higher height than what was previously there which goes from under six feet to a height of over 15 ft that's correct at its peak at its peak and I just would like to um address the height at its peak so we when we were measuring the fence on your property the highest part of the fence is adjacent to your deck would you agree with that yes yeah agree the the deck um how do you describe the deck it would you agree that it kind of sticks out from your property it's there's uh it's it's elevated deck it doesn't sit low to the ground it it overlooks the bridge is that accurate yes that's correct so when you were on your deck with your old fence could you did you have any semblance of privacy on your deck no but the new fence offers privacy correct and I just want when when you look at your property in your opinion if the property wasn't steep sloped or it wasn't wasn't if there wasn't such a differential in grade and your deck wasn't built at its current height do you think that the the necessity to have a 15t fence would still apply or do you think that the reason why your your fence uh amounts to 15 ft in certain areas is to provide privacy for that deck which is elevated on a substantially steep slope property yeah because of the uh um steep slopes uh for the variation with uh um the um yeah um the slope so I have to build higher because of that of the steep stopes your deck isn't constructed on on on flat land it's overlooking the ridge without the fence at this height you would have no privacy on your deck no okay um just want to talk just on a call Rogers very soon but the fence that you constructed you could you're you're in a dispute with your neighbor you could have constructed any fence but you chose to to construct a fence with with high quality materials would you agree with that yes it's excellent quality and do you think that the fence fits in well with the surrounding properties in the neighborhood absolutely so even though there's a departure and height you still feel in your opinion that the fence is not out of character for the neighborhood oh no no it's F the neighborhood excuse me um can you point out or name one other property in your neighborhood that has fences 15 ft High um I don't look other people's properties so I'm not sure but because of my just testified it's not out of character let me let me um explain what I meant by that I miss Chen obviously hasn't gone to the backyards and observed every property Sunset Ridge to see what their fences are like from the backyard but with respect from the street view and I should have I should have said that when I was asking the question with respect from the street view what the public can perceive from the street you would you agree that it it looks like it's harmonious with the surrounding uh fences in the neighborhood yes correct you cannot see from the street at all because the steep slopes it's very steep in the back in the rare but just to answer that question we haven't gone around to see if there's other properties that have a similar fence in their in their backyard thank you before you go Michael any other board members have questions yeah I was just you mentioned that police reports have been filed and uh yes approximately when were they filed um I came to see uh officer uh Roger then uh a fire the police report officer Roger when when was that he can't he can't testify right now oh okay it's like well we'll have we can have Roger wait till he comes up and right right Roger helped you file the police report no no no I I um came to the Bridgewater Township so I went to the uh uh police department then I came back to uh told um the zoning officer and officer I told them I file the report just so I'm just trying to understand how at what point in time you filed the report it seems like you felt uh your safety was in danger and that was one of the reasons for putting this fence up so curious the time how many times you went to the police how long ago it was before you put this fence up and what happened um like from some summer of last year start started and uh you know then I I feel you know unsafe then yeah yeah if I can just from having spoken to miss Chen before the hearing the police came to your house on a number of occasions right and they came to your neighbor's house on a number of occasions so there so I I perhaps some of the confusion is pinpointing the specific date that a police report was filed because the police were active at this property in the neighboring property throughout the whole summer yeah and also you know um summer just like a couple months ago summer 2024 right right and I uh um I noticed uh uh Nails on my dryway which never happened before so um then you know after like three times I picked up then I talked to the wife when the wife was outside then the wife said you know I don't want to talk to you then she quickly went back home and uh uh took the husband out and the star come to my driveway videotaping me and that's the that that's the first time I call the police I'm trying to just bring it back to more of the land use context because I will I'm going to try to tie a bow around this at to conclude the hearing obviously but I I think it would be helpful obviously you have an ongoing problem with your neighbor it continues but do you think that the that the fence has helped that relationship with your neighbor I know that it's still bad but do you feel safer do you do you think that that defense is helping yes the defense have been give me uh the Privacy I needed which helped reduce some of the tension though um the relationship with my uh with my uh um neighbors and there there are members of the public here this evening that are uh I think I believe from the neighborhood in support of the application so do you think that if the fence is helping to alleviate neighbor temption with you do you think that benefit um also would transfer over to the to the whole Community or the neighborhood at large in other words do you think the people here that are in attendance this evening are benefiting in some way um that your uh that the that defense is providing you with with privacy I let me rephrase the question do you think the neighborhood is benefiting that there's uh more Harmony amongst certain homes within the neighborhood oh definitely the uh the fence uh increase the value of the property so it will benefit all for the older neighborhood as well but but the what what I'm trying to ask is that the the neighborhood as a whole is is is benefiting if your relationship with your neighbor is improving in your opinion okay and that and that that's your relationship with your neighbor is improving because of the fence yes okay so now so now I'll I'll have Mr Dorne Bayer speak uh more to the the top topographical conditions on the property before we do that I've got one one question one or two questions um Miss Chen since you put up the fence has that put to an end hearing the the uh camera that your neighbor has on his house do you no longer hear that saying you're being videotaped or whatever in other words did it stop him from impinging on your privacy um the fence that I put it on is um block his uh peeking through his bathroom window when every time I came out from my garage door but but do you still hear the the camera yeah I still hear the camera you know it hasn't solved the problem the problem um but uh it hasn't solved the is it correct in saying that it hasn't solved the the audio Yeah the audio problem but he cannot you know see me through the fence anymore so the height of the fence Now does not allow the videoing of the your property no is that correct correct Mr chairman I have a couple questions once you're uh please