Board Grants Fence-Height Variance at 307 Ridgewood Avenue, Formalizes Jeffer Approval

Glen Ridge's Board of Adjustment formally memorialized its approval of Jonathan Jeffer's variance for 29 Hillside Avenue at its July 9, 2015 meeting, adopting a resolution that recited the case's findings -- including that the existing house sits 32.84 feet back from Hillside Avenue and that the approved addition would reduce that to 22 feet against a 25-foot requirement -- and formally approving the addition subject to construction matching the submitted plans and the Historic Preservation Commission's approval. Mr. Bergmanson abstained on that resolution, as he had on adoption of the June 11 minutes.

The board then heard a new application from Mark and Ellen Keefe of 307 Ridgewood Avenue, at the corner of Ridgewood Avenue and Osborne Street, seeking to replace their existing four-foot fence along Osborne Street with a six-foot fence -- a variance was needed because the property's irregular, corner-lot shape puts that side in a front yard, where fences are limited to four feet. Mark Keefe told the board a railroad right-of-way sits across from the property on Osborne Street and that the new fence would not block drivers' sightlines. No members of the public spoke on the application. The board approved it on the condition that the fence use "Utah"-style panels and that vegetative screening be planted between the sidewalk and the fence within six months.