HomeMy WebLinkAboutA003 - Letter to Council from residents with concerns about fencing June 10, 2002 I `�
To : City Council, City Manager
We appreciate that you are reflecting on the current Ames fence ordinance on June 11, and will
understand if you choose to not pursue any changes. When bringing this matter to your
attention, we were fully aware that the city could not do anything about my current situation.
We continue to dialogue with our neighbors about our concerns. Our main goal is to prevent
others from experiencing some of the confusion and negative impact that we have experienced.
Here are the issues that may be worth reviewing:
1) People in Ames are unaware of the current policy and believe that there is an ordinance
requiring the person putting up the wooden privacy fence to put the "nice" side to the
neighbor. Such people included the mayor, an Ames-based fence contractor, and other
friends. David Grebe published something about the current policy in the Ames Tribune
recently at my request. This is the issue that caused us confusion and additional effort to
get a clear answer.
2) In our case, we don't mind having the side of the fence with the supporting structure.
Our problem is that the fencing company did a poor job of creating the supporting
structure, and we are not the consumer, so we do not have a lot of recourse to get it fixed.
We asked our neighbor to call the company to see if they will make corrections, but he
said he expected them to be non-responsive, and did not say that he would call. Our
neighbor feels his side looks fine. Given that he is not being negatively impacted, it is
not surprising that he does not want to take this on. If he does not choose to call them,
we will call the Des Moines-based fencing company ourselves.
3) An 8 foot high solid wood fence is a fairly imposing structure visually and has an impact
on pre-existing plantings in terms of shade.
If you decide that these issues warrant further attention, we hope that the ordinances of other
cities will be reviewed.
Thank you for your hard work on behalf of the Ames community.
Respectfully submitted,
Suzanne Zilber and Adin Mann
801 Crystal St.
Ames, IA 50010 232-9379
t
"Zilber, Suzanne" To: "Quirmbach, Herman"<hcgbach@iastate.edu>,
<szilber@iastate.edu> "'dvoss@city.ames.ia.us"'<dvoss@city.ames.ia.us>,
^ tedjoanie@aol.com"'<tedjoanie@aol.com>,
06/10/2002 01:43 PM "'sharonwirth@yahoo.com"'<sharonwirth@yahoo.com>,
steve.goodhue@fabg.net"'<steve.goodh ue@fabg.net>,
dvegge@sauer-danfoss.com"'<dvegge@sauer-danfoss.com>,
judiehoffman@yahoo.com"'<judiehoffman@yahoo.com>,
"'russcross@financial.wellsfargo.com
<russcross@financial.wellsfargo.com>, "'schainker@city.ames.ia.us
<schainker@city.ames.ia.us>
cc: "'jamann@iastate.edu"'<jamann@iastate.edu>
Subject: new memo on fence ordinance question
Dear City Council Members and City Manager, I will not be able to attend
the June 11 meeting. I have clarified our intentions and concerns in the
following memo which can be read if needed. Thanks! !
The text and attachment are the same
<<Fence ordinance.doc>>
June 10, 2002
To : City Council, City Manager
We appreciate that you are reflecting on the current Ames fence ordinance on
June 11, and will understand if you choose to not pursue any changes. When
bringing this matter to your attention, we were fully aware that the city
could not do anything about my current situation. We continue to dialogue
with our neighbors about our concerns. Our main goal is to prevent others
from experiencing some of the confusion and negative impact that we have
experienced.
Here are the issues that may be worth reviewing:
1) People in Ames are unaware of the current policy and
believe
that there is an ordinance requiring the person putting up the wooden
privacy fence to put the "nice" side to the neighbor. Such people included
the mayor, an Ames-based fence contractor, and other friends. David Grebe
published something about the current policy in the Ames Tribune recently at
my request. This is the issue that caused us confusion and additional
effort to get a clear answer.
2) In our case, we don't mind having the side of the
fence with
the supporting structure. Our problem is that the fencing company did a
poor job of creating the supporting structure, and we are not the consumer,
so we do not have a lot of recourse to get it fixed. We asked our neighbor
to call the company to see if they will make corrections, but he said he
expected them to be non-responsive, and did not say that he would call.
Our neighbor feels his side looks fine. Given that he is not being
negatively impacted, it is not surprising that he does not want to take this
on. If he does not choose to call them, we will call the Des Moines-based
fencing company ourselves.
3) An 8 foot high solid wood fence is a fairly imposing
structure visually and has an impact on pre-existing plantings in terms of
shade.
If you decide that these issues warrant further attention, we hope that the
ordinances of other cities will be reviewed.
M R
Thank you for your hard work on behalf of the Ames community.
Respectfully submitted,
Suzanne Zilber and Adin Mann
801 Crystal St.
Ames, IA 50010 232-9379
515-232-9379 work 515-294-0171
szilber@iastate.edu
jamann@iastate.edu
FI
Fence ordinance.doc