The Shorewood Board of Appeals dismissed an appeal by neighbors challenging the village manager’s decision not to intervene in a building permit matter for a pool at 2511 East Menlo Boulevard, voting 5-0 to deny jurisdiction. The board found the underlying building permit was issued June 23, 2025, and an appeal of a permit must be filed within 30 days of issuance, a deadline the panel said the applicants missed.

Village attorney Bayer told the board the case presented two jurisdictional problems: the 30-day appeal deadline for permit issuance and the fact that the paperwork submitted names the village manager’s email declining to overturn a prior inspector decision as the action being appealed. "My opinion is it does not [have jurisdiction]," Bayer said, adding that the village manager "has no duty or authority to independently review or overturn issuance of building permits." Bayer said the board could not order the manager to rescind a previously issued permit and that state law limits who may seek court review of permits.

The applicants told the board they were not notified of the permit and first learned construction was under way from a neighbor’s text message. One applicant said they were not part of the permitting process and that discovery of the pool’s size only came after construction began: "We were not informed that a pool was going to be built next door to our house," an applicant said, adding that their concern was that the built pool exceeded what they believe the village ordinance allows.

Inspector Burris, sworn for testimony, said the permit was issued June 23, 2025, and that Shorewood’s code does not require neighborhood notification for pool construction. "The village code does not require notification for the construction of pools," Burris said, and he told the board the pool review was carried out the same way the village has reviewed other pools.

Board members discussed whether the board could waive the ordinance’s timing limit if the village agreed; Attorney Bayer said the code contains no provision to enlarge the 30-day period and that jurisdiction could be waived only by stipulation of the parties, such as the inspector’s office agreeing to treat the filing as timely. Several members said they were sympathetic to the applicants’ situation but agreed with the attorney’s legal guidance that the board lacked a workable remedy.

After discussion, a motion "to deny the appeal on jurisdictional grounds" carried unanimously. The chair called the vote by name: Wendy Smith — aye; Steven Isaacson — aye; James Robinson — aye; Scott Waligora — aye; Evan Matthews — aye. The board dismissed the appeal and adjourned.

The decision leaves the applicants with limited local remedies under the village code and the state review framework described by the village attorney: appeals of permit issuance typically must be filed within 30 days of issuance, and managerial refusal to intervene is not, by itself, generally reviewable by the Board of Appeals, the attorney said.