HomeMy WebLinkAbout20250933 40 Friar Tuck Way Area Variance Public Comment (7)To The Zoning Board of Appeals,
Prior to the first mee�ng to discuss my neighbor’s request for a pa�o variance, I
submited aerial photos of all the pools in the neighborhood taken from Google Earth and none
are laid out like the one at 40 Friar Tuck Way. We feel the presence of our neighbor’s pool,
which fills their backyard. There will be further intrusions on our privacy, if a pa�o is allowed to
come even with the pool apron, just five feet from our property line.
I am concerned that the steep slope ordinance of the building code applies to my
neighbor’s project. I do not want to assume that the ordinance had been considered prior to
ini�a�on of the project, especially since my neighbor was unaware of the term at our first ZBA
mee�ng. He men�oned an engineer was involved more than once at that mee�ng, but
previously I was told only a landscape architect was involved. My neighbor quoted the slope
was 17 degrees, falling within the 15 to 25 degree defini�on of steep slope. We worry as the
area around the pool has been denuded of vegeta�on. Neither I, nor my neighbor are geologists
and are not qualified to say whether instability in his yard could develop and spread to our yard.
We an�cipate water run-off issues from our neighbor’s yard. Previously our yards were level,
but now, the unobstructed maintenance area at the rear of the pool is 18 inches higher than our
yard. This difference will increase if 5 more feet of pa�o is allowed towards the rear of the yard,
within five feet of the property line.
Extension of the pa�o is not required to monitor children in a pool: however, a pa�o this
close to our property line, one that is unlike virtually every other pool and pa�o layout in our
neighborhood, not one of which required a variance, is going to intrude upon our privacy. We
appreciate our neighbor’s considera�on at keeping their “social area” closer to their home on
the pa�o, but we are sure our neighbor will use all of their property and denial of this variance
does not prevent the use of their yard, just the extension of the pa�o. As my neighbor told me
via text when I expressed opposi�on to the pa�o variance, “We ’ll use our property to its fullest
regardless”.
You have rejected this variance request once and we again plead with you to reject it
again. My neighbors knew what they were ge�ng with their property when they bought it. My
wife and I are not the insurance policy for their “love hate rela�onship” with their property.
Having this pa�o so close to the property line is likely to have a nega�ve effect on our property
value when the �me comes to sell our home. Who will compensate us for that? Please enforce
the codes that the city has seen fit to apply to our neighborhood!
Sincerely,
Dr. Paul E. Gebhard Jr and Jeanmarie F. Gebhard