Pool-Fence Vote Tabled to May 17

The borough council has postponed a vote on a proposed ordinance to require fencing around pools that are currently grandfathered exceptions to the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code.

After several residents spoke out against the proposal, Mayor Frank Bivona stated that the ordinance would be carried over to the May 17 meeting, citing both a letter from the Planning Board and two council members absence as the reasons for the postponement. Councilmen Charles Kahwaty and Michael Friscia were not present.

Several residents who spoke during the public hearing questioned the need for the law, and noted the many lakes and ponds in town pose a greater safety threat than private pools. 

"The lakes are much more of a potential safety hazard than the pools are to children, Lauretta Brown, a 33-year resident of Franklin Lakes, who lives across from Upper Lake told Patch. "Kids are always playing around the lakes—riding their bikes on them in the winter—and the lake is deep. ... In all the time we have lived here, I have never seen kids come onto private property for a pool. The lakes are another story."

Forty-plus year resident Juliana Mazzucco  whose pool was built in the early 1970s cited both the cost and the validity of the safety concerns as objections to the ordinance. "If you're talking about safety, include the lakes and ponds in the ordinance," she said, adding, "My whole livelihood is in that house."  

On April 10, a 21-month-old toddler in Morris County nearly drowned in a pond.  According to a report in the Daily Record, the child went outside unsupervised and fell into a small, man-made koi pond that was between 6 and 30 inches deep. The child was pulled from the pond, unresponsive and not breathing.

As proposed, the law would required all pools in the borough to be enclosed by a fence on the property. Pools built prior to 1977 presently do not need to be fenced in. To prevent hardship on the many residents who spoke out against the ordinance, the council has included a clause that would require compliance within six months of the property's transfer of ownership.