Historic Landmarks board pauses New Rochelle pool application after neighbors raise screening and safety concerns

The City of New Rochelle Historical Landmarks Review Working Board on June 11 adjourned consideration of Application HLRB 52025, a certificate-of-appropriateness request to install a 20-by-40-foot in‑ground pool, perimeter paving, and associated fencing and plantings at 10 Manhattan Avenue in the city’s R‑1 Historic Zone District. The applicant and the board agreed the proposal needs revised drawings and clarification of how the pool enclosure will meet state safety code and the district’s screening expectations.

Board members and neighbors pressed the applicant for detail on where the required fence would be located, whether screening plantings would surround the yard or only one side, and whether an existing six‑foot stockade fence on parts of the lot is approved or must be replaced. Walter Nesbitt, the project’s landscape architect, described the plan as “a 20 by 40 foot in ground swimming pool with retractable pool cover and Bluestone paving terrace” and said the design includes a four‑foot aluminum picket pool‑enclosure fence with “self closing, self latching gates” and evergreen screen plantings on the outside of the fence as required by city code.

Neighbors said they were concerned about where the fence would be placed and whether the pool would be enclosed closely around the pool or would instead enclose much of the property. Joe Perazio, who said he lives at 12 Manhattan Avenue, told the…