Planning Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This is the uh December 17, 2025 meeting of the Newcastle Zoning Board of Appeals. Um before we start our regular agenda tonight, we have a little housekeeping to do. Um last month's meeting uh we passed a uh a request for the two metal meadow hill wayne way application and it seems that there was a discrepancy in the calculations for their driveway grade. Um if Bob is here he's going to explain it to us and it's simple to re to u rectify. Can you you can you give us an update on that Bob?

Yes. Thank you. you good invest chairman and members of the board and council? Um, yes. The reason for the discrepancy is because the original three variances as requested was based upon a survey that was prepared by a different surveyor a year and a half ago by the name Ronald Prasad. So when I reviewed that it needed the three is based on the at that time and at that time it was probably the binder course and not the top course. So what they do is they put the binder course for all the construction so the driveway doesn't get beat up with heavy machinery. When they're done they put that in the top course. So what happened was evidently they they they hired a new surveyor TC merit land surveying who came in and took survey shots after the as built after the top course was installed. Um so based on that survey that was the one that was submitted by Alan Pil unfortunately the original denial letter was based on the old survey as opposed to the new survey and that's where the confusion is. So my opinion in looking at both of the variances based on the old survey on the new survey that was presented by them but not documented in the actual resolution. They're very similar. One's not worse than the other. So, I don't have any objection to that new variance being requested that was prepared by Anna Pelch, which was a 6.19 variance at station 0 plus 30. Hopefully that explains the confusion between the two.

Okay. Okay. So what we're doing then is we're we're reducing the u amount of variance that we granted last month. Correct. Correct. Yes. I don't think that should be a big deal. U we're not increasing anything. Um is there any comments from the board on this? No. Anybody out in the up audience want to comment on this? No. Okay. Mr. Chairman, if I may, I I just want to make sure a couple of things are on the record and obviously I guess you'll just restate what the what the new approved variance is. Yeah. Um so there's going to be a a revised uh notice of denial in the file which will reflect the the new

variance that's that's being uh requested. And uh and I believe you you'll cover this, but you know uh the because it's a more minor variance than the one that was granted, there's no need to renotice or or anything like that, we're covered in that regard and there shouldn't be any inconvenience to the applicant because we spoke [clears throat] to the building inspector yesterday and uh and as Bob and I did and uh there should be uh no issues with moving forward with the CEO uh based on the No, they'll get their CEO right away. We there will be no which is a good thing. Okay. So I just wanted to that's all I wanted to know. Perfect. Thank you so much. Okay. So do we need to have a vote on this or how do you what do you think you legally? I think yes. I think we should.

Yes. Because there is you know this is the new

variance which is kind of subsumed in the old one but but it is a different final variance. So you so maybe if we just reflect that on the record [clears throat] and vote on it. I think that's fine. So, I'll I'll make a I'll make an amended motion for the application at two metal meadow hill way um for driveway variance uh of 6.19% which is less than it was when our when we originally approved this application. Um and by changing it, we will not affect the neighborhood in any negative way. Um and we will not be holding up the homeowner with his co because of it. Um, and there is there is no other objections to this that we know of from uh any of our uh agencies in town. Um, I'm sure the homeowners would be happy to continue. Uh, if anybody is uh okay with that, I'll make that my motion.

I second the motion. Okay. Chairman Jordina. I Michael Nolan. Hi. Ronald [clears throat] Jensen. Hi. Uh, Warren got hi. Kathleen Der. Hi. Okay, we cleaned up our housekeeping. Thank you, Mr. [clears throat] Chairman. Thank you. Good night. Happy holiday. You, too. Extension with [clears throat] Yes, I'm I'm online if you can hear me. Okay, go ahead. We can hear you.

Okay, great. Um, thank you so much um for the meeting tonight. Um I came in front of the board on June 27th uh looking for a uh variance related to a pool. Um we technically did not break ground. Um but we have started the engineering process started the mechanical engineer process um for a um backflow uh valve that had a farmer install that. So we have started the project project but we have not broken ground. So Mr. Paul thought it would be best that I come in and ask for a six-month variance since we have not broken ground in the first 6 months. So, I'm here asking for a six-month extension to the variance uh of June 27th.

And so, we your six-month extension um is going to add to the completion time as well. Is that what you're planning? Because usually it's six months to start and a year to finish.

Yes, sir. 6 months to start and then then six months to finish. So yes, we're asking for um 6 months uh another 6 months to start and I would ask to to tack on another 6 month to finish. Um once we finish the engineering drawings, we we are hoping to start in March or April. Uh and talking to the pool contractor, we should be able to. Um but it would be best if I just asked for a complete six-month extension on the start. Uh, and all in on the finish, please. Okay. So, that's reasonable. I I have no problem. Anybody here on the board have no questions? Okay. I'll make a motion that we grant the six-month extensions as requested. I second the motion. Chairman Jino. I Michael Nolan.

Hi, Lauren Jensen. Hi, Lauren. Got hi. Catherine Jefferson. Hi. You have your extension. Good luck. Thank you so much. Happy holidays. Have a good night.

