Zoning Board of Adjustment - Regular Meeting

Testing. One, two, three. Testing. Little adjustment tonight. Testing. Yes, sir. Okay. You can just cook.

Please turn off all cell phones. The agenda. The pumpkin link zoning board of adjustments. Something that was coming out of there. Seems to have stopped. I shut it off. It's over here. Okay. We had that problem last week. Yes. Got it.

Okay. So, we'll start over. Please turn off all cell phones. The agenda of the Pumpkin Lake Zoning Board of Adjustments, October 28, 2025. The following is the agenda of the regular meeting of the Pumpin Lake Zoning Board of Adjustments. The meeting is to be held in the municipal building, 25 Lennox Avenue on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025, beginning at 8:00 p.m. A written advance notice as required by NJSA 10 semicolon 4-1 ETAs has been provided of the meeting at least 48 hours in advance of today given the time date and location in the extent known the t um at the time the agenda of this meeting such notice stated that formal action may or may not be taken. This meeting will be video recorded and will be broadcast for later viewing for the public. The notice was p uh posted on the bulletin board outside of the offices of the municipal clerk reserved for this and similar announcements provided to the suburban trends the newspaper designated by the council and planning board to receive such notices and file to burer. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We have no one for the oath of office. Can I get a roll call, please? Yes. Mr. Hunt here. Mr. here. Miss Curran here. Mr. Cos here. Miss Berntock here. Mr. Rowan here. Mr. Be here, Mr. Fagula here, Mr. Devonte here, Mr. Klouse here, and have Councilman Bobby Cruz and Andy Gruin here. Thank you. Okay. Uh we have uh regular meeting minutes from August 26th, 2025. Together.

And then uh minutes for the regular meeting for September 23rd, 2025. everyone had an opportunity to read those minutes. And are there any corrections to those minutes? If not, can I please get a motion to accept the minutes?

Just one quick question. I was here for one meeting and not the other. How should I um make it clear on the vote. Which meeting are I was here for the August meeting and then the September meeting was for the holiday, right? Okay.

Okay. We'll do a roll call for both or let's separate separate because Yep. Okay. So, for the August meeting minutes, it's Mr. Be and Mr. Hunts. The motion and the second. I did not make a motion. I second. Oh, Mr. Abate. Sorry. No, you cannot then because you're not for that meeting, right? You were here for that meeting. Okay. August. Yes. Mr. B and Mr. Abates for August. Okay. Okay. Roll call. Yes. Mr. Hunt. Yes. Mr. Aake. Yes. Miss Curran. Yes. For August. Present for September. We're just doing August right now. Oh, we're just doing August. Sorry. That's okay.

Yes. Mr. Cos. Yes. Miss Berntock. I was absent on the 26th meeting. So present. Yes. Mr. Rowan. Yes. Mr. Vague. Yes. Mr. Fagula. Yes. Mr. Devonte. Yes. And Mr. Klouse. Yes. Okay. Now we're going to Can I get a motion to accept the minutes for September 23rd, 2025? Motion. Second. Second. Hold on. What was that? Motion. Okay. And the second. Got it. Okay. And the roll call. Mr. Hunt. Yes. Mr. Abbe. Yes. Miss. Currin.

Present. Okay. Mr. Cos. Yes. Miss Berntock. Yes. Mr. Rowan. Yes. Mr. B. Present. Mr. Fagula? Yes. Mr. Devonte? Yes. And Mr. Claus. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the bills? I'll make a motion we pay the bills. Second. Second, Miss Rowan. And who is second? Miss. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Hunt. Yes. Mr. Yes. Miss Curran. Yes. Mr. Mr. Cross. Yes.

Miss Berntoff. Yes. Mr. Rowan. Yes. Mr. Bay. Yes. Mr. Fagula. Yes. Mr. Devonte. Yes. Mr. Clouse. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um, we have some correspondents. Um, they're up at the uh the table if anybody so desires like to to read them. Um there's uh so there's four different uh um notices up there. So if you like to read them, they're up by uh Susan. Um okay, let's move on to application first.

Sure. We're going to move this around a little bit. We're going to do the resolution first. So BOA25-09 97 Skyler Avenue. Everybody had an opportunity to read the resolution. There were two things in it really that the moving the pool two feet um and then the other one you wanted to check on the garage and we did find the resolution the garage 1985 it was approved 1 foot and 2 foot away. So in its current location and that's referenced in the resolution. Thank you. Um, can I if there's no cons other concerns or questions on the resolution, can I get a motion to accept the resolution?

