zoning board of adjustment meeting will please come to order adequate notice of this meeting is provided in the following ways notice published in the Courier News notice posted on the Bolden board of the municipal building notice made available to the township clerk notice sent to the Courier News in the Star Ledger will the clerk please call
the role mr weissman here mr tillery here mr patel here mr reio here mr blount Mr metando here Mr elli here and Chairman Cahill here will everyone
please stand for a salute to the flag pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all mr connealy are there any changes to
agenda yes there are uh the application of Casim Badat Buckingham Drive is adjourned until May 8th 2025 he must notice the application of Ronco Development 146 Hillside Avenue has been withdrawn and will not be heard the
application of Ronco Development 160 Hillside Avenue has been withdrawn and will not be heard those are all the changes I have thank you Mr canary um start off with number six discussion you have the particulars on this Mr
canaly yeah is Mr garcia Arena present can you hear me mr garcia are you present yes hello can you can you hear me yes we can hear you now um you remain under oath to tell the truth could you explain to the board
what you would like to do here or why you are dissatisfied with the board's resolution i was here three months ago on February 27th it was my mistake i didn't understand something properly i actually
submitted a letter and photos with my we'll call it appeal i want to have an opportunity to read that letter first and then share my screen to demonstrate photos and explain my concern if I may okay the the board has your letter and your photo
i'm going to read the letter for the record i'm having a little trouble understanding you i don't know if the board can hear you or not yeah it's coming choppy it's coming across a little chopped mr garcia Raina if you want to share your screen and and explain how you are
dissatisfied uh go ahead can you can you hear me a little better now i can hear you you're still a little choppy okay my apologies i can try connecting on my phone real quick actually this is this is the best that it's been so give that a try
okay I'm gonna share my screen to reflect we wanted to bring to the board today this is my property i'm a resident i own the property at 1600 West Fourth Street if you can see this is the the
the first building here in the front is the home the backyard is limited because of the asphalt driveway which is marked on the blue line i can zoom in a little bit if if need to i think we can see it fine okay
the the green line is where the current chain link fence is which my intention is to was to replace with a six foot fence which was approved thank you very much for that um and this was showing the space right here the green space is sort of showing my what my backyard
would end up being the space of my backyard and these little green axis were the landscaping that was requested to install i was under the impression that this is what was approved for it was my mistake i I listened back to the original board meeting and it was
clearly a misunderstanding on my end jonathan was very clear with his words the second image I wanted to share is what was approved ultimately uh instead of being able to run the fence
parallel to the street I was requested to cut in through the yard to meet the corner of my home down here i wanted to reflect some photos to show what that looks like in person and I'll
go through and try to explain to the best of my ability this is the backyard you can see the chain link fence here on the right side and the corner of the driveway the fence that was approved would come
through the yard here leaving a triangle space on the on the side of my home blocked off i also have different angles so this is from corner i'll push the garage
corner this out of the way real quick this is a photo from the garage angle so if you go stand on the other end of the fence of where it would have been the approved line would be would require me to bring the fence to the corner of my
here with as you can see my rear door it it's it seems very a very tight space this this yard this piece of yard is very important to me because it would allow me to really have a yard otherwise very limited space so I just
wanted to show what it will look like from the other end as this is the fence that I was requesting to replace um so this would be the line that there's still as you can see on the other side of the fence there's a lot of room for landscaping
there's significant space on this side as well and I This is the angle from the side of the house comes from the garage so the fence this red line is showing what the fence was required to be which would cut
across the yard um have my gardening stuff here my intention was to bring the fence down and then cut in with a gate to be able to access my my yard from from this side of the street and also to not block my hose
um and have that be outside of my property technically I like to have that in my yard because planning on you know putting grass and taking renewing the entire backyard uh this this uh spring
and and this green line will be my intention with the gate being this part and then running back to the garage this is a closer look at this at the side of the house as you can see the
original fence is back here the original demand was to bring the fence to this corner um just to kind of show all the space that I'd be losing and uh the last photo actually here the last photo I wanted to show is
a further angle from the side of the house my intention was to put the gate up and bring the fence all the way run it parallel to the sidewalk and to the street um as you can see here there's more than enough space for the
landscaping the fence that was uh approved would cut across here through the middle of my yard you can see the driveway here it would pretty much take away for the only yard that I have um so I'm really trying to demonstrate