sure uh just wanted to go over some of the uh opening testimony you gave sure of the literature that we were provided there I guess some discrepancy so the 9 fo8 which was identified the fence height that was 14 fo2 in that were were above grade in some areas so when I went so the way the the ordinance reads is that you measure the height at its highest point from the ground so you don't take like an average or anything that like that so you could have a fence that's 3T and if it's 15t in one section then the fence is determined to be 15 ft high so to answer your question when after we had prepared the application noticed I went to the property and measured with Miss Chen and we measured the highest point from the ground to the to the fence at at its highest height at 15 ft and it gradually reduced in height as it went to the um as it went to the as it went to the west down towards the ridge it gradually decreased on the Eastern portion of the property what is what you can perceive from the street the the height of the fence is compliant with the 6 foot height requirement okay what is the height of each fence panel do not know okay do you know the the length of each fence panel so we can kind of correlate that to the images that we have here okay I don't know the I don't I don't know if Miss Chen if you know but I when I measured I just measured the height okay now I understand the variance was for the height of the fence and now um I think from the testimony the fence exceeds the front of the property by 7 feet right if you look at the survey and you see the uh the turnaround area in the driveway the fence extends to the end of the turnaround area okay and does that require an additional variance or the current for the fence height will cover that um it's I believe it's in the same section of the ordinance soor my mic's on on um of which they exceed right um it's allowed to be 6 ft along the side property line if it's 3 ft behind the house anything in front of the house can be 48 in tall so technically the all that with one fence there's technically two Varian is for the portions of the fence okay now your neighbor's property the front of their home can you describe where the front of their home is related to the front of your home like does that additional 7 feet or let's say um 10t from where the 6ft fence line would have to end uh in a compliant fence design does that really provide an additional privacy to your property um if if I if you don't mind if I just uh rephrase the question so I think the question is with the with the fence extending uh all the way through the driveway turnaround area is that providing you additional privacy specifically does your neighbor's uh home extend to where the fence extends is the is the fence extending in line with the neighbor with the location of of your neighbor's home or is it extending past the location of your neighbor's home uh it's not not past it's just just uh same same same area it's in the same area it's like uh I don't have I don't have a technical answer to give you because I didn't measure to see where the neighbor's property the dwelling ends but I think think Miss Chen if you were to visually look at it from a visual standpoint not a number standpoint do you think that the fence is uh extends to the point in which your neighbor's house begins yes and I think that's that's what you're asking but I don't know for sure if it's yes I am asking to understand where your neighbor the front of your neighbor's home is yes is the front of your home see kind of if there's a reason why you've extended the fence because pass your home yeah he he's he home and his window um side window yes okay my last question is I have a little of concern I mean if it's up to a 15t high fence I'm assuming you did not have a professional like structural engineer look at that fence I mean did you have a structural engineer look at that fence for that height um it's just uh because of the slopes yeah just just uh like two panels we have to hold um little bit like uh like pieces underneath that to make us stronger yeah okay I think that if you're concerned about the structural Integrity or the safety of the fence we would certainly agree to have uh uh engineer come out and and testify you know as a condition of approval um they can we can provide a letter before the resolution gets adopted If This Were to be approved that says that the fence is is structurally sound and safe if if that something that you're concerned about because I don't you know just on that point Michael I think if the board is inclined to Grant the application the proper condition would be that she apply for the fence permit that would have been obtained previous to the construction and with that would come some sort of final inspection right okay that's good idea before you any other board because I want to go to Katherine D over to you before then you can thank you um I think you know Mr vesio brings up very good points um things that I was going to bring up as well um you know the the the fence height is regulated not not only for you know Aesthetics but also because fence maintenance can get can deteriorate very quickly um and so I think one of the conditions if the applicants willing to agree would be that you know they will not allow the fence to get into disrepair any portion of the fence and that it will be continued be maintained up to this to the standard of the township yes you would certainly agree to that thank you um my I had one question um related to I know you brought up kind of the a little bit of the history of the dispute some of the reasons behind why the fence was put up the way it was at the height it was um you know one of the the pieces or one of the exhibits that was entered was that that camera um adjacent that's appears to be visible above the fence um and appears to you know still be a problem and a nuisance to you despite the fence so my question is um it sounds like the fence is helping to some extent to to you know as a visual barrier from your neighbor's windows but was that camera added after you put the fence in or before you put the fence in after it was put in after that was just put in then recently okay um so obviously making the fence hire there without a permit is not a solution to that um what I would recommend is that you you file a nuisance with the zoning department if the if the noise is becoming a nuisance to you I think that's a separate issue um and I just wanted to clarify that because I wanted to make sure that the fence was not put up to to um bar the view of the camera which doesn't seem like it'd be doing the job job um I think the the fence maintenance is very important as Mr vesio brought up and I kind of followed up on um I do think um that there would be two VAR as I mentioned before there'd be the two variance conditions because it does exceed beyond the the base the front of the house um which is our ordinance is clear about um my other questions might in my memo were really about um you know how you could make mitigate the height impact but I guess my real question is how did how did this violation come to be known to the township who who did the township zoning officer Township enforcement officer go out and and issue the violation um so Mr dorber I believe received uh a letter where was contacted by the adjacent property by the neighbor has anyone else in the neighborhood has anyone else made a made a um a complaint about the height of the fence besides the the adjacent neighbor uh no one just the neighbor okay um and I only ask that because um I want to make it clear to the board that this has I I want to make the impacts known of if anyone else in the neighborhood