Motion to accept. Second, and Mr. Roll call. Yes. Mr. Hunt. Yes. Mr. Abate. Yes. Miss Curran, present. Mr. Cos, yes. Miss Berntock, yes. Mr. Rowan, yes. Mr. Bay, uh, present. Although I don't know if I could have heard the case. So, is that the right way to I live in proximity? No, you're here. You didn't vote at all. Mr. Fagula, yes. Mr. Dante, yes. And Mr. Klouse, yes. Thank you. Okay, somebody wants to speak.

Yes, please. on the resolution. What is the footage that was my line at 101? It was moved 2 ft further away from your home. So, it's 4T 7 and 12 in. Y. So, your resolution has been it's been approved. Um, what that means is um there's uh 45 days from now up to 45 days theoretically someone go to court and challenge it and you'd be at risk. If you are okay, although I don't think anybody don't need to be putting in your pool when it's cold, but if you needed to do the construction, you can go to the construction department to the building department sign a waiver. It says I understand that there still may be challenge and then you can get your building permits. Other than that, wait for the 45 days and then you'll be good.

So, she said 4T from I think it's 4T. Yeah. 4.75 ft from his property line. That's how far the pool is. Correct. And that's in that one. And then the other goes three feet. Yeah. That's that's the closest part. Instead of being 4t on the big garage, it's 10 ft on. No, instead of 10 and eight, but anyway, it's okay. It's rather than being 10 ft away from the garage, it's 8 ft. But that was that's that's that's how that was approved that way. Thank you.

Oh, sorry. So, uh, you you were saying that I could sign a waiver and then build the construction of the pool even without the building. No, without waiting the 45 days. So, you can't change what you've been approved for something, you cannot change it. What you can do is cuz now that it's been approved, somebody could challenge this. They for next 45 days, they go to court and said this shouldn't have been approved. And if the court agrees, then your approval got pulled. You can go to the you can go to the construction department, building department, and say, "I'm applying for my permits. I will sign a waiver." And say, "I understand." And the court might overturn this. And you can still get your permits. Okay.

If you don't need them, then wait for the 45 days. If there's no challenge, then you're good. Okay. Thank you. Okay. You're done. I don't think you're going to build a pool in the middle of winter. Probably not. Good luck with your project. Good luck. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay. So, now we're going to move on to application VA25-1172 Grant Avenue. Please come forward. I think after should he go into the room? Yeah. Yeah. Can you go at the Can you go into the public? You should leave the room. You should leave. Yeah. The Okay. Yep.

Yep. Just tell her that you're leaving. You're good. official. The notes will reflect he's leaving. You got it. Please uh raise your right hand, state your name, spell your last. My name is Steven Flynn. F L Y N. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you'll give this evening before this board will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you got Yes. Can we sit down and proceed? Okay. So, why don't you tell us about your project that uh you're looking uh for the variance for?

I want to put a 6ft white vinyl fence up in my backyard. Uh I'm looking to I have an older cyclone fence there that's rusted. Probably needed to be repaired when I moved in 27 years ago, but uh it uh over the years had wasn't doing too well. And I then I had to take a couple of trees down about 5 years ago. And in the process of doing that, they knocked out a couple of posts. And uh my daughter was in college at the time, so we didn't have I didn't want to spend any money on big projects. We got that out of the way. And uh so I'm looking to put a 6ft white vinyl fence up exactly like the one that's adjacent to me in the property. I have one side of my property that has one. I'm really looking for privacy. I'm looking for some security. I'm looking to keep the deer out. I can't use my property for anything anymore. They just they basically run My house is the causeway from Grant A to Cedar Street for the deer. And uh I just want to get back to building a tulip garden and growing roses and doing the things that we used to like to do that we no longer can do.

Okay. Um, what I found out in the process, uh, I applied for a permit because I was adjacent. My my street is on the end of Cedar Street. So, I'm at the end of a dead end street. Mhm.

And, uh, I'm just looking to uh, put a fence there. Uh, what I did was in the drawing, if you have looked at it, you can see that it's off on an it's diagonally on an angle. in order for when the big snowstorms come through, they don't have to knock down my big bushes. It tends to My old fence used to get pushed over all the time and I'd go after the snow would melt and push it back up. Um just looking to upgrade the property and put a fence in. What I did find out was that I have two front yards.

Yeah. So when you go around to neighbors and you're I had to go around to the process required me to visit about well I visited I did it personally cuz I happened to be home this time and uh I got to meet all I got to know all my neighbors names which was a good thing cuz I didn't know anybody and uh what I found out was so I had to explain it to them and they all kind of looked at me very strange but the fact is is that I have two front yards. My backyard is considered a front yard because it's adjacent to two other front yards and uh it's adjacent to a street. So that's pretty much it. Sex white vinyl fence. Okay. Your dear my yard.

