[RP TownTalk] Fences - the tall and the short of it

[CAROL DE PRATO]

All though I did not attend the meeting....I do hope that it will not be a town ordinance to have only 4 foot fencing on my side yard.  As some of you know, I am the only house on 44th place and to take down my 6 foot fencing would expose me to 2 parking lots.  I realize I am a special case.
---I was just curious, why is the town seem to be worried so much about dead chickens and fencing when we have a more important things to worry about, like improving our town school, preventing all the gang activity, and keeping the area around Riverdale plaza clean and safe so people like my 80 year old mother (who has lived in Riverdale 66 years) will feel safe to go to the CVS to get her prescriptions.
Just my humble opinion........
Carol DePrato
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Rob Oppenheim 
  To: TownTalk 
  Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 11:21 PM
  Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Fences - the tall and the short of it


  Fence Meeting Status

  The fence meeting on Monday 10/16 went well and will be 
  continued next week, probably on Thr Oct 26 at 8 pm although
  the date and time is not yet firmly set (It might get switched
  to Tuesday Oct 24.)

  We have not finished discussing fences and have not yet 
  discussed hedges.

  Two people have spoken strongly against allowing tall side yard 
  fences and no one has yet spoken (at the meeting) in favor of 
  allowing them. So the likely outcome will be to limit side yard 
  fences to 4 feet and rear yard fences to 6 feet. 

  I will try to find the time tomorrow to summarize other discussions
  from the fence meeting. Here is the tall vs short fence summary.

  Arguments for banning tall fences run along these lines
  1) Less Friendly -- tall fences inhibit over-the-fence conversations.
  2) Aesthetics -- tall fences are ugly and block open views.

  1) Friendliness vs Privacy

  I love saying hello to my neighbors over the rear fence. (I have great 
  neighbors). And I would certainly not want a privacy fence around any 
  part of my yard. 

  For others, their home is their castle and they want to be left alone in 
  a private comfortable setting. Away from what they view as prying eyes. 
  A privacy fence is important to their comfort.

  So how do we legislative between people who love open friendly 
  neighborhoods and those who prefer more private settings? 

  My feelings are:
  The front yard has the greatest impact on all, so I am OK with requiring
  shorter open fences in the front yards. (Actually, I would prefer no front
  yard fences at all, but so far, that has not caught on here in RP).

  For the side and rear yards, I lean toward respecting property rights 
  and allowing the owner to choose between open and private yards. 

  Your views on this need to be heard!

  2) Aesthetics 

  There are some very attractive tall fences and some pretty ugly ones 
  too and some house styles do not lend themselves to tall side fences 
  at all, but is that a good reason to outlaw such fences for all homes? 

  Legislating aesthetics is always problematic as people have different 
  views on what is or is not aesthetic. The proposed fence code requires
  rot resistant materials be used, so at least one source of the uglies 
  would be eliminated. 

  -Rob


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  TownTalk mailing list
  To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
  TownTalk-request at riverdale-park.org is for automated subscription processing only
  http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk

  For more information about Riverdale Park, visit http://www.ci.riverdale-park.md.us
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20061018/9f963ecf/attachment-0003.html>