is impacted by it certainly The Neighbor Next Door is just as important as anybody else but I wanted to see how how you know visible the fence was um are are there any things that can be done to mitigate um kind of the impact of that portion of the fence that's very high has the neighbor asked for anything any Landscaping have they asked for any kind of resolution no have they told you what they want you to do with the fence if you want to take it they want you to take it down they haven't said anything they no they they don't maybe you know put like trees over there or something I I don't know if they had asked you if there's anything to be done would you be willing to do anything if I mean I don't know if the if the neighbor is here tonight the the I don't believe the neighbor is here this evening but um as far as Landscaping we're certainly willing to landscape I believe on our side of the fence there's a buffer area and I mean that's a discussion for for another time but there's there's uh essentially some some boundary disputes also going on okay to so that's my understanding so to landscape on the neighbor side of the fence within my client's property line um I don't know if that's plausible at this time if the neighbor asked for it that and it was reasonable we would we would be willing to work with the neighbor potentially but the neighbor's not here tonight so I guess that's a moot point right so you feel there should be additional Landscaping no my I guess my question was more is that something that the that the neighbor would be amendable to because it sounds like they're the most impacted by this and they're the only one that seems to have a problem with this right no one else in the neighborhood has come out issue a complaint only the adjacent neighbor which this is directly visible to um you know as from a land use perspective obviously the dispute is ongoing maybe they filed the complaint because they're angry you never know regardless um what I was if the if the neighbor was here and was we were trying to kind of a meeting of the minds my my recommendation would be to find things to mitigate the height and the impact of the of the the wall of the fence okay so rich if this does get approved make a condition that the applicant works with Katherine on Landscaping so I might that Landscaping would be on the applicant's property so because the applicants not here to represent what they the resolution they want to see out of this I think what I what I mentioned about Landscaping is kind of moot point I don't want to speak for them if they if that's not what they want to see I require we couldn't require the applicant to do landscaping on the neighbor's property correct excuse me also do are we working under the assumption that this complaint was filed I feel like we don't is that is is that testimony to that is that substantiated that that that you you you he said that I'm going to call Mr Dorne barrier who was the officer I would like to hear I think we're making a lot of assumptions that somebody said something and frankly I don't think that's that's appropriate I mean that's concerning this is a gigantic fence and I think any number of neighbors could have made complaints about it all right Michael as you're proceeding um thank thank you Catherine for you as you're proceeding can we also make sure we address the rest of the um Mr buron Katherine's report from September 19th yeah as part of your moving forward please I know Katherine had we had a joint memo for this right I'm just saying memo that we September 19th memo I'm just trying to put things in context so it seems appropriate to me and you tell me if I'm wrong if Mr dor Beer's testimony at this time would allow ow us to move forward having some additional light shined on maybe any additional complaints or any additional issues that only he would know that we don't know I I think we should hear that testimony even before we address The Joint memo I I just asked him to make sure you address it as we go along I I just I had one more please um to bring up was you know the fence portion Al appears and I there's only some photos um so to orient yourself and to you know you really had to go I think look at it from the street for the front portion of it but that back portion where it is quite tall um probably at the peak portion of it it appears to extend beyond the home beyond the neighbor's home the portion that that has the most that would have the most impact for the for the applicant's testimony really is that six foot portion right along the driveway that seems to extend you know to a good length of looking at the survey to a good length of probably the neighbor's home and it's only when it hits the the rear corner that it really gets much taller is that correct the just so I understand you're saying the rear corner all the way on the northwest side it's again it's it's difficult to orient because the survey shows the old fence and the new photos don't tell you where they were Tak what vantage point they're from the I I'll ask Miss Chen or Mr dor barer to testify to this but when I measured and I went to the property the highest portion of the fence was to the right of the deck and that was 15 ft that was 15t the right of the neighbor's deck no the right to the right of Miss Chen's deck okay it says wood deck and steps okay the portion now excuse me that down towards the Western portion or the rear of the property is still in excess of six feet it just wasn't the highest portion of the fence okay and the highest portion of the fence was meant to provide privacy from the neighbor's Viewpoint be because the deck is also elevated is that correct yeah I I if that's correct I I don't want to provide testimony but if your if your if your property or neighbor's property are built at the peak the neighbor's property is looking down and Miss Chen is looking down at her neighbor's property their backyard so the fence is constructed as it moves down the slope to prevent somebody from looking out of their house and peering into Miss Chen's backyard correct and the height however I'm what I'm trying to was down Lish was required to provide privacy so that prying eyes wouldn't observe her on her elevated deck that's that's correct relative to the highest point of the fence but correct that extends forward through the backyard as it slopes down that that that holds true that it's to lend privacy from to protect and and provide privacy from prying eyes yes on the deck but also to the rear of the deck understood thank you okay that so that appears to be the ption sh any of the pictures the height the point the four pictures that we had um the first one we we we potentially have other pictures but I don't have it in a in an exhibit form where I can admit it um but maybe if I if I can call Mr dor barrier maybe he can why don't you go so Roger has seen this right yeah Roger best if he gave testimony to it that he can substantiate what you're offering to the yes I I think that would be be helpful and of course Roger when he he when he observed this he was doing it in his capacity as the township zoning officer right I'm I'm just going to ask one more question before we get to Roger and that is now that I understand it better and I appreciate the help in guiding that that portion of the fence the tallest portion where it's basically double stacked where there's you know another 6ot portion of the fence stacked on top of the 6ot portion it is does provide privacy for Miss Chen's backyard but was there any other consideration for ways to provide privacy on the individual deck like priv like like you see on townhouse decks they have some um kind of fencing that would be attached