Thank you. You too. Uh, next up is Uh, good evening. I'm Charles Napoli. I'm the the architect for the Cougs who are here with me tonight. Um, I have permission to hand out some extra paperwork. I've directions as as as to what we're doing to solve some of our problems. May I?

Absolutely. Pick a card. Card got some pictures there. You might have the pictures in a file in color. Oh, this is this is different more pictures. This is the new picture of the property. It's the same. Everything's the same except I've added a few photos of driving up the hill and past the property. [clears throat]

[clears throat]

So at two um at number one Cedar Lane um we are uh surrounded by roads triangular [clears throat] piece of property um that's one half acre in a 1acre zone and um and it sits at the top of a a very steep hill on rock. Uh, the property has no basement. It's rock. Um, it has hardly any storage space. It's a smaller house. It's a [snorts] four-bedroom house, but it's a small, modest house on the property. And every single part of this house is in the front yard setback, a front yard setback. And [clears throat] we started this project a few years ago in an effort to uh create a back stair from the second floor and to um create a second bathroom upstairs for guests andor family. So that uh and so we we've done an addition to the main body of the house that that you see in sketch number well it says guest ele guest west elevation view. Um you see a few more sketches on the larger sheets near page four and five. We did that a long time ago. What simply all we did was take what was a very small guest room, the fourth bedroom, and moved it out onto a flat deck. And what was the very small guest room, we created some master bath, uh another bath and a master closet um for for um well for gowns for my opera singer [laughter] and uh and some suits for um Drew Drew Kugan. So um so we adjusted that in the

process. Um uh we were looking at an another car, another place to put a car because right now all the cars are out on the driveway. And what we did instead uh of going underneath and putting a driveway underneath, which is not possible because it's all rock, uh what we added was a a two-car garage on top of the pavement that's already there. We displaced 500 square ft of pavement. We we we removed it a little bit, but we eliminated the cars backing out onto uh Cedar Lane. Right now, the cars are coming in to somewhat of a courtyard, as you can see. And it's a three-point drive. I mean, it's not easy to get in or out, but it's it's it's modest. It's a modest driveway, and it functions perfectly, especially for the two new electric cars that are going to go in there. We didn't want the cars underneath the house. Um, we want them separate and have their own charger. There is not a lot of space in that garage. It's as tight as it possibly can be. The back out and and turning radiuses are as tight as they possibly can be. And so what happened was we ended up with a couple of corners of that garage sticking out close to the road. So thus the variances for the garage. One of them as you could see um on well there is the south corner of the garage u well you see that little stairway by the way that little stairway goes up to storage space which we don't have in the house. We've added storage space for well for storage and we also added the two-car garage. The point of that twocar garage is what's facing McKessan Hill and it happens to be the lowest point of the roof. So, we're not trying to make it

feel too big. And s also similarly, when you look on the Cedar Lane side of that garage, it is the lowest point of that roof. Also, it's only 8 feet. So we're trying to lessen the impacts on [snorts] the roads and of of the building on the roads and so and at the same time solve our storage problems is to solve our our car problems. I think I think I a good portion of this is about safety. Um the other part is that it's a small house on a small piece of property. We want a little more space for the conveniences of everyday living and and that's so our hope is for variances. So many variances. I mean every corner of this house is in the front yard. Um and matter of fact, this whole property only has three corners and it's all front yards. And so I looked to um get some relief on allowing us to put this garage uh on what was the big driveway. Um and just to complicate things, we're putting the garage on the driveway that now turns into um development coverage and it takes away I mean building coverage and it takes away development coverage. So development coverage got lower and and and building coverage got a little bit bigger because the garages counted in building coverage. So it's it's a balancing act. And whenever we took driveway, we added it some somewhere else in a different form. And and that's the latest that's the latest on my requests. variances for the existing building and variances for the brand new garage.

Just to clarify, Chuck, yes. Building coverage, even though you've added to it, Yeah. should take note that you have not exceeded the allowable. So, that's a good thing. No, definitely not. You did a good job on that. We're we're below it. That's for sure. You're 80% 88% of your coverage now, but you haven't exceeded [clears throat] it. Yes, we give you credit for that. Thank you for that. Okay. Um, any comments? I just have a question. Um, yes, sir. The you mentioned the height of the garage, like you mentioned it was 8 feet on the side. The spring line is 8 feet where the roof starts. And you did that to lessen the impact, the visual impact.

Definitely. Okay. and and the way it's turned it it point it it's a very sharp point going out closer to the road so it's not a big wall uh so that's I'm trying to minimize that impact also and it's also the lowest corner now there are two dormers you can see in there but they are in the middle of the the roof [snorts] [clears throat] yeah they're on top of the spring line

yeah you can see some of these pictures across the bottom how steep this pro this property is and and on the top left hand corner of the drawing I gave you that is the view coming up Cedar Lane from the from the north to the south that that's just to give you an idea how um how how steep this property is. Anybody else? [snorts] Anybody in the audience would like to comment on this application? Is there anybody online who wants to comment on this application? No hands are raised online. No hands are raised. We're prostitute neighbors and we have no problem with this.

