Cul-de-sac Lots May Become Exempt from Pool Location Regulations

After recommendations from the zoning board, the issues of pool placement in neighborhood cul-de-sacs was addressed by the township on Monday.

David Schley, Assistant Township Planner, introduced proposed ordinance No. 2108 to the Township Committee on the evening of May 24. This ordinance aims to amend the current ordinance regarding the building placement of private swimming pools in Bernards Township. 

The current ordinance requires that a private swimming pool be located behind the rear building line of any home on an adjacent lot. Unfortunately, this rule does not make sense for many homes built on a curve of a cul-de-sac. 

The Bernards Township Board of Adjustment recommended that a change be made in their 2008 and 2009 annual reports due to the high amount of variance applications they were receiving in regards to this problem. 

The purpose of the initial ordinance was to ensure that the backyards of neighbors were compatible with the placement of pools and other backyard structures on your lot. However, the Board of Adjustment found that this was impossible to comply with on many properties, especially those situated on the bulb of a cul-de-sac. 

Therefore, cul-de-sac lots facing the bulb would not have to place their swimming pool behind the rear building line of their neighbor as long as it is behind their own rear building line.  

Furthermore, the pool on a lot adjacent to a curved lot on a cul-de-sac also would not have to build it's pool behind the cul-de-sac lot's rear building line, provided it is placed behind the rear building line of the main residence on their own lot.

Since not all homes are built at the same depth within a property it is a possibility that a neighbor's backyard would be in view of the front of a neighboring home. In this case, Schley added an amendment to the proposed ordinance that "on any lot, a pool does not have to be behind the rear building line of a dwelling on an adjoining lot when the pool is 200 feet or more from that adjoining lot." 

Mayor Spitzer asked Schley if this type of directive was standard in other townships, but Schley found no evidence of a pool requirement elsewhere that related to anything occurring off-site.

"I queried every resource that I could find, and I couldn't find anything – not one provision for swimming pools," Schley explains. "Most of them had set back requirements, but none of them had any regulations regarding what is going on on an adjacent property."

The Township Committee was very receptive to the change of this ordinance, but felt that further exploration was necessary before an approval was made.

Deputy Mayor John Malay and committee member Mary Pavlini were both absent at the meeting, and another member of the committee, John Carpenter, felt it was unfair to make a decision before they had a chance to ask questions and study the ordinance. 

Mayor Spitzer agreed and a motion was passed to discuss the ordinance at greater length at the next meeting.