Mhm. Yeah. Well, I'm what I'm trying to do is, you know, my wife used to get uh I know this has nothing to do with the variance, but she used to get a lot of compliments cuz she could take she could put this in the ground and it would start to grow. So, but the deer just destroy everything now. It's amazing. Now, I do see that we did get some correspondence from the uh the fire department and and the D uh the um DPW was concerning of the hydrant that's back there. Yes.

And also um for snow removal purposes um that there's a lack of a better word, a buffer back there. Um, do you feel with this height of this and the the this fence that you'd be running into some difficulty when they do plow? No. No. Because uh if if you have you seen the drawing? Yes, I was at your property. Oh, okay. You visited it. Okay. No one was home. I did ring the doorbell. And some of the fence in the back is already is gone. Yeah, it's gone. What happened was is that when I had I had that telephone pole that's at the end. Yes. I watched a storm one time and take the three trees and bend them sideways and I just said those trees have to come down

because if that pole ends up taking out their electricity, I'm going to be on the hook for it. Right. Right. So this was about four or five years ago. And uh they ended up I took some of the fence down so that I knew that they would be working back there. And then of course when they went to take the stumps out they knocked out a couple of posts. And at the time I was like I wanted to just put the old fence back but I was like no no no. Why don't you just wait until the kids out of school and Right. Right. So really what I'm uh I don't think there'll be any issue with the with the fire hydrant because again where the angle is that there's it's easy enough for the fire department to get there. They're not there's not going to be any hindrance.

I think that by we haven't had any monster snowstorms in a couple of years. So it's not a problem. It's when we get the big two-footers that were coming through every year a couple of years back that the pile would just get big. And they're usually the the plow guys are always very careful about it. But I understand when you're getting 6 in of snow an hour, we got to clear the street out. Right. Right. So, you know, in that case by when I had bought the fencing contractor and my original plan was to not have it on an angle, right? And he says, "No, why don't you just put it on an angle? It's less fence for you. It's easy enough. Are you okay with this?" And I was like, "Fine. As long as those guys have enough of room to push the snow

so they can make a pile there. And I think they'll have more than enough. Now, I did notice that the property to your left does have a a 6ft fence. Yes. And that's the the property line that the property that you were talking about that had the 6T fence. Yes. Okay. And there's no the one on the right of you. There's no fence there now. He has a cyclone. That's the same fence. It's the rusted old, right? Has the plastic on top of it. It's I hate looking at it. Right. Okay. And he's okay. I had discussed with Ben, my next door neighbor. I said, "Look, I want to put a fence up." Here's the reason. Same I'd have. He understands.

I said, "Do you want me to keep the old fence there? Can we take the old fence down when we put it up? We're going to come in about 6 in or so from the property line." He has a dog, so I want to make sure that when And he was like, "Please take it down. Don't leave it up because then weeds and things grow and becomes hard to maintain. Okay. So, he's okay with that. Okay. Um, a lot of times what we ask that usually the f the um a foot 5 foot and a foot of lattice. Is that something that you you'd be considering or is it something I'd prefer to have it fold because I don't want

What I'm concerned about is if the deer have any way of seeing that they want to come in. I'm trying to make it so that oh there's nothing behind there. We will want to come in. So I prefer a 6ft height final fence like I have on the side rather than the lattice on the top. And then the the fence that you're looking to um on the front side that is facing Grant, the one that would come down and then go closest to the house, that's also 6T. Yes, it would be 6T. So 6t all the way around.

6t all the way around with a gate on the side of the house where the driveway is. I have a 4ft gate to go through with a lawn mower or whatever I needed. And then a and then a larger gate in case I need a contractor or whatever to go in the back if I need to for whatever reasons I prefer a full gate that's about 12 10 12 ft. Okay, that's the questions I have. Any else on board have any questions for the applicant? Mr. Hunt, we did get the um the MUA response. Did everybody get to see that? It was emailed separately.

Uh I did not get I did not see that. Did I see that? Well, it was about the water lines when you put the fence poles in. Right. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. When I still have to call 81 if if this goes through, I still have to call people to get everything marked out is I can't dig otherwise. Correct. That is correct. What's the in the area of the fence where you come at an angle? Yeah. The furthest point there. How far is that from the property line? I'm not able to figure out. I'd say it's about I'd say approximately 15 ft. Oh, that much. Yeah, I'd say 12 to 15 ft. I did measure it, but I can't remember.