to the deck railings so it would be an individualized fence was any of that explored or was just the this the only solution um I think that's the only solution to they're actually when I went to the property and Roger can attest to this there are portions of the deck that I think were very deliberately covered aside from the fence to provide protection so I I again will'll Ask Mr dorber to uh testify to this but I think that that the deck was actually was when I was there they were painting they were doing work on the deck it seemed to me that they were trying to in addition to the fence try to create extra privacy on the the deck okay but but I I can't tesy can we get Roger to testify please let's get Roger up please thank you yes have questions for Mr Chen we're going oh any um before we bring up the next witness anybody from the audience have any questions or Miss Chen or okay that said um let's get Roger up please thank you a s uh yes take uh couple let's take a why don't we take a 5 minute break for e e e e e e e e chairman widely I hear uh I'm Sorry Miss Zan say yes Miss mean's here Mr Sweeny here Mr Fresco yes here V journo here Mr G Mr gesi here Mr ccat here Mr kulak here Mr V Mr vesio here and Mr gabbit here okay back to you Michael thank you I uh before I call Mr dorber in that recess we were discussing a very very important um error that was put on the record that I would like Miss Chen to clarify Miss Chen testified that the fence that exists now was constructed in August 2024 we spoke about the survey that was dated March 2024 and the fence that exists is what elicited Mr dor barrier's visit to the property in April 2024 so during the recess Miss Chen can you clar verify when the fence was constructed on your property it was uh installed uh August 12th 2023 so not 2024 correct so the fence is over a year old yes so then M Chen the survey that was presented to the board which I was I was very surprised it looked it seems to match exactly what exists there today um this survey was done in March 2024 and it shows your existing fence the same fence that Roger observed on his site visit correct okay I apologize for the confusion yeah okay we're going to get on with Roger now yes thank you [Music] Roger would you raise your right hand please do you solemly swear that the testimony you'll give to this board will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God and your name for the record please Roger dor beer SP d r n b i e r r welcome back you couldn't stay away you weren't going for long I miss you so right Raj if you don't mind you can take this microphone okay all right so so Mr dorer you were the former zoning officer of the township of bridge Bridgewater is that correct yes I was and when um when did your tenor zoning officer conclude here in Bridgewater officially last Friday okay all right and so um did you perform an on-site visit to Miss Chen's property back in April 2024 yes I did can you tell the board what uh elicited your site visit I received a complaint from uh the neighboring property to the right stating that the height of the fence exceeded the regulations and So I responded to that complaint and did my investigation okay and then can you talk a little bit about your your memo it's dat September 12th 2024 you you said the property is subject to steep slopes in the rear of the r can you discuss some of the conditions you observed on the rear of the property just that in that uh I was on the neighboring property doing my inspections uh I had the permission of that property owner and uh walk to the rear of the property the stopes are the slopes are Steep and drops off and the fence in order to maintain uh a consistent height on the top of the fence uh had to extend as the the slope uh went down and the fence ran there so they had to extend it in order to maintain a uh a level of Presumed privacy okay and do you happen to recall if you were able to see uh you know visually a height deviation of the fence from the Street or did you not view the height deviation until you were in the rear the property until I went into the lot okay you could not see it from the street okay and can you talk a little bit about um you touched on the slopes obviously did you actually observe the the video camera that's been discussed this evening yes uh when I did my inspection there once I got to a certain uh point up into the driveway uh I was uh it announced that I was uh being recorded and any movement that I had in the side yard going towards the back it was uh announced that it was recording okay now I want to just put aside the the the dispute for a second and just from an objective standpoint if somebody wanted privacy in their backyard due to the steep slope conditions on the property would they have to construct a fence on the property that exceeds the permitted height in your opinion I would say that a conforming fence would uh as it followed the the grade would not provide any privacy whatsoever and I had represented to the board that the deck was built constructed on on almost the peak of the property and that the property uh slopes down past the deck that's my recollection do you think that the fence as it currently exists provides coverage and privacy for uh Miss Chen's deck I did not go onto the deck uh but from Where I Stood uh it it gave a degree of privacy from my recollection yes okay can I ask Roger qu yes please please please um how far back on the property did you go I'd have to look at the survey but I I went uh at least close to the end of the asphalt driveway and that was on the neighboring property that I walked back okay so that takes you basically up to that entrance of the house yeah maybe a little further uh from the neighbor's property and you were able to see the whole fence from there yes okay thank you um can you just talk a little bit um and I know that this might be a subjective question but the the quality of the fence it wasn't a chain link fence or anything like that did did you think that the the quality of it was was up to par with the neighborhood oh most definitely yes okay and then did you um were you able to observe anything on Miss Chen's property beyond the fence did you ever go onto Miss Chen's property oh yes I I I have been on the property um because um there was the issue of the six foot fence extending ju just as a reminder to the board a six- foot fence is permitted on the side line side property line but it must terminate 3 feet prior to the front facade of the building and that's since the foundation and at that point three foot back it can extend but it has to drop down to four feet and it must be an open style fence right thank you and um so I had represented to the board and and it appears this the survey shows this that the um the fence at approximately 6 feet extends past the main dwelling on the property and to the end of the turnaround area of the driveway I know it extends beyond the front of the house I did not take any notice of okay exactly where it terminated in relationship to the driveway I just know it extended Beyond okay um so in in your opinion and it's your recommendation in this letter as in your capacity of as a zoning officer is it still your opinion that due to the Contour of the land and the purpose of fencing is a privacy barrier that relief be granted in some form to permit the fence to remain on the property I have to issue an opinion uh can you ask the question again before he answers yes yes I absolutely will so in Mr dor barrier's letter dated September 12th 2024 in his in his capacity as zoning officer Mr dor barrier stated under zoning recommendation due to the Contour of the land and the purpose of fencing is a privacy barrier