my concerns and hope that the board can understand my you know my desire to have some privacy i'm I'm not sure if you guys had a chance to read the letter but I kind of go in detail there i read it over there was some grammar some misspelled so I apologize
for that but that's really it i just wanted to come back and hope to um be able to demonstrate my intention that was it okay thank you for your
testimony um if we were to Jonathan are you there sir yeah the uh only thing I'd add to this chairman is the proposed adjustment uh will not impact the site triangle
that's the only thing that I'd like to I'd like to highlight put on the record okay fair enough let me ask a question um Jim does does these uh new does he have to reapply or do we have to hear a new site his approval had a condition
and the condition was that he relocate the fence as recommended uh he's here seeking relief of a condition of approval if the board sees fit to give him relief then I would just provide an amended resolution okay thank you all
right all right any other members of the board have any questions or comments hearing none I'm going to open it to the public anyone in the public have any questions or comments no and chairman okay i'm going to make a motion to give him the relief that he
seeks uh can I get a second i'll second it thank you call the RO mr weissman yes mr tillery yes mr patel yes mr reio yes mr midorando yes mr elli yes and
Chairman Cahill yes mr garcia Raina I'll prepare a new resolution which we will adopt at our next meeting thank you you cut out again time for a new headset thank you thank you good luck good luck have a good night thank you okay let's
move on to item number seven 25-zb-13v carlos Serrano that's number eight is Carlos Serrano present no I'm I'm his wife okay could I have your name please gerald Gim Bonia uh could you raise your right hand i need
to swear you in do you swear that the testimony you're about to give should be the truth yes and you can put your hand down explain to the board what you'd like to do here um what's going on it was when I purchased my house I wanted a fence and then I just contact someone um
and then he came and he did the labor and I put the request first i put the request into the board and they approved it but when I give him the papers he put the fence but by the time that I noticed um he I just saw that he put well I
didn't even notice um we got we my husband is he worked for the board so he said that he was supposed to bring the fence 5t in because he was too much out he was 5t out so when we was trying to contact the person that did the labor
over here from the fence uh he he wasn't picking up the phone anymore oh jeez sorry about that yeah so I was like kind of like what should I do and we start getting information that we can um apply for these varants and that's what we did
okay have you seen the Piscataway staff report of March 20th 2025 no not yet yes carlos had Carlos okay okay well let's uh perhaps Mr ms rahi could uh shed some light on the test
certainly so just to just to reiterate the fence is 5 feet over the setback line uh which was made clear in the testimony thank you for that um the condition of approval would be that a landscape buffer would have to be installed on the fence along Dryen
Street on the outside of the fence just because it's a tall white vinyl fence we'd want to buffer that visually with evergreen shrubs so I can work with um I can work with yourself uh or Carlos on the species and the uh size of the
material and um that would be the condition of approval if if that makes sense would you agree to that ma'am okay yeah sounds good to me okay good any other members of the board have any questions or comments hearing none I'm going to open
it to the public anyone in the public portion have any questions or comments about this application no one chairman okay close the public portion i'd make a motion to approve this application i second it could call the role please mr weissman yes mr
tiller yes mr patel yes mr roio yes mr morando yes mr elli yes and Chairman Cahillo yes your application's been approved with that one condition we'll memorialize it in our next uh in a written document at our next meeting and
we'll mail that to you good luck thank you thank you very much have a good night ma'am let's move on to item number nine which is uh 25-ZB-12V rebecca McCarthy is Miss McCarthy present yes I am miss McCarthy I need to swear you in could
you raise your right hand sure do you swear that testimony you're about to give should be the truth yes sir your name and address please rebecca McCarthy 37 Carlton Avenue please get away thank you could you explain to the board why you're here sure thank you so much for
your time and good evening to you all i thank you for this opportunity to come before this board to ask for relief so like I said my name is Rebecca McCarthy and I live at this address um 37 Colton Avenue for the past 25 years and I am
formally here to request a variance allowing me to keep my existing fence that is located um by Sim Street which um I now learned that Sim Street is a front yard um I lived here for 25 years and I always just thought it was my
sideyard backyard but I I I now learned and I have I have accepted that per the zoning rule it is considered a front yard so that's not negoti that's I'm not here to negotiate um the term anyway I I I um this fence um is very unique um for
several reasons um the position this fence has been in place for um well where it's sat now behind the tree has been for three years but prior to that it was before the the tree um I believe you have pictures it was before the tree for about 20 years for as long as I live
here it was before the tree i um three years ago I moved it behind the tree um and I'll explain why um a little later but this fence extends from my backyard into Sim Street which I I consider to be my sideyard forgive me if I say sideyard because I've been saying it for 25 years