Oh, okay. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [laughter and clears throat] We were wondering. There's also another neighborhood. Okay. I'll close move we close the public hearing. I second the motion. Uh chairman [clears throat] Jardina. Hi. Michael Nolan. Hi. got the the Cougen application for one, two, three, four, five, six in the record. Just like this piece of property, if it's not the most unique piece of property in the whole town, it's got to be right up here in the top. Some of us on the board are familiar with this and it's a very difficult thing to work.

You can see all the variances we had to do. If you're doing anything, you needed a variance. Thank you. So, uh, we we fully understand your plate. Thank you. Okay. So, let's let's make I'm going to make a motion that we approve the following variances. A front yard variance for the new garage of Messa Hill Road of 47.1. Nope. I got I got one. We'll make a frame for 40.6 ft.

Yes. Um, and a front yard variance for the existing garage at McKessan, 43.3 ft. Front yard variance for the existing garage at Cedar Lane, 40.6 ft. Uh, front yard variance for second floor edition. Uh, McKesen 34.2 ft. Front yard variance for the second floor [clears throat] uh, at the Cedar Lane outside of 48.35 ft. [clears throat] Okay. Tony, the existing Can I get them? Yeah. The existing change of view C is 12.8. Well, that's where they want that's where they want it to be.

All right. So, we're going to change. We're getting 12.8. Is that okay? Yeah. 12.8. 12.8. Okay. Right. 12.8 11.7 is the next one. Got it. Got it. It's a lot. Anybody else have any comments? No. and corrected me in other mistakes. Sorry. T is my night. [laughter] Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry. I do have a question. I'm looking at the notice of denial. Yeah. Yeah. I probably should have read from there. You did. That is Well, yeah, but I I mixed it in with some of my own. Oh, you're the one who did all those mistakes.

All right. We'll you'll use the variances as listed on the notes of denial.

Okay. And that'll make everybody happy. And uh we should approve these variances for the following reasons. As stated prior, this is if not the most unique property in town. It's right up there at the top. Uh some of us on the board are already familiar with it. There are there's nothing but front yards on this piece of property. It's a triangular piece set surrounded by streets and roads. Uh difficult to do anything without variance. uh the granny of the variant will not create undesire any undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood. Uh there is no other way to achieve the desired end other than other than to grant this variance. Uh there will be no adverse effects to the physical environment conditions in a neighborhood. Um there it's a tossup if it's a self-created hardship or not. I'm going to say it's not a self-created hardship because the property created its own hardship.

Um, and if you can provide us with the required surveys, foundation for the new garage, etc., etc., um, we shall grant this variance. You'll have six months to start and one year to finish. Are you okay on timing with that? Yeah, we're good with that. Okay. I'm going to second the motion. But before I do, I just need to say that this artwork is just really beautiful. This is a This is a This looks like a Jamie Wyatt picture to me. I like the other one. You'll see the other one. The next one is pretty [laughter] I think number four or three. Oh, this one. This one. Yeah, that is Cedar Lane.

That looks like the unfinished Jimmy Wild. But anyway, [laughter] uh I second the motion. Chairman, Michael. Hi Ronald Jenzig. Hi War Gotautley. Hi Katherine Dozen. Hi. You have your various. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you so much all. Thank you. Uh [clears throat] letter.

Did I say that correctly? Yes, you nailed it. Not many people do. So, thank [clears throat] you. Okay.

Could you take your name for the record, please? Sure. [clears throat] What it is that you seek?

Good evening. Uh, my name is Alex Letterman. My wife, uh, Nina and I purchased our home at 127 Bridges Road about 2 years ago. Um, we really enjoyed getting to know the community and uh we're planning to spend many years in our home and we're seeking your assistance to help us safely and happily achieve that goal. Um, I'm here today to present plans for improvements to the exterior of our home um including an atgrade patio, installation of a deck and installation of a kid assembled greenhouse. Uh, we have two main goals for this project. Uh the first is to make the existing topography of the backyard easier and safer to traverse for our family and friends. And the second is to maximize the enjoyment we get from the natural beauty of our surroundings. The existing condition of our property presents some unique challenges for making improvements. Um the first obstacle is that our property predates the town zoning code. Um we have a halfacre lot um in the 1 acre zoning district. Uh and the second challenge is that our property is a corner lot making it subject to the double front setback much like the topic before. Um these conditions combined uh create an existing hardship that make it difficult to complete any improvement to the property by right. So we are seeking approval for two setback variances to account for these challenges. Um the first variance is for the front yard setback from Turner Drive to accommodate the atgrade patio and a very small corner of the um planned stairs leading up to the proposed deck. Um and so for the the patio the proposed front yard setback is is 41 ft difference from of 19 ft from the required 60. Um, for the deck stairs, the proposed front yard setback is 58 ft, a difference of 2 feet from the required 60. The second variance we're seeking is for the sideyard setback requirement to

