Patchogue zoning board reopens corner-lot fence variance after neighbors raise sightline and safety concerns

The Patchogue Zoning Board of Appeals reopened application 23-15 on Feb. 4, 2025, for permission to erect a six-foot residential fence at a corner lot near Highland Avenue and Park Avenue and accepted prior hearing records into the file.

Neighbors and the applicant discussed safety, sightlines and a proposal for a two-foot setback from the property line. The board asked the applicant to add a two‑foot plus/minus setback to the plans and placed the application on the decision calendar.

The applicant, identified in the hearing only as the property owner and applicant, told the board that existing measures and the proposed configuration were intended to protect his children and described prior neighborhood incidents. The applicant said the existing chain-link fence was longstanding and that a taller privacy fence would not, in his view, create hazards for neighbors. He read a message from a school official reporting a suspicious-vehicle incident near Park Avenue and Williston Avenue and said that, for family safety, the fence would be appropriate.

Diane Lewis, a neighbor who said she lives at 94 Highland Avenue, opposed the taller fence and described the narrower roadway north of Park Avenue. "If there should be some kind of crash . . . it could be a disaster if it came into that fencing and you can't see it coming," Lewis said, adding that parked cars and the diagonal intersection reduce visibility for drivers and pedestrians.

Board members noted site measurements offered during the review: the applicant requested a 6-foot fence to run roughly 30 feet, with an existing post approximately 9 feet 9 inches from the west property line, and proposed angling a front corner for about 12 feet to meet the post. The board recommended a two-foot setback from the property line with a plus/minus tolerance on the plans to allow slight variations in post placement. The applicant said he had not yet altered the posted plan pending board approval.

During discussion staff referenced sight-line guidance in the New York State Department of Transportation Highway Design Manual, chapter 5, appendix 5C (case E), noting that approach/departure sight triangles for an all-way stop situation may not require the same clear zones as uncontrolled intersections. Board members nevertheless pressed the applicant about sidewalk width (reported in testimony at roughly 3½ to 4 feet) and pedestrian visibility at the corner.

On a voice vote the board agreed to include prior hearing records in the application file. Later the board moved to place the matter on the decision calendar and requested that the applicant revise the plan to show a two-foot setback (plus/minus) and, if practicable, replace the proposed angled southwest corner with a right angle at the front where appropriate. The board did not render a final approval Feb. 4.

The board indicated the matter will return on the decision calendar; no final vote was recorded at this hearing.