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<DIV><STRONG><FONT face="Kabel Bk BT">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.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face="Kabel Bk BT">---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.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face="Kabel Bk BT">Just my humble
opinion........</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV>Carol DePrato</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rob.oppenheim@comcast.net href="mailto:rob.oppenheim@comcast.net">Rob
Oppenheim</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=towntalk@riverdale-park.org
href="mailto:towntalk@riverdale-park.org">TownTalk</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, October 17, 2006 11:21
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [RP TownTalk] Fences - the
tall and the short of it</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><B><FONT face=Arial size=3>Fence Meeting Status</FONT></B></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>The fence meeting on Monday 10/16 went well and
will be </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>continued next week, probably on Thr Oct 26 at 8
pm although</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>the date and time is not yet firmly set (It might
get switched</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>to Tuesday Oct 24.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>We have not finished discussing fences and have
not yet </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>discussed hedges.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>Two people have spoken strongly against allowing
tall side yard </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>fences and no one has yet spoken (at the meeting)
in favor of </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>allowing them. So the likely outcome will be to
limit side yard </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>fences to 4 feet and rear yard fences to 6 feet.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>I will try to find the time tomorrow to summarize
other discussions</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>from the fence meeting. Here is the tall vs short
fence summary.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><B><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT></B>
<DIV><B><FONT face=Arial size=3>Arguments for banning tall fences run along
these lines</FONT></B></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>1) Less Friendly -- tall fences inhibit
over-the-fence conversations.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>2) Aesthetics -- tall fences are ugly and block
open views.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><B><FONT face=Arial size=3>1) Friendliness vs Privacy</FONT></B></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>I love saying hello to my neighbors over the rear
fence. (I have great </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>neighbors). And I would certainly not want a
privacy fence around any </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>part of my yard. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>For others, their home is their castle and they
want to be left alone in </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>a private comfortable setting. Away from what
they view as prying eyes. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>A privacy fence is important to their
comfort.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>So how do we legislative between people who love
open friendly </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>neighborhoods and those who prefer more private
settings? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>My feelings are:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>The front yard has the greatest impact on all, so
I am OK with requiring</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>shorter open fences in the front yards.
(Actually, I would prefer no front</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>yard fences at all, but so far, that has not
caught on here in RP).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>For the side and rear yards, I lean toward
respecting property rights </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>and allowing the owner to choose between open and
private yards. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>Your views on this need to be heard!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><B><FONT face=Arial size=3>2) Aesthetics </FONT></B></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><B><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT></B>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>There are some very attractive tall fences and
some pretty ugly ones </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>too and some house styles do not lend themselves
to tall side fences </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>at all, but is that a good reason to outlaw such
fences for all homes? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>Legislating aesthetics is always problematic as
people have different </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>views on what is or is not aesthetic. The
proposed fence code requires</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>rot resistant materials be used, so at least one
source of the uglies </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>would be eliminated. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>-Rob</FONT></DIV>
<P>
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