I'm sorry I missed that quite that statement. He was talking about how the so tilop area. So, I was asking how far back from the property line it ended up being at that far end on the angle. I couldn't tell from the drawing. And what was your response? I'd say it's about 12 to 15 ft. Okay. Yeah, that that's written in here. Yeah. Can I just make a comment? I mean, I I know that in terms of the the front yard in this situation, it's not like it's on the street that you're driving by. It's a It's a dead end.

I I I don't see how the this really is an impact unlike the one we saw like on Rammaite. So I I I don't I don't see a problem with that other than like you said with the snow uh being able to go where it needs to go. The only other thing I would say is I'm not so sure the door deer are going to stop at 6 ft. So I don't know either, but I've got I've got to do something. I've got they jump over a fence on my property that 5 ft like there's no I know it's why I I But you can do what you can do. Yeah. I got to do what I got to try to because you can't I I can't I can't do anything. If you put anything in the ground, they just eat it.

Yeah. And even the PL If you put My wife put plastic flowers in the front and they pulled those up. They don't eat them, but they think they can. You plant your mom's they'll eat those and leave the rest of them alone. Mine are gone. It's unreal. And and so are mine. We used to be we grew all kind. The tulips were wonderful. The roses were wonderful. Hold on. So, I'm I figured that I need to I'm I'm finally at a point where my daughter's old enough. She's out of school and I can start to put improvements on the property. I thought I'd start here. And uh I applied for the permit because you have to and because I was adjacent to the street,

right? So, I didn't realize I had two front lawns, but okay. Learned the hard way. Anybody else have any comments on the application? Nope. I will open it to the public. Anybody from the public would like to come forward and question the applicant on this testimony? See, I see no one moving forward. I will close that session. Can I get a motion? Second. Hold on. Who was the motion? First motion two three. Second. Miss Kurin and Mr. V. Yes. Okay. All right.

She she Yes. Mr. Hunt. Yes. Mr. Bait. Yes. Miss Currin. Yes. Mr. Cos. Yes. Miss Berntock. Yes. Mr. Rowan, yes. Mr. Big, uh, Mr. Pula, yes. Mr. Dante, yes. And Mr. Claus, yes. And when you find a secret of keeping the deer away, you have to come back. Yeah. I I I don't know if it's going to work or not, but I'm going to This I don't know what else to do. That's the problem. I know that there's deer things that you can put up, but I know that that's only that don't work either. Nothing works.

It doesn't work. What works is what what we what I I don't have a heart to do. My dog chases the deer out of the backyard. They still come back. Yeah, they just come back. They I live on van or school. It's like a minefield out there. Every day I pick up I I have to pick up it. Yeah, it's it's just uh every uh I I I I I was going to a house last week. I saw 50. Okay, here we go. Get off. Let's get back on track. Okay. Um so we need a roll call, right?

We did. You did that already? Uh so now you need to explain to the applicant. Okay. Um you've been approved. Um next month there'll be a written resolution um that will be adopted like you had here the hearing before, right? That will then get published in the paper and 45 days from then. Um you could then if you're in the free and clear, I can sign a waiver.

You can go now. You can go you probably go now even though because you got approved because you you are you actually approved the the vote today is the approval. the the crossing the tees and dotting the eyes is the resolution which gets published. So if you go and they'll they can confirm that in fact the vote was taken. You were approved for defense. Okay. You'd have to sign the waiver and say I understand that I'm at risk that if somebody in the public challenged it I could lose it but yes you could sign a waiver and then you could start the permit process. Okay. Um the permit process do I have to wait until the after next meeting then it gets or I can start? No, cuz we have a vote. So they they could if they need to they can confirm that because the carolina in a week or tomorrow or whenever

it's a very technical thing, but the the the what they've given you happens today. This vote it it's memorialized and some other things later on, but the actual thing that they gave you was today. Okay. Tonight's vote. All right. All right. That's good. So good luck with your project. Thank you very much. Nice meeting you. Stand here. Take care. Have a great evening. You too. Uh, new and unfinished business. Mr. C, you have anything from Open Space? Uh, a couple things. Their biggest project, the Ufield.

Oh, yeah. Hold on one second. Knock on there. Get Steve. Tell me can you get out of your timeout?

Well, welcome back. What was on TV?

Excuse me. I just asked for a copy of that was passed. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. Good night. So, we're on to new and unfinished business with Mike Hos. So, Mike, open space. Uh, like I was about to say, the biggest project, which is the new ball field at the Little League complex, is signed, sealed, and delivered. Well, the work has already started. You go down there, there's a big area that used to be the parking, you know, that's been completely taken down. All the trees have been removed. Stuffs have been removed. It's actually quite a scene.