accommodate the installation of the kit assembled greenhouse. Uh, the proposed sideyard setback is 26 feet, a difference of 9 ft from the required 35. Um on page one of the the plans that we've submitted, uh you'll find five photos of the existing exterior of the property. Uh photos one, two, three, and four show the street view of the property from the front corner and side views of the house. Um the proposed deck and patio will be blocked from view by the existing topography um of of the property and will not impact um existing visibility from the street or adjacent properties. And photo number five shows the proposed location of the greenhouse uh where an existing garden resides. Um, if you flip to page two of the plans that we've submitted, you'll find a more detailed view of the proposed uh patio deck and a rendering of the the greenhouse. Um, at [snorts] the bottom of the page, you'll see the the uh cross-section elevation drawings um from the the rear and side views looking back up onto the property from the backyard. Um the proposed patio will be at grade and our intent for the deck is to maintain a low design profile uh to minimize disruption to the natural beauty and any visibility uh impacts to surrounding property. Um the deck is is only intended to be built high enough to address the slope of the um the yard to provide a safe level decking surface. Um the greenhouse, the proposed location of the greenhouse was strategically selected to maximize the amount of year- round sunlight it would receive on our heavily uh wooded property. Um so with that, I'll pause for a moment for you to review and uh open to any questions.

Um I'm okay with this. I've looked it over before the meeting and uh I don't see anything that I have objection to. I'm not sure about the board. Anybody on the board have any comments? I just have a question. What is the um size of the greens? Proposed greenhouse. It is 6 by9. 6 by9. Modest. Nino wanted something much bigger, but we can't eat that many tomatoes. That's a modest size. Okay. Anybody else? Anybody in the audience would like to comment on this application? No. Anybody online want to comment on this application?

No hands raised. Okay. I move we close the public hearing. I second the motion. Chairman. Hi. Michael Nolan. Hi. Ronald Jensen. Hi. Juan Gotley. Hi. Catherine. Hi.

I I'll take Okay. Um, I'd like to, um, make a motion in reference to Leon residence at 120 R, um, for a series of variances. Um, in part, the [snorts] the um there would be a patio as well as a greenhouse. Um the patio is um basically put in place to mitigate the slope of the yard. Um the greenhouse the location is set up uh to maximize the sunlight. Um they have a low design profile of the deck in order to keep um uh in concert with the natural surroundings. Um the purpose for the work on the property is one for safety and two is to enjoy uh the surroundings their property. Uh they are a half acre lot in an R1A zone. Uh and the uh greenhouse is 6x9 kit assembled greenhouse. Um the granting of this variance will not create an undesirable change in the character of the neighborhood or or a detriment to nearby properties. Um the benefits sought by applicants um and let me just back up and just say that they have their properties on two um front yard zones. So the um uh I should go back to that the the variances will be a front yard variance uh of 19 ft uh for Turner Road. Um the deck stairs builtin planter uh is a

variance on turn road of 2 feet. Uh the greenhouse which is a sideyard variance uh is a 9- foot variance for sideyard 9 foot variance. Uh and again going back um the variance will not create an undesirable change in the character neighborhood. Uh the benefits sought by applicants um probably cannot be achieved by any other method since the property is small uh and there is slope. Um the requested variances are somewhat substantial in that they're numerable, but this is a a legal non-conforming um piece of property. Um uh it will not have an adverse effect on the impact of the fiscal and environmental conditions of the neighborhood. Um [clears throat] there are no neighbors who have um written or or present in opposite to the variance. Uh much like the previous um variance request um it is potentially not a safe self-graded hardship in the fact that the applicants are dealing with uh limited uh resources on the property. Um and I think we'll need six months to start and one year to finish. And do we need what do we need in terms of survey? [snorts] Um [clears throat] just going to be an asbuilt survey at the end.

Okay. So we'll need an asbelt survey at the end. Okay, I'll second that. Chairman Jardina. Hi. Michael Nolley. Hi. Ron Jensen. Hi. Warren Gley. Hi. Catherine. Hi. Gabby Burns. Thank you very much. Good luck. Have a good night. Happy holiday.

Um so good. Um I'ming for the disease. Um I want to share my screen just able to see the Um this is a property at 42 Mill Road. Um at some stage I think a couple years ago um this is um built casino. He built it himself um on what is the only um sort of level portion of the property. Um have a look sort of difficult to describe but in this photo you can see the deck quite high up and the property drops off. Um and in this back section of the property he's planted trees buried in the orchard like fruit trees. Um and he lived at zero. It was unfortunately not permitted. Um it is a relatively low structure 7 ft and 8 ft 40 ft across. Um we are sticking a sideyard variance of one foot for the combined sideard and water zoning. Um and a front yard variance

um 27 ft. Now it is a oddly shaped well side is has quite a uniform shape. It's it's unique in that it has hollow road around the back and some discussion in terms back. Um it does bark on your wedge also neighbor satellite sort of show you but the nearest neighbor on this side is 150 ft away and there's another sort of panhandle of their property and then there's um road um the gazebo is not very difficult a low wall and a level change, a series of green plants that sort of shielded um and um we're sort of character of the area. It's not oversized. The house is pretty modest. Um and the house brown sitting space had a baby and privacy that women and it's really the setback sort of getting closer

questions.