but it's really now known as the front yard um anyway the fence extended back there this fence it does not obstruct our visibility um for neither drivers nor pedestrians it is not a blind spot um cars can freely go and come as they
like not it's not in hindering anything it is positioned at the end at a discontinued sidewalk so in other words um it does not interfere with anyone walking publicly because the sidewalk stops right by the fence as you can see
in the picture the fence also blends with the aesthetics of the neighborhood two chicken you bought yesterday oh I'm sorry am I supposed No go ahead go ahead okay the fence also blend with the aestics of the the neighborhood and no
one has has complained the closest uh my closest neighbor actually um you know like the fence that is there the um she said you know she her kids come over and play their kids my neighbor kids come over and play but anyway um there is um
like I said no blind spot and I mean if for any reason public work need to do something and my fence is in the way I'll be happy to remove to lift it up and let them do their work if that ever get to that point um so anyway this fence serves several important purpose for my family the most important purpose
this fence serve for my family is my grandchildren who frequently play and swing in the backyard and that was the reason why I I I moved it behind um the tree is because um there's a tree in that little area um and they climb the
tree they swing on the tree they you know um just it it's just their little safe zone that they do out there and the fence acts as a protective barrier preventing them from accidentally running into the street or um you know throwing a ball over a lower fence or
just do something to keep them unsafe so what I noticed when the fence was before um is that they would go open the the gate and go behind when the fence was before the tree i meant they would open the gate and go behind the the the the outside of the gate and climb on the
tree and play on the tree and my oldest grandson said to me um why can't we just do this and I said no it's unsafe because the street is right here and it's a main road so I you know just thought okay why don't I just move the fence behind the tree that way they could still enjoy it i could still be in
the house and I could peek through the window every now and then and I don't have to um you know be concerned about too much concern about their safety so I moved the fence back there 3 years ago and I'm actually happy that they're playing outside versus inside on their devices on their TV that they actually
found that found a little safe zone right there moving the fence closer um will prevent them from using the swing because the swing I mean we know the swing is swinging is a motion you go up and down and these kids they get in
there and they swing and they you know on the tree and they go out and their legs they need space for the swinging motion and the legs to move so um that would really take that away from them if I if I have to move the swing in um and
again it would also take away the protective barrier if I have to put it lower then you know I would be worried about them throwing a ball over a smaller fence scaling a smaller fence i wouldn't be able to comfortably stay inside my house knowing that they are out there in the backyard playing i call
it the backyard but you refer to it as a front yard knowing that they're out there playing and um you know with a lower fence or knowing that they don't have the opportunity they may not even want to go in the backyard anymore if I remove that that fence because there's really nothing I have a small backyard there's really nothing for them to do
out there other than that tree it's their little safe zone so the fence offers a reasonable level of privacy for for me and my family without causing any disruption to neighbors or passers by or drivers it does not pose a safety concern like I said for my neighbors or
my drive or any drivers or anyone i have no complaints in the three years in which the fence was moved behind the tree and of the 25 notice that I sent out um you know to invite people to this um I don't know if anyone is here complaining i guess we'll see if anyone
um complain if anyone is here complaining that the fence is causing a problem but no one has verbally complained to me that it has caused a problem so um in closing and I just want to say I'm not here demanding I'm not here um you know saying you must do this i'm here asking that you grant me this
variance you you allow me to I know that I am not I am currently not within the zoning ordinances so I'm not saying you must do this i'm asking that you allow me to keep my fence um the way it is so I understand and I respect the zoning
regulations in place i do and I appreciate the board's commitment to making um to maintaining the safety and the integrity of our community i don't think you're here just because you're difficult or you just want me to suffer or take offense for my grandkids i believe you're just doing your job and
doing what need to be done so I'm glad for this opportunity that I can come before you to make this request um so I I I thank you for this opportunity um but I want to say given that this fence does not create a blind spot that it
does not impact pedestrian access it does not cause any harm or inconvenience to the public I kindly request your consideration in granting me approval to retain this fence so that my grandchildren can continue to enjoy the
tree in what they consider to be Mima's Park these children said "I want to go to Mima's park mima can I go outside and play in the park?" It's only a small little backyard they want they call it a park it means that much to them and I will have some peace of mind knowing that they're there playing on that tree
