Fence fracas creates a divide
Orlando, Orange officials flummoxed by neighbors’ dispute
In Agnes Heights, you’re either on one side of the fence or the other.
Delila Smalley, a former school teacher, was fed up with the chainlink dividers separating the neighborhood of mid-century homes in Orange County from apartment complexes along Watauga Avenue in Orlando, where her nieces and nephews live.
Smalley, 39, who used a jackhammer earlier this month to extract barriers in the presence of a sheriff ’s deputy, on Wednesday again ripped out fencing that other neighbors had erected at the end of three different streets to seal pedestrian walkways into the neighborhood.
“They’re illegal and not very neighborly so I removed them,” she said of new fencing.
But other residents of the neighborhood — which includes parts of Surrey Drive, East Kaley Avenue and Edland Drive — insist the barriers deter crime from creeping into the working-class community, located south of Curry Ford Road and east of Conway Gardens.
Illegal or not, the fences have been in place for decades, according to city and county research.
The brewing feud has spawned dueling online petitions, an unsuccessful request for a restraining order against Smalley and appeals by residents on both sides of the dispute to elected officials in Orlando and Orange County to intervene in the disagreement.
Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe, whose district includes residents on both sides of the fence issue, said she is organizing a community meeting for constituents to resolve disagreements and find a solution that doesn’t require jackhammers.
Fence supporters cite safety
Allan MacDonald, a 20-year resident of the neighborhood, started a petition for a permanent 8-foot fence to “maintain our safety and quietness.” He had 154 signatures Friday.
Smalley’s petition seeks to “remove fences and build commu