it is recommended that the waiver be granted and some form of natural growth be installed to minimize its exposure if practicable and I was just wondering if if you still agree with that statement that you had put in your report absolutely yes okay um think I think I'll turn it over to the board to see if the board has any questions as to before you do that we we Mark the video as A2 before can we go to the videotape we can and perhaps Roger can authent help authenticate that videotape that that's what he saw this video right no I didn't take any video I just took Stills okay yeah M Miss Chen took this video right that's what she testified to that but I just want to hear Roger if this is the situation that he encountered I think that's coming my computer can you put your microphone by the speaker to your computer yes speaker give me one second let me just rewind it hi you are currently being recorded yes can you I'm sorry I don't think we heard that are you able to tell us what it said where's where's your speaker restart it table mic hi you are currently being record higher I'm sorry hi you are currently being record can can you guys hear anything from here heard that okay yeah I think we're okay I think we're good great thank you um so just to authenticate the the video Mr Dorne barrier does and does does this video reflect what you observed during your on-site visit of Miss Chen's property yes it does and you heard this as well yes and you um okay and obviously we have already discussed amongst the board that the height of the fence does not H do anything to um prevent the audio that you're hearing this evening oh in my opinion absolutely not that camera is only 15 feet away from the property line but you do think that the fence is providing uh privacy for Miss Chen in other ways aside from the audio she stated that if someone was within the home or on the property at ground level then yes it would Pro it would provide a a degree of privacy okay um I I want to ask you based upon on based upon your site visit did you think that the that the fence um at Miss Chen property property posed a substantial detriment to the neighborhood as a whole not necessarily uh because of the inability to see it from the street I don't think it had an impact perhaps if you were walking up the block and had a view which I did not do because I parked in front of the property and did the inspection but no I wouldn't think it would have a detriment okay and then and then there's one person obviously who filed a report and the board doesn't have the benefit of knowing if if the neighbor was filing if the neighbor went to you to um essentially if if the neighbor was angry at Miss Chen or if the fence was really being a nuisance or providing uh you know a detriment to the neighbor we we don't know because the neighbor is not here to provide comment or testimony with that respect he did come to the window here and and stated the uh the issue that he was having was with the height of the fence did he did he elaborate on that any further did he did he say that the height of the fence was was causing him to not be able to enjoy his property I think it he if if I recall correctly he talked about it in terms of the Aesthetics of the fence okay um the board have questions for Mr Don barrier based upon uh yeah I have a question I don't you probably can't provide it but based on what Roger said I always respected Roger it's been great Point um I'm looking at page two of two the left hand side of where the fence go elevates at the back of the deck up to the 15 ft so the photos that were marked A1 right so I'm looking at that and I see where goes up it goes down and so is there any picture that you might have or anything showing what they see on the other side of the fence Mr dorber I think took photos but I did not submit photos from the neighbor's property uh uh actually if you go on if you go on page one there there's a photo that shows on the right hand side Miss Chen's properties on the left right and the neighbor property is on the right you can't see the fence from this view because it's not showing Miss Chen's backyard but you do see what um you're you're not seeing so so my question is if I'm sitting in the rightand neighbor's side who was complaining and I'm sitting in the backyard do I look then if I look to the left do I see a 15t fence staring me in the face or does their property go down and you Mr dorar is the neighbor's property similarly sloped i i in all honesty I don't recall because I did not go into his uh rear yard I believe if if memory serves there was uh a fence that cuts across on the property at some point so I didn't go that far in the the rear of the property I don't know if we can we don't have a conclusion I don't know if we can answer that okay perhaps um some of the other residents that are here that live in the neighborhood they can speak to their backyard live around the corner and both of my neighbors have pools they both have nice fences up they talked to me before and they were offset so much I sit in my backyard I the fences look fine doesn't impact anything and that's what I'm curious about if they're sitting in their backyard if they're looking at this big tall thing you know to the left of them it you when you are on the property and and looking to the left onto Miss Chen's property you can see the fence climbing its height or W widen in the height of the fence okay okay so they do say it basically you can okay uh Mr Fresco had a question first than for coming app um do you feel comfortable commenting on the structure of the fence I mean this is large fence cedar cedar it could be I I don't I I don't look at the the you know the actual physical material of the fence visually it looked very very new and solid would you comment on whether you think it's structurally sound I mean are they 4x4 supports there that are holding it it appeared to be you know appeared to be sturdy fence obviously so you think it's sife from a hurricane and wind and things like that just as I I would have to go into the rear of the property M Chen's property to see to what degree you know disparity is between the the ground and the top of the fence uh but based on what I did see I would say it it should I mean depending on the severity of of the Winds of course so but uh you know an average thunderstorm with winds I think I would be fine fine that's all I have Mr Men you know this camera that we see on the adjoining property is above the fence now uh how far inside you have to be to not be seen by the camera like com I couldn't I couldn't tell you how far because the the the the camera is position towards the peak of the structure on the side uh and point it down so in in my opinion there's a clear uh line of sight into the into Miz Chen's property uh how far you would have to move into her property before that camera didn't record um I don't really know if that's possible if you're in the side yard there you know against the side of her structure moving over it's just the width of the driveway and I the fence is not really Pro any uh privacy sort of in in my opinion from the from the camera's uh vantage point from the C no no not from not from the peak okay any better questions for Roger thank you um so I know at the beginning uh was mentioned that there were issues with trespassing on the property along with the camera that it was built for uh privacy but does the fence as it stands currently offer in your opinion any level of physical protection from issues like trespassing oh no absolutely not there's no gate no gate comes yeah no it's it's completely open yard okay thank you any more yeah I just want I think I heard that you had some