The Maplewood Township Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to pass an ordinance that allows residents to place temporary sports equipment on the grassy median between April 1 through December 31. The ordinance has been recommended by the Code Enforcement Committee, which has been studying the matter since local residents protested receiving summonses fining them for curbside temporary basketball hoops last summer.
Although those residents received a reprieve last September, many worried that the Township Committee might reverse the gesture of allowing curbside hoops when they received news last December that the equipment had to come down as of January 1, 2015, in order not to obstruct snowplows.
Under the new ordinance, equipment would be allowed on the grassy median — or berm — between the sidewalk and the curb starting April 1 and running through December 31. They would have to be taken in during January, February and March.
Mayor Vic DeLuca previously noted that the Department of Public Works had asked for the equipment removal “in snow months because there have been instances where snow equipment has hit them.” DeLuca said the ordinance would allow the hoops in the non-snow months “notwithstanding any other emergency situation.”
