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Planning board continues Spectrum 360 fence-height request after safety testimony, asks for renderings
Summary
Spectrum 360 requested variances to raise perimeter and corral fences to 6 feet at its Mount Pleasant Avenue facility citing student-safety concerns; the board continued the matter to July 21, 2026 and asked the applicant for visual exhibits and enhanced planting plans to mitigate visual impact along Route 10.
Spectrum 360 LLC returned to the Livingston Planning Board seeking amended site-plan approval to increase several fence heights to 6 feet at its 630 West Mount Pleasant Avenue facility, a school for children with special needs. Board members pressed the applicant for clearer visual exhibits showing fence materials, gate locations and proposed planting to judge whether the added height can be reconciled with the Route 10 streetscape.
Attorney Johnino introduced the amendment and described prior approvals: a 2022 preliminary/final site plan to operate the site as a special-needs school and a 2024 minor-site-plan approval for 4–5-foot fencing. Brian Conway, the applicant’s landscape architect and planner, described the applicant’s current request to raise multiple fence segments to 6 feet: a 6-ft black aluminum picket fence around the front parking area (four-rail construction for strength), six-foot corral fences around several exterior doors on the Oaker Parkway side, a six-foot non-climbable chain-link fence on the playground, and manual gates at vehicle entries to be manned by security during school hours. Conway said gates would remain open when the school is vacant and would be closed while students are present to limit unsupervised egress.
The board focused on two linked issues: safety rationale and public-facing aesthetics. Conway and Kenneth (Ken) Burgerer, Spectrum 360’s chief executive, described incidents at the organization’s Verona location in which students eloped and reached busy streets; Burgerer testified the organization has invested in cameras, man-traps and security systems (he referenced about $400,000 in security expenditures) and said the added fence height is part of a layered strategy to reduce risk. Burgerer testified that some students are “profound autism” cases for whom elopement risk is substantial and that staff and security are central to any mitigation.
Board members repeatedly asked for visualizations and alternate materials to reduce the appearance of a long run of 6-ft fence on Route 10. The applicant proposed boxwood hedges, upright junipers and cherry trees as a landscape buffer; the board requested larger, staged evergreens and color renderings or 3-D sections that show how the plantings will break up the fence line at maturity. The board also sought details on the corral sizing, panic hardware/alarm functions and sight-triangle clearances; Conway said gates and doors would be egress-compliant and the team would provide additional plans addressing those operational details.
Given outstanding requests for visuals and landscape detail, the board continued the hearing to July 21, 2026. The applicant agreed to submit renderings, enlarged detail sheets for each corral and gate area, and a revised planting plan showing taller specimen evergreens at intervals to quickly provide vertical screening. The board noted the school’s stated opening date (September 1) and encouraged the applicant to provide the materials promptly for a streamlined follow-up review.