knowledge of when the police report was filed uh I'm trying to think of the exact date um because I uh wrote a letter warning and said that a violation you know we're looking at a violation here because if the fence is existing there was no permit issued and so uh Miss Chen came down to the uh to the zoning office and I'm I'm trying to remember exactly when that was but she was pleading her case uh as to why the fence is in in the condition that it's in uh and she became incredibly uh emotional and almost inconsolable U to be honest so the fence was completely installed when she came down there oh yes yes okay absolutely yeah just don't go in five minutes either no no no no and so it was strongly recommended that uh based on what she was stating about the neighbor that she go across the courtyard and file a police report and it's my understanding that she did do that day I don't have that exact date however okay before the summer when she was expressing her concerns and then you recommended that she go and speak with the police department in your opinion was it an issue of safety or just concerned about her privacy no based on her testimony she stated to me even prior to that because when I went and I did my inspection she had expressed the the the same things which um that there were Nails in the driveway she also happened to mention that um there were uh animals like mice dead mice and stuff that were tossed in the driveway I did not witness any of that but that was some of her testimony and that he the gentleman next door would come up into the driveway as well and engage or attempt to engage in conversation to just one L so to without any questions on the substance of what's in the report will the fence in its current capacity do anything to help alleviate those concerns for Mrs chanon for at all absolutely not unless it was unless the property was enclosed and even you know with a 4ot uh fence in the front and you know if it were locked that would uh you know allow for some of that but there there's no gate so you just walk he could walk right around and come up the property I'm sorry you're saying you could walk right in there a gate isn't there to get no there's no gate get to Mrs Chen's backyard there's no gate no and Miss Chens no I I don't recall there is a gate there's there's a gate there's I was there today there's a gate it might have been open when when you had visited yeah I I don't recall you know there as I said I didn't go that deep into the property I was more on the neighbors side you if you look at the survey you'll see that the entire rear of the property is surrounded by a fence however you have an open fence to the property to the um South right so the the the problematic neighbor which is to the north of Miss Chen you have the closed fence that has a height variance to the South the other neighbor who is in attendance this evening you have an open fence but the entire rear of the property according to the survey is enclosed with a with a gate but I did not go into the rear of the property I agree uh Katherine do you have any questions for Roger okay Michael thank you um I think um no I don't have any other questions uh public anybody from the public have any questions just for Roger on his testimony see any back to Mr Sil thank you so I I don't have any uh any Witnesses I I think Mr chairman I'd like to just give a a brief summation at the end but maybe we can open it up to the public because I know there are residents from Sunset Ridge here um that wanted the opportunity to address the board we'll give them a chance to speak for or I have no more witnesses Now's the Time is okay I'm going to open up to the public for anybody who has wants to speak speak for or against the application please come up and state your name and the microphone is yours you can come right to the podium here that's fine if would you raise your right hand please do you Solly swear that the testimony you will give to this board will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God and your name please Anastasia can you spell your last name please g e r g i thank you you talk a little more into the microphone please so and your address please 952 sunset thank you go ahead so um um the is a neighbor to Jesse on the south side of the property line and um she's a great neighbor never had issues with her it uh it was great surprise to find out that there were some issues with a neighbor on the property at 948 um she was in great concern of your safety um when she put up the the fence I wasn't aware she was planning to do so but then I didn't question in I knew of the issues and um I don't think she wanted to put up a fence because I mean the whole yard is open she just put a wire fence to keep the deer out of the backyard not to eat the plants so obviously that was not her plan to do so it was more because of the distress she was in um and the the backyard does slope so yes you're going to have variance of the height of the fence definitely um it's a nice fence I don't think it's a nicer to the neighborhood uh or anyone um it's it's it's nice it's beautiful it's uh good quality and knowing Jesse she really takes uh good care of your property and I'm sure she will maintain it um I not um an expert on the technicalities of the fence height length all that but uh it's definitely I don't think it's causing an issue to the neighborhood as a whole nobody expressed any concerns and me as being here next to neighbor I it doesn't affect me okay thank you very very much anybody else from the audience please come on up state your name and address would you raise your right hand please do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give to this board will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you gu and your name please my name is T I live in the2 and spell your last name please w we going to ask you just get a little closer to microphone hold it down I'm sorry in your address again 932 s thank you I just want to say and know uh Jesse and uh when she first moving she's very nice and kindly she try to outgoing to be friend to everybody and first when they night uh 48 team they when they moving she told me oh my neighbor is nice they want to help but time by time she complain why he always put his nose on my business always bothers me and then we just discussing those things and he said he always transports to her her backyard and even whenever he has some active outside his house team notice and then try to commence on it and then we oh maybe we want to get a trees or block the wheel or something like that and then we said oh finally we we may get a fan fence and we notice fence going to be 6 yard lower not higher than 6 feet I means not 6 feet so in the directly fence between for 948 and 950 is 6 ft right and then at least you can feel more comy behind just by the fence you don't see the neighbor and the neighbor cannot try pass to his backyard but finally the guys installed a c camera we don't know what to do anymore so that's the situation I just want to say to the background of the story that's what I said uh that's what I know just for you guys to make a decision thank you very much anybody else from the audience please come on up would you raise your right hand please you solemnly swear that the testimony you'll give to this this board would be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God yeah yes and your name please uh Leo Lee and can you spell that please um L EO my first name last name is l i thank you and your I'm sorry your address oh 1263 M Veron Ro in Bach water it's just about um 2 minutes from Sensei Bridge okay it's all yours okay um I know Jesse for quite quite some time before even she