I have a question about the uh the privacy fence. There's a white privacy fence. Can Can you show that again? Yeah. Right there. Right there. Right there. Uh, is that fence the property line or was it just put up for privacy? Because it looks like the neighbor on the other side of the fence is pretty close to the gazebo. Have they had any comment pro or con about this project? No, they I mean my understanding is that there has not been any issues with the neighbors does form the um the property boundary. Um and I believe the put up because I think the neighbor may have playground or something and I believe they everyone's at peace with it. I'm not sure anyone in the audience making any comment. Um, but I don't have any any feedback that I'm not sure exactly.

I'm not clear. I don't know. Um, but Would you can you if you're going to check with the applicant about that if you're able to get them now or if you if you know uh this through your own knowledge is there have you been any complaints at all about the gazebo since it was erected through the time when they filed this application?

No. From my understanding he has not stated that anyone has complained in his deck and doing substantial structural work to it which required um so when Martin saw that he had work not sure for basically I assisted in providing plans and and for new deck and well

well my question my questions to the building department was whether or not they have received any complaints and they have not received any complaints so that's a plus. Um that was my only concern about the whole project and if there's no complaints about that then I I can I can understand I know the property is got a steep slope and it's difficult and [snorts] I can understand why it was there. So uh in that case I'll ask anybody on the board to make comments if they have any comments. No hands raised online. Therefore, I will move that we close the public hearing. I second the motion. Chairman [clears throat] Tardina. Hi. Michael Nolan. Hi. Jenz. Hi. Warren Gotale. Hi.

Kathleen D.

I in relation to um the Chincholi Saha um at the families at 42 road. uh make a motion that we grant um a front yard setback uh rather a front yard variance of 27 feet per gazebo that is uh in place already. It was put in the dirt evidently without um particular building uh permits. Um it's in an R1. It's R and then they need a variance for a sideyard setback of 1 foot. Um the property is very steep slope. I know this property well. Um and there really is very little usable land. It's understandable why they put the gazebo there. Unfortunately, they didn't um get the required permits to to put it in place. um but that by the applicants cannot be achieved by another method. In fact, it's already in place. So, it makes sense that this is where it would be the requested area requested variance. Um no other feasible method to do this. Uh it will not have an adverse uh in opposition. Um it is potentially it is probably a self-graded hardship in the respect that one is built without really is no other place to put it. Uh therefore um [snorts] do we need a survey with for this to to legalize it? We'll need a final survey

as final as bill survey. Final as bill. We'll need a final as bill survey. Okay.

Yeah. The building department will determine. Okay. Right. I'll second the motion. Chairman Jordina. Hi. Michael Nolan. Fine. Welcome. Thank you. You too. Uh cats.

Uh good evening. Uh chairman, members of the EVA. I'm Jerry Garrett. I'm landscape architect and planner for the project. Um I believe Michael K patio and pool of equipment hat. And um I will try to share my screen so I can walk through this with you. Let's see. [clears throat] I don't know if that shared. Did that share? for this webinar. It says so apparently someone else is sharing. He needs to be stopped so I can share.

Do we know about that? Ask him to try now. Try now.

Not yet. [clears throat] You should have permission. Bear with me. I'm trying to get this thing to share. There we go. We got it. [clears throat] Did that happen? We got it.

Okay, good. Okay. So, what we have here is we have the survey of the existing property of what's here now. So the property occurs on hard gravel road right at the hiding houses. There's like five of them. They're all much lower and down slope. So when I started this just property line going like right down here. I said, "Yeah, it looks good. Looks like we know we can go ahead. We don't need any variances and all that." I said, "But you're going to have to give me a new survey. You know, I need to I need trees and I need this and all that." And I contacted Joe Link and he came back with this property line and I said, "Joe, what the heck is this? What is this property line? I've never seen I've never done a job where I got two different property lines and Joe went back and he did a little bit of Joe did a little bit of of of of research and what he found was that there was a there was a previous survey error um that was done by Campbell Engineering and Joe thinks what happened was that after the sale of the property um the title company picked it up because then we noticed within like two months, Campbell went out and he rectified it. Um, so that's when we realized we're going to need we're going to need a variance with the zoning board. Now, I'm not sure why I'm having so much trouble trying to share my site plan here. Um, now I've lost everybody sharing. My 20some year old tech guy is off to me. [clears throat] Oh, I'll stop this sh I'm sorry again.