swinging as they would like and I can at least be comfortable that the the fence offers some some sense of security while they're inside so in in making your decision I ask that you consider the benefits that I just described of allowing me to keep the fence in its
current location um and please I ask please allow my grandkids to have their little space i think we get a pretty good idea of what's going on let's let's get some other testimony in here uh Jonathan would you jump in
for a minute certainly uh I'll um I'll add on to what uh uh what Miss McCarthy said this does not impact the side triangle of the intersection uh however what we are asking it's not even a full panel it's a it's a partial fence
panel uh to allow some um buffering to be installed i'll also acknowledge that she mentioned that there hasn't been any negative comments in the three years it's been installed so that would be the that would be the extent of my comments and I'll I'll defer to you Mr chairman
will will the panel that you're we're asking for will that how close will that get to the tree and the swinging motion that um the kids will be playing do you know from the photo it it appears to be less than six feet likely in the
ballpark of 4 feet miss McCarthy that should not make if it's four to six feet that shouldn't make much of a difference no they would the township requires 25 ft yes that's why I'm here i I I understand that yes i I think a four or six foot is is more
than a compromise um if if it was right on top of the tree or where your grandchildren could possibly you know be obstructed from playing that area but a four to six foot buffer is really not crazy in fact it's it's on our behalf it's it's 19 feet off
of what the requirement is so uh I only one the one panel is all we're requiring i do I do understand um uh sir Mr um Cahill but um I do understand and I do respect um what you said and I appreciate your comment but the I'm
looking for the swinging motion if it goes um if I take one one panel out the um there will be a tree and it the f they won't be able to do a swinging motion they won't they won't be able to play on it and now I'm going to have you know my grandkids not be able to swing
because you can't swing without spa you know swinging motion you can't swim without being able to to to move your your your legs and um Yeah give me one second um Jim what if we had a memor member and is that possible a a a
condition of approval yes uh what what what kind of a condition are you suggesting uh that we leave the fence where it is but I um Well Jonathan what what would you suggest could we could we do a memorandum of restriction where if there's any need to
access the access the area whether it's for a rightway easement temporary easement anything like that if there's any um road reconstruction project going on that the fence is the the applicants
liable for the the removal and reinstallation of the fence if that yes we could certainly make the memorandum of restriction a condition of approval so that would be an option to allow the fence to remain and then should the fence need to be moved in the future
that would allow that to happen i' I'd be in agreement to that too miss McCarthy do you understand uh I believe what um what Mr uh Jonathan just said is that um he
would he's suggesting that I could leave the fence but if for example PSNG or whatever need to do something in that space I would be responsible to pull the fence up and they could do what they whatever they need to do and I would then put it and your responsibility sure oh to to allow my grand if that if that
will save my grandkids space absolutely let me find out if any of your neighbors are on let me let me open it to the any other members of the board have any questions hearing none i'm going to take it to the public portion anyone in the public have any comments or questions about this application
no one chairman okay hold on just one second please um would this uh Jim let me ask you a question if we did give this the approval um with the memorandum um would there be anything in terms of a deed
restriction if she was goes to sell the house would that have to remain in place of restriction would follow the property so if any future purchaser needed or or was subject to PSEG road work
be liable to move it okay perfect that's good on my question um I'd make a motion to approve this application and uh give her the beliefs that she seeks with a memorandum can I get a second second okay hold the roll mr weissman yes mr
tiller yes mr patel yes mr reio yes mr morando yes mr elli yes and Chairman Cah yes your application's been approved with that one condition ma'am we'll memorialize that at our next meeting and send that to you thank you so much i
really really appreciate it i hope your grandchildren enjoy that i thank you so much i'll be so happy to give them this news thank you ma'am have a great evening thank you so much thank you uh am I up to 12 uh Laura can I leave or do I have to go please we have to be here
you don't okay thank you it's 12 sean it is 12 okay item number 12 adoption of the resolutions from the regular meeting of March 7 uh 27th 2025 first resolution Kevin Toval Reyes which you voted to approve mr weissman yes mr tillery yes
mr patel yes mr origio yes mr midando yes mr ali yes chairman Cahill yes final resolution Manet Baja Singh uh this was the gas station convenience store which you voted to approve Mr mr weissman yes
mr tillery yes mr patel yes mr origio yes mr midando yes mr ali yes chairman Cahill yes those are all the resolutions for this evening item number 13 adoption of the minutes from the regular meeting of March 27 2025 all in favor say I i i
item number Mr cahill before you adjourn Mr batt is on he was postponed until May i don't know why he's here i just want to let him know that he didn't have to be here this evening okay okay it item number 14 is a German all in favor say I
i okay thanks again guys for your volunteering and hard work appreciate you all thank you thank you