move in actually her graded she she move in as a labor I know her and the perious uh labor the right in the in that house Tom put it well and then I know they they are pretty uh have a very good relationship until the new um neighbor moves in so after I I heard everything she complained about it and then my first suggestion for her is put up um reasonable fans however seems the thing is not stopping especially for the the dead animal R Manion actually I was there I saw it so um that's why I saying maybe maybe considering uh higher a little bit and then the friends obviously um make um separated um two family and then I in my point of view it actually reduced the disv in between and these like a kind of separ Separation The One mention in the picture because the cameras are installed on the top of the roof um normally um the four feet um friend will not help at all because it's from the high up to down so increased the friend actually it broke the entire B yard so the camera can cannot reach the motion sensor cannot detect the activity underneath of the deck but however it's still creating um very annoying noise when you sitting on the D actually personally I was there and then it I hear that quite often when I move around so I don't know why the noise has to be part of that particular equipment even though I install a security system for my friends in New York City first thing I told my friend is disabled the the noise uh the warning noise because that's really alloying for the for your labor but that one actually is really alloying so with the France now on the side of the driveway it cannot completely Brock the entire uh detection because it's up high however half of the driveway now is not under the monitoring but that means when you Crose to the FR that side it will not creating the the noise the the warning um noise so I think that really helped so um for from the security point of view and then she now when she move around on the um in the backyard it will not tricker the noise however she when she like a trying to stay um sitting in the de that is still the noise is the warning noise is still coming because the de is like about like a during uh because the the backyard is the Deep roof so the that is like a level the first floor but the backyard itself is underne of it so she have the peace of mind when she walk around on the backyard but not on the D so that's why that that actually helps okay thank you thank you anybody else from the audience for or against the application okay Michael it's back to you to sum it up so I'd like to try to to put a bow on on what we've heard because we've heard a lot about nuisance video cameras and this is a land use board and your your focus is going to be on the on the relief and the departure from the variant and there are a lot of things that's been testified to uh that gives the board context but one of the things that I that I wanted to do here is establish that there are significant grade changes on the property and I think Miss Chen and the members of the public as well as M Mr dorrier have established that there are significant grade changes on the property what I think that you can also take away from the testimony is that while miss Chen might not be able to prevent the video video taping and recording and the motion sensor and the audio defense certainly is providing added privacy and compensating for the fact that there are steep grade changes along the rear of the property line what we also can take away from this is that you had members of the public that live in the neighborhood get up and say defense doesn't pose any issue to me I don't perceive it as a major issue for the Neighborhood Mr dor dor barrier confirmed my representation uh although he said he hasn't walked the entire block but he said he didn't see the height deviation uh with respect to the fence from the street that it wasn't noticeable from the street so I would interpret that to to to mean that the impact to the neighborhood and I hope the board interprets that to be minimal and I think the the greatest takeaway is that you you have a neighbor that that elicited Mr D Mr dor barrier site visit and he received notice two times because I noticed twice for this application to come and and present his uh opinion to the board that the height deviation is is a detriment to his quality of life and the the neighbor is not here to provide any testimony to the board to for the board to come to the conclusion that the that the height of the fence is in fact a detriment to to the neighborhood to the contrary all the evidence that's been presented is that it is not a detriment and we know that fences are obviously permitted um the intention of of fences at least in the in the rear of the prop yard is to provide privacy and what I hope to do um was to provide some context why this situation providing privacy was of the utmost importance and that actually um there's a benefit to the neighborhood it seems that the that the uh dispute with Miss Chen and her neighbor is at least um somewhat mitigated and I believe that that that would be a benefit to the neighborhood that there are not ongoing neighborhood disputes or that that if there's a way to mitigate it and for residents in Sunset Ridge to feel comfortable at their homes that that we uh we try to do that so with that being said I think that that you heard testimony that if the board wants to approve this application or this variance request that they've heard um that the the C1 criteria has been met and that you haven't heard any testimony to the contrary okay uh Mr Mr Au so um with respect to conditions in the event there's an approval we delate so if the board were inclined to approve the application the conditions we spoke about were um that the applicant would apply for and obtain the fence permit and final inspections that would come along with that permit um it would have to she would have to properly maintain the fence so that set it a doesn't fall into any disrepair I think that was it really for yeah that was it for conditions uh yeah so so um a structure of this size what you know normally inally a permit for fence doesn't require a post inspection right post installation inspection but we're going to require it right because of the size though does that I think that that that they have agreed is a condition which this B this board is allowed to impose conditions that I think they reasonable which I think that is um if it's if safety and structural Integrity is a concern sty enough in all then absolutely I think that it should be subject to the township engineer or any inspectors inspecting it for for that we're talking I think that make sure it was on 4x4s it would hold up against the wind correct Richard certainly agree agree to comply with whatever the board wants as far as uh uh you know getting it inspected to ensure its structural Integrity okay you agree to that absolutely everything else okay that's it okay um actually I'm going to open up the deliberation um I understand this is a hardship um Roger thank you for coming I really value your opinion and I have for the years that I've done work with you on different boards and committees um due to the fact that you have the situation and if you're looking at the property it looks like a normal fence and Roger even verified you really don't see the higher fence up to the 15 ft it looks level if you're out looking at the from the street driving past it so really not ad deterant to any else um the big thing is you've had a few neighbors here come and support it the neighbor that you're having the issue with is not even here um so I can't even base anything on that so from my viewpoint being having to