[clears throat]

Okay. So, when I first uh talked to Sharon and Michael Casease in uh in 2024, in the fall 2024, they gave me this survey and I looked at it and this is the this was the line. So, I said, "Okay, you're 35 ft." This was the existing patio that's here now. We're putting the pool right in that area. I said, "Yeah, we're good." And and then as I as I as I said earlier, we went back again. We went back and and asked Joe link to give us a new survey and he came back with a new property line and that's when Joe discovered that there you know there had been there had been an error and so what had happened was at sometime in the past. So this was the original propert.

We're not we're not seeing your we're not seeing your screen. Can I ask him a question? Yeah, sure. Excuse me, sir. Our tech guy is going to have put his input. Maybe somebody can get up the site plan. I'm not sure why I'm not able to do it. I can see it on my end. Mr. Mr. Barrett, um when you click on share, it's going to give you the option to share the specific screen you want to. So that green um arrow in the bottom middle of your screen, if you click on that, it'll give you the options to click the the screen you would like to share. The problem is I'm not I'm not seeing I'm not see my share menu on the bottom of my screen as I

Are you looking at the Zoom the Zoom append And so I just tried sharing again and it did not share. Right. I don't see it there either. You sharing you that's me. [snorts] Is someone on your end able to share the site plan?

Jerry, I'm sharing the site plan. Let me like find just let [clears throat] me find it. Look here. Thank you. res. Here it is. It looks like it's biting into the patio.

I went past it. I don't know. Maybe I saw it in my head. [clears throat]

So that's the side. You guys can see that. [clears throat]

So when what you see on the site plan, you can see the residence is over to the left where it says proposed site plan. You can see that the residence the res right behind the residence we show the patio and the pool where the pool is. You'll see a red circle and that's the existing that's the existing uh that's the existing patio that's there. So essentially, we're putting the pool right in the patio that's there. But if you look to the left and you see the garage that was that was built in about 2008, that was the subject of a variance from the zoning board in 2008.

Um, you can see behind the garage, there's a jog in the property line. And if you look over to the to the the plan in the middle, you could see where that jog took place. And that jog took place, I think, because of the grains on Hart's Gravel Road. So they made a deal with the neighbor to the north to give them a rectangular piece of land accessing parts gravel road and they gave them a compensatory piece of land behind the garage. Well, and of course the survey that I saw when I started didn't have that line and we found out we had it. we realized we needed to come to the border for a variance because of this this this property line change that was done I think probably in the late30s when the house was built because they realized they couldn't get off our gravel road into the property. So we've gone through and we've developed the plan and what we tried to do is we tried to show [clears throat] you can we go to the next plan please the zoning conformance plan. Okay. So if you look at this plan now if we can just blow up the the plan in the middle if we could just blow that up a little bit. [clears throat] Um and where the pool is. You can just blow that up. You can see there's basically three variants that we need. So the the the 35 ft setback line, sideyard setback line is going to be um let's go to the well let's go to the there you go to that to that point right and so the uh the 35T setback line based on that adjusted property line you can see it's going right through the word cool where it says 521 square ft. So you can see it's going basically right through the middle of that circle. The middle of that circle is the existing patio that's back there. And if you look to the to the left where it says photo cover on the pool, it says 19 ft 1 in. That's the distance of the existing patio to the property line. So we were careful to

site the pool 20t 5 in from the property line cuz we didn't want to make it any worse than it already was. Um, and also if you look down to where it says the number three in yellow highlight, that's the pool patio and that's 22 ft to the property line. And if you look up where it says number two above where the pool goes to the pool equipment, it's 25 ft. So number one is 20.5 ft. That's the pool. Number two is 25 ft. That's the equipment pad. And number three is the patio which is 22 ft. And those are all in lie of what's required 35 ft. So those are the ones we're requiring the variances from. So we think we're making our our argument is that we're not making it any worse than it [clears throat] was. Uh it's not any more non-conforming than it was. And I think what's unique about this project is well number one the case has inherited this um job property line. But if we can go now to um down to the lower lefthand corner of this page and if you can bring that up then where the aerial photo is. What we did there is we went and we looked at all the adjacent properties because we feel that, you know, we know the zoning board is always concerned about, you know, not not creating a change of the character of the neighborhood and and and think because of the positioning of the cage pool or patio in their backyard. They were at the high point.

Um they're much higher than all of their neighbors. And um and and so the neighbor to the north where it says number two, you know, he's about 185 ft away and he's uh and and [clears throat] you know, our the pool is at elevation uh like 578 and um the neighbor to the north, he's 10 ft lower. So he's 10 ft lowering through 185 ft of woods to get to the pool. He he's not going to see it. You go to the next guy on Northern Way on number where it says number three. He's 200 feet away and um and uh and and and he's 38 ft towards me looking up through the wood. number four. Um that's three valley lane and they're 295 ft away and they're 44 ft lower in elevation looking up through the woods to the proposed pool area and number five is number one and they're about 190 ft away and they're 18 ft lower and they're look looking up. So, by virtue of the fact that we're up higher and the pool is is set, uh, there's a couple of tier retaining walls. If you go back to the site plan, please, the first one, which was one up and Okay, there's the section. You go back up. Just scroll back the other way, please. Please, a little more.

