The Green in Pine Grove Lakes gets fenced in by Montana Construction. The common property is due to be used as a yearlong construction site for neighborhood sewer work.

Pine Grovers in Sloatsburg will wake up to a fenced in construction site smack in the middle of the neighborhood’s common green space. With sewer blasting commencing in the area by Rockland Sewer District 1 contractor Montana Construction, heavy equipment and street debris will be part of daily life for the residents of Sloatsburg’s only homeowner association neighborhood.

Several Village Trustees said that the Pine Grove phase of sewer construction is estimated to last through the fall — or up to a year for completion of the project.

Montana Construction crews fenced in half of the Green, which serves as common recreational space for homeowners and is approximately one acre.

The Pine Grove Lakes Homeowners Association “has an incredibly opaque and elusive method of communication,” said one homeowner of her experience with the group, adding that she figured the board must have posted a notice of the Green fencing action on a tree down by Mirror Lake, popularly known to residents as the lower lake.

The PGLHOA notified Pine Grove residents via a Special Notification mailbox stuffer prior to Montana fencing in approximately half of the Green Tuesday afternoon.

According to the PGLHOA notification, Montana Construction has easement entitlements that extend 10 feet into existing properties, and the PGLHOA stated that the company “approached the Board of PGHOA requesting that they be allowed to utilize half of the Green as a staging post for construction equipment.”

The PGLHOA is a non-profit corporation and as such cannot be paid for use of the property but the association can take in-kind goods and services. The PGLHOA board indicated that it had entered into some kind of agreement with Montana that included “Liability,” “Rehabilitation” and other “Environmental Concerns” related to use of the Green.

“In order to minimize the construction debris throughout the community and reduce safety concerns, the Board has agreed to allow Montana Construction to utilize a section of the Green,” said the notice.

One PGL homeowner retorted, “do you want heavy equipment parked in your yard,” when asked about the PGLHOA’s actions.

What’s not clear to homeowners are the stipulations of any agreement that the association has entered into with Montana, or if the company will still just go ahead and place construction materials on easements as needed anyway.

Another thing not clear to many PGL residents is just where the annual Easter Egg Hunt will be held now that the Green is an official construction site.