hear a few of these over my 12 or 13 years on the board I would be in favor of approving your application based on the conditions that it gets inspected all that you do all the permits uh Mr br Journal yes um I uh visited the property today and I can also confirm that you cannot see the four sections of fence that exceed the six foot height um when I parked in front of the house um I walked up the driveway um I noticed the camera as I got about halfway up it started talking um I didn't know there was the camera at the time I just heard something um and then I walked back down rang the bell and said I'm from the zoning board I'd like to take a look at the back of your property um so then she let me in the back um I was up on the deck um fence looks magnificent it's high quality material it's very sturdy not that I'm an engineer but it felt sturdy um and um I can see why the fence was erected if I'm if you're sitting on the deck that camera is going to record everything that goes on in that deck um I could see why for you know for uh privacy and security why they would want that um having said that I am in favor of this application okay Mr G is this the first time I've ever heard anything like this in the 15 years I've been on zoning and planning boards uh certainly exceptional circumstances um I I do believe we've heard enough uh testimony to meet the conditions and the criterias for for the variants uh I'm very disappointed that it had to come to this for you and I sincerely feel terrible about that and I hope that there are other ways that you can remediate this and feel safe in your home other than having to build a fence um given the circumstances I do believe the Privacy does add an additional layer of security to you in this situation I would be in favor of okay Mr um I from the testimony I can understand the need for the Privacy um you know with the way the the property slopes and and the grade I I can I I don't see any other way honestly with without really tall trees or bushes I don't know if that was even considered but um you know the fence appears to be good quality um and um I would support the application okay uh John I I too agree with the other board members observations as to what the conditions are what the need is I certainly value Roger's opinion as well I think in this issue I would certainly support the approval of this application yeah so it it is a gigantic fence uh but I do think the stipulations are fair I think having it uh reviewed by an Township engineer getting the permits all situated I think those are all reasonable and I'm glad to hear you've agreed to them um to your earlier point we have not heard from the neighbor clearly it did not mean enough to this neighbor to attend whereas uh Miss Chen has clearly felt uncomfortable or un safe enough in her own home to go through the expense of building the fence the expense of hiring representation um and I can't see a scenario where somebody would do that without a genuine concern for their own well-being I would absolutely support this okay thank you uh Mr Min um I'm in favor of voting for this application Mr Sweeney maybe I should try that um ordinarily I'd be jumping up and down about a 15 1/2t fence considering that 6 ft is the max that you're allowed but there clearly are other circumstances at work here and I think the U Miss Chen's um feelings of security and protecting her privacy are probably sufficient to Warrant the size of that fence one thing I would mention though it sounds as though the fence doesn't help privacy if you're on your deck the deck is still a problem area right what about putting up a trellis or something on your deck that would provide you with some additional you know something in between you on the deck and that camera I mean is there something that I I'm not you know we're not going to I don't think we're going to make that a part of what we're determining here I'm just offering it as a suggestion to you um bottom line though is I'll vote to approve Mr Fresco yeah I E Echo the uh the chairman um this gentlemen took the time to go to the drive down here go to the board go to the zoning office and make a complaint and couldn't come out here tonight to stand behind his word um then I think it speaks to the the true nature um however I also Echo Mr Sweeny um in that it's a big gigantic fence and you should have gotten a permit and uh you know if my neighbor put up a big gigantic fence there these these rules are there for the well-being of the the neighborhood so we really need to try to hold to them but I think in this circumstance Justified I will V for it Mr besso um from the testimony we heard I think we understand there is a a public safety concern as part of this um um also from the testimony provided I don't believe it would have a negative impact on the community that it's located uh and um because of the specifics of this case I I will be in favor of the application um but as the other board members have noted you know a fence of this size I think um has a high bar to reach to to get approval so um that does not come lightly so I'm in favor of the application I I guess that looks like we have enough votes to get it approved so I'm going to look for a motion for approval do I get a motion move first do I have a second second Mr Sweeney is the first right Mr Sweeney yes and Mr banjo is the second uh roll call please chairman widley uh yes Mr the mean yes Mr Sweeney yes Mr Fresco yes Mr vjo yes Mr gesi yes Mr Cat yes Mr kulac yes I'm sorry I think I should have stopped Mr C seven congratulations thank you Mr chairman and board members I just want to thank you for uh indulging me for this uh rather unorthodox application I'd like to uh especially thank you Mr bonjer for for taking the time out of your day to take a site visit so that you could really um you know picture and visualize what the concerns were this evening so thank you very much for for taking the time out of your day to do that welcome thank you very much thank you okay thank you okay um also I'm going to open the meeting up to anybody in the audience who wants to speak about anything unrelated to tonight's cases we usually do that at beginning but um I run out boards and we I tend to do it later that I will close the uh that part of the meeting uh going over our schedule the 22nd right now Nancy we [Music] have the St Bernard's hopefully we'll be back they're going to let you know tomorrow and we have um JC CC property over there jmf JCC 821 Bridgewater LLC continuation there and we have one residential application on the 22nd also um for Franklin Street Patel okay and then I I spoke with chairman F briefly and he asked that I just share with you we had some applications that had um had to be deemed complete due to timelines for completeness so they could not be scheduled out into the new year because they were 120 day um limitations on those okay so they had to be scheduled in December so we have what will appear to be kind of a stacked um it seems to be our Norm right now yeah um but we did speak about it and there maybe things evolving that may change that so I wouldn't Panic you see that December um we'll we'll probably it's going to work itself out okay that was Tak so we have a full schedule in two weeks then uh this would be the early that' be early January early December meeting you're yeah we only have one in December yeah December I think it's December 10th yeah it's going going to look worse than it is probably used to it okay thank you very much for your help Nancy appreciate you doing everything uh anything else okay can I get a motion to adjourn please second Mr Fresco and Mr bonono thank you everybody next meeting thank you rich thank you