Thank you. So, you can see where the pool is. You see, I have these teared retaining walls. These are two these are gravity block the paint can paint walls. So anybody looking up into this pool is having to look over these walls. They're just not going to see it. So we we really think that that this this pool will not impact the neighborhood at all because no one can see the patio now and therefore no one's going to be able to see the pool once it's in. So, we're hoping that that the board can can grant the variance to allow the pool to be built. Um, you know, we we we don't think there's going to be any um any impact uh to the uh to the environment. You know, we'll follow all standard procedures during construction. There's going to be an engineering review. So, there's going to be erosion controls. There's going to be plantings that have to be put in. Um, uh, we don't know where else. There's no place else to put the pool on on the property because if you go to the right of the pool in the lower backyard, it becomes steep slopes and it's just too steep. If you go to the right of the house where there is some open grass, that's where the sap septic is. I mean, you can't put it in the front yard. So, this is there's really no other place to put it. Um, as I said, I don't think there's going to be any adverse impact on the environment. And um I I don't think it's a self-imposed condition because it was done in the 30s before the owners you know took ownership of it. So for these reasons we think this is a reasonable request of both of the county board grandparents.

Okay. I'm assuming this this pool is going to be gunnite or is it going to be one of those gunite with an auto cover in in pool in in a in a in a in a spa look like a 16 by 25. It's small pool.

Right. Right. So usually I usually when there when there's a gunnite pool I always in my motions I always make sure that there's a a survey before the guney is shot in case there's a mistake. It's easier to move it then than after the pool has been uh shot with the guneyed and sets up. Uh in this particular case that you're going to be putting the pool where there's already a patio. I'm not so sure I have to be that firm on it, but if the building department would rather see that, I'll be happy to put that into the motion. I'm getting approval and affirmative from the building. Good. Good. That was my only question. Uh anybody on the board have any questions about this?

No. Anybody in the audience? I'm sure the I'm sure the current audience has no has no complaints about this application. Is there anybody online that would like to address this application? Um, yes, we have one hand raised. We have a hand raised. We will this can we get them on to our screen? Yes, they're on. Oh, hi. Hello. Yes. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you.

Okay. So, I'm the owner of the property with the jog. Um, so you know, some of it I think is, you know, in terms of the elevation change is is, you know, not quite as dramatic, right? We're not looking through 181 ft of of woods. Our yard that is our backyard right there.

So, I was just sort of, you know, playing with it and and and looking at it, it I don't know why it has to be oriented in such a way to fit within the setback. If I if I look at it, it's it's pulled vertically. uh you know shift to 90 degrees it would seem to fit. If it were shifted over a little bit it would seem to fit. I just I [clears throat] don't see the need for variance. Um and um and and the other the other item of concern is just obviously this is as you saw from the images rightly forested area. Um and I don't know what the plans are with regards to uh trees or anything of that nature, right? It's a it's a pretty mature forest and and I imagine there would be some uh planned tree removals.

Char, can you address that? Yes. Can Can we go back to the um to the site plan, please? [clears throat] So, um in order to Good. We come down a little bit farther. Good. So, I want I want to show is on the left where it says solid wood fence. If you can see that, we need to just scroll down just a little bit. There you go. Uh so what what we're doing and we have we we we we we have considered um GJ's behavior to the north and um you know in terms of moving the pool you know even if we rotated it 90° and we tried to stay out of that 35 ft buffer. What's going to happen is you could see the grades the grades keep dropping off. If you see all those parallel dash lines, every time that drops down, that's 2 ft lower, 2 ft lower. As it is now, I have two 4ft gravity block retaining walls. So, I really don't want to go any further down the slope. Those walls are going to start getting very big. Um, but what we've tried to do to mitigate this, we are we, you know, we are quite a death distance away, but what we would do is we would put in a 6ft solid wood fence along the property line. And that's shown in that in that um kind of like brownish tone. You can see the line box line box line is direct parallel to the property line. So that is a solid wood fence. That's a 6t solid fence. And then the existing bamboo, the invasive bamboo that was planted by the previous owner that will be taken out. And then what we're going to do is we're going to put a solid evergreen hedge row of green giant arborites. You see those in green? It's labeled O on the on on the plant. So that will be green giant arborites they'll go in at you know they'll go in at 7 to 8 8 to 10 ft. So we think

between the 6T solid fence and the arborites that'll get to about 20 25 ft I think we will effectively buffer the neighbor to the north so there's no impact at all when this is done. Thank you. Any comment on that? Any comment from the neighbor on that? Apparently not. Yes. Are you there? Yeah. Can you hear me? Yeah. Do you do you understand how they're going to screen this from your from your [clears throat] I understand I have a fence myself on that. So I'm not sure

on that front. So I'm not sure what is being proposed in addition to that. Um, so but I guess just the you know the it seems like you you could do it the other way. I don't you know it's it's it's preferable for some reason because of the grades but um you know obviously our preference would be to stay out of the setbacks

but um the other the other sort of larger concern you know while there is screening right it's it's more about the forest in that area and there's some some extremely uh mature trees and I'd like to sort of understand what the the plans are regarding uh removal of of trees. [clears throat]

