Fence variance decision adjourned to November

The Patchogue Village Zoning Board of Appeals held a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

The Loris family of Railroad Avenue was present for their application for a variance for their corner lot property on South Street, in a D2 business district, to have 5-foot/4-foot/3-foot stepped fence erected on one of the front yard sections for privacy and as a deterrent for littering.

In early October, the board considered the Loris family’s previously submitted application for a variance on a step-down fence of six feet and the board asked for a compromise with the board to a starting fence height of five feet to reconsider.

The variance was in relief from building code 43540 that specifies fences must:

• Have a maximum height of 6 feet and that the height is measured from the existing elevation of the center line of the highway opposite the fence.
• Have corner visibility (sight triangle) within a 15-foot radius of the corner formed by any intersecting roads or highways, the fence height cannot exceed 2.5 feet (30 inches).
• Comply that if a lot boundary is adjacent to a street, road, or highway, no fence can be erected between that boundary and the building line of the principal structure if it exceeds 30 inches in height.
• Have a street setback where fences adjacent to a street, road, or highway must not be erected within 10 feet of that boundary line without a variance.

Chairman Nick Fuccillo recused himself in the matter as his family had interest and stake in a property less than 200 feet from the applicant. Committee member Nicole LaMontagne took over as chairperson for the duration of the application.

Chelsea Loris and Nick Degiglio were present to plead the request. Loris gave a brief history of the home, which has been in the Loris family since the 19th century. A historical home, Loris said she would not disturb historical features.

Loris said the need for the fence was in response to years of loitering, littering, and trespassing among other nuisances. In the past, Loris said that used hypodermic needles have been dropped on her lawn, causing great alarm for her family members.

“We’ve had people ride through on their bikes on our property, people’s dogs on our property, we’ve found needles, we’ve found bags of drugs on our property, so the reason we are asking for a fence is for our safety,” said Loris.

In addition to the application for a variance on the proposed fence, Loris had requested and was granted a stop sign on the corner of her property at Railroad and South Street by the village and is currently requesting the removal of the bus stop on South Street. Loris was also granted her request for removing parking spots adjacent to her driveway.

Loris said that multiple neighbors had solid (as opposed to see-through) six-foot-high fences on Church Street and on Railroad Avenue.

“I feel that since those two already have fences, I feel like making my beautiful fence would make my neighborhood the same,” said Loris.

Discussing sight lines, Degiglio said that the four-foot-high portion of the fence would be eight feet long and that it did not block visibility.

The board requested formal drawings of the proposed fence.

Continuing the discussion from the previous meeting regarding whether the 10-foot setback rule applied as the property although in a business district was residential, the board affirmed their previous findings that it did apply.

Loris said that given how small the yard is, a 10-foot setback would not deter the littering and other issues she had raised.

“I literally rake up garbage every day,” said Loris in reference to pictures she had submitted of the litter on the yard. “If we did push it back, it would be even worse. The bottles, the cans—I mean I’ve had people urinate on our yard—bottles, needles.”

Loris and Degiglio said the new proposed fence would be where the current chain-link fence is and that they had been looking into a stockade wood fence.

The board adjourned the application to November pending the submission of formal drawings confirming the dimensions and materials for the fence.