You don't realize the property that you have available to you to remove all the trees. So, it's on it's on the way. Yep. Um, apparently there was going to be a shovels in the ground ceremony, but that got cancelled in November. Um I don't know if they actually have a date set, but yes, there is going to be kind of like a uh Yeah, I told Maria said uh they cancelled it. Just going to do a ribbon cutting when the whole project's done. They might, you know, I heard differently. I mean, but again, I can confirm that. I think um we'll figure something out on what we're worth the celebration for the entire time we just come out. For sure. The only thing I would s ask or even maybe suggest is maybe posting something on Facebook or the Bradley Pumpkin page. people know what

they have been doing that. So, if you guys haven't seen it yet, there is a new digital newsletter that's being posted right now. It just started and that right there will have all that information and everything else that's going on in the burrow. Anything related to the burrow. So, um if you do see it, sign up obviously and um it's really great information, but it'll be there will great. Um there's I don't know how far it's gotten so far, but since the game of pickle ball was so popular, they want to put in a couple new courts down at Hersfield. Um well, they that was until they found out how much it was going to cost them.

So I think what is happening, they're going to take the existing tennis courts that are there, they're going to align them for pickle ball. So, I don't know how that's going to work for the tennis team and visitors who come because it gets a little I don't know. For I give you an example. Look at the turf field and see all the lining using a drone. If you try to play softball on there, it's impossible. You'll never understand where first base is, third or second. So, it has been approved. That's the plan to move forward is to stripe I don't know how many, maybe two or three uh with pickle ball lines. Okay. And uh I know they have to keep I don't have any I don't have a deep they have to keep a couple of courts uh fullsize tennis for their varsity teams though right

I'm sorry what was the question they have to keep couple of fulls size courts they they all are so the first three courts that you're facing are singles

the remaining are doubles going into the pickle ball courts further down so the challenge because I did speak to the coach about this is making sure that not so much for our kids because over time they will get used to Right. Initially it may be a little difficult because you got to remember there's no official. This is literally left to each player to determine if a ball is in or out. Um now visitors coming in that may be a challenge right because you know the lines and I don't know the colors. I don't know how that's going to happen with that. That may present a challenge. Um but again you know we really don't have any property available in town to really build and for they were going to use this space. if you're facing the tennis courts, it was going to be to the left to knock all that down, you know, was an enormous amount of money and do everything. So, that was Kash as quickly as it came out.

Okay. Um, so we'll see. We'll see what happens. You know, we just got to wait and see. Um, the other project down the park was um the resurfacing of the basketball courts. I know. I saw that resurfaced. I wasn't sure if it was lined yet, though. It's not lined yet. Um, they did a great job. next season. I'm not going to get into that. I wait till to get to get to that. But yeah, it's all done. It's all done. Everything is great. They just have to line it now. Yeah. And the walkway going up to it. It's all good. It looks nice. Yes. Everything there looks great, guys. You know, with the new playground right now, we had a ribbon cutting ceremony today. It was awesome. You know, we have I forgot what the name of the uh frog is now. Kelly Shel. Yeah, it was

Kelly Shelly. Great name. Two kids came up with that. It was a very nice ceremony. But it looks great. The next push is going to be fiberglass backboards. Okay, that's the next thing I would like to see on there and then that'll really uh make it more attractive as far as transport. And then the lakeside boat house is out for bid to repair it. I don't know if anything came in yet. Nothing that I'm aware of from our last council meeting. Again, we have a little bit of a break here. So, I'll obviously I could ask him before that. I'll see if there's any update and I'll share it with the board. Um, but nothing came up at our last council meeting regarding that. And then the roof on the gazebo that apparently was going to try and be metal if they're going to go back to shingle asphalt shingles.

I don't have any update on that. That was not at least in the last two meetings there was no discussion of that. Um but those are things I can get updates for if they are available obviously to confirm and I could forward that off to you guys. And that was basically it for this month. Great. Seems like a lot going on. Yeah. got uh the balance is $495,410, but I don't know how much that's for the little leak field project, but close to $500,000. Yeah. To work with, but the little leak fields are going to be cheap. No.

And just a little side note to add to that just quickly, it's looking we may be under the initial budget cost, so we may be able to squeeze in the playground, which is huge. you know, parents watch games, their little ones will take. So, um I'm really keeping my fingers across the stage that way we have no unexpected cost or increases over the life of the project. That would be nice. Um but it it would be fantastic. Absolutely. So, just wanted to put that out there.

Thank you for your report. Uh I'd like to open the meeting for public discussion and since there is no one in the public, I will close that session. Can I please get a motion for adjournment? Second. All in favor? Oppos? Have a nice day. not an 18 and a