We're not we're not we're not proposing to take out any trees. All we're removing is the invasive bamboo that have been planted and we are required to have a pool fence. So on on on the north side of the property adjacent to your lot are trying to put in a 6ft solid fence. I'm I'm going to propose to the owners that it get painted like a forest green color. We do this often and when you see that through through like a long distance in a wooden area that green it just blends into the it just blends into the into the landscape. So between that 6ft solid fence and then there's going to be like you know there's going to be an an arborite hedge that's going to get to 15 to 20 ft tall that built and suspenders. We think we can effectively provide a a very strong buffer that you you will never see this and again we're not taking out any trees. We're only taking out the bamboo. We're going to keep whatever trees are there.

Is that Is that true that that's the long-term plan? I just I just know that it's a very shady backyard. I can't imagine they would want to have that much shade on the pool. Well, it it because we'll be planting on the north property line. Remember that the sun rises in the east, tracks to the south, and goes to the west. So, it's not going to create any shade. In fact, it'll the shade will be cast to the north because we're putting the trees and the fence in. So, the fence to the to the south of you and [clears throat] is all trees. It's

pool we're not we're not we're not we're not taking out any trees to the south of the pool. Okay. All right. I just I just assume that would be part of the plan. No, we don't we don't have we had a survey done. We located all the trees, but we don't have to take out any trees to do this. Okay, that's very good. Thank you. Thank you for your input. I move we close the public hearing. I second the motion. Chairman Jardina. Hi. Michael Nolan. Hi. Ronald Jensen. Hi. Warren B. Hi. Kathleen Jones. Hi. Okay. You want to do that one? Sure.

Okay. This is a application developed by Michael and Sharon Catz. Um 1169 travel road. This is a few this is for three variances in connection with the construction of a swimming pool at the location. Um there are three sideyard variances that are requested. Uh for the pool there is a requested sideyard setback variance of 15 feet. For the pool equipment uh there is a requested uh sideyard setback variance of 10 ft. For the patio there is a requested uh sideyard variance of 14 ft. Uh I propose that we grant the uh variances for the following reasons. Um first uh looking through the five factors. Will the granting of the variance create an undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood? Um I I don't believe so. I think there's actually been um we've heard a lot tonight both from the [clears throat] uh homeowner and also the adjacent property owner. Um, and it doesn't seem that there will be uh any the trees are not being uh disturbed. Uh there's going to be a uh fence put up. Uh and the plan is to have it a certain color so that it blends in. And um there's also, it sounds like a planting plan also. Um that's going to uh mitigate any undesirable change at all. Um, can the benefit as saw be achieved by some other method based upon what we heard? Um, I I don't think so. Um, it seems like there are slopes all over uh the property and and there's been a lot of thought put into um the orientation

of the pool. Um, so that this is really the only place uh that it can be put. Uh there was also a seems a lot of thought put towards uh not making uh any um existing issues worse in fact uh mitigating them with respect to the current patio. Uh is the request uh request of variance are they substantial? Uh guess you could say nominally yes but substantively given the layout of the property I don't I don't think they necessarily are. Will there be an adverse effect on the physical environment or conditions in the neighborhood? I don't believe so. Uh, is the alleged difficulty self-created? Uh, well, to the extent that you want to have a bull, I guess you could argue that they are, but the um, but the benefit to the applicant far outweighs any issue with respect to the community. Um I know uh we did talk earlier about there being a uh a survey given to the building department before the gunite is shot. So we want that. Um does the building department need anything else?

Final survey. Final survey. Okay. Uh six months uh to start and one year to finish. Correct. Is there anything else you'd like anybody else like to add to that? Just so just on one addendum and and Although Mr. Godly just did mention about having them surveyed before the gun is shot. I want to make sure that everybody is clear on that. Jerry, um when the when the when the reinforcing wire is put up, reinforcing rods are put up before they shoot the gunite, we want to survey to be sure that that pool is located where it's proposed to be because you don't want to have to move it after your concrete sets up. Um

we understand that, Mr. Sherman and we understand it's also standard practice in time in in town and we do do that at all times. So we have no problem with that. That's very good because we don't want to have you take taken out after you're done. That's not fun. We do either. Okay. I just want to make sure that was clear otherwise uh we're good. Okay. I would ask for a second motion. I second the motion. Chairman Jina. Hi. Michael Nolley. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Kathleen Terz. Hi. You have your variance. Good luck. Thank you so much. Happy holidays, everyone. You, too.

All right. We have approval of the minutes of the November 19th meeting. I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes. I second the motion. Chairman Jina. Hi. Michael Nolan. Hi. Ronald Jensen. Hi. Warren Gotautley. Hi. Kathleen Jefferson. Hi. Okay. Before we close, happy holidays to everybody and we'll see you in January 2046.