South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
These privacy fences are as tall as Michael Jordan
And they’re turning Fort Lauderdale ugly, mayor says
FORT LAUDERDALE — Forget the classic white picket fence. Imagine driving down a Fort Lauderdale street with home after home walled off by tall privacy fences made of wood or vinyl — anything that can block out prying eyes.
That may be where t he fast-growing city is heading, Mayor Dean Trantalis fears, as crowds and crime heighten the yen for privacy.
But what will all those stockade-style fences do to the city’s curb appeal?
As more pop up, the mayor frets Fort Lauderdale will soon resemble a fortress city, and an ugly one at that, with 6 feet 6 inch fences blocking homes from view.
‘Canyon effect’
“It creates a canyon effect where you don’t get to appreciate the beautiful homes,” the mayor said. “Instead you see a wall of wood that takes away from the beauty of the street.”
Trantalis has a solution in mind: Cap the height of front yard fences.
Right now, Fort Lauderdale homeowners can install front yard fences as high as 6 feet 6 inches. Other cities — including Hollywood, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs and Boca
Raton — cap them at 4 feet.
A new law crafted at the mayor’s request would have capped the height of front yard fences at 4 feet 4 inches, with a few exceptions.
But commissioners, fearing a loud backlash from homeowners, roundly rejected the plan earlier this month.
So did Fort Lauderdale’s planning and zoning board, voting against the new rule 7-0.
Not giving up
The mayor says he’s not giving up .
“You don’t want to see it get out of hand where entire blocks are completely fenced in and walled in,” he said. “We’re going to get to a point where whole blocks are walled in. [If we wait] it will be too late because those properties would be grandfathered in.”
Had the new law passed, some say it might not have gone over well with homeowners looking for a little more peace and quiet.
Alex Collazo, president of the Poinsettia Heights Civic Association, hates the idea.
“Property owners don’t like to be told what to do with their properties,” he said. “That’s not going to go over well with a lot of people, including me.”
Existing front yard fences at the maximum height would have been allowed to stay. But come replacement time, they’d have to comply with the new height rule.
Homeowners with pools in the front yard would still be required to put up a fence but the height cap would be lowered to 4 feet 4 inches.
In some cases, homeowners with smaller yards could still put up a fence in the front as high as 6 feet 6 inches. But that’s only if they met the formula created by staff: 80 percent of homes within 300 feet would need to have an average lot depth of 100 feet or less for the old rule to apply.
Commissioner Steve Glassman argued the new rule would trample on a homeowner’s right to privacy by dictating just how their fences can go.
“I don’t think we need to start micromanaging the size of fences in front of people’s yards,” Glassman said. “The government should not be that intrusive. I am not hearing from anyone that this is an issue. This is a solution in search of a problem.”
‘A little too crazy’
Glassman also questioned the formula for allowing higher fences based on an 80 percent rule.
“It could actually be considered punishing properties with larger lots,” he said. “This gets a little too crazy for me. To me it’s just not worth it. Who’s going to check all of this? Who’s going to actually enforce all this and know whether people can do it or not do it?”
Staff would keep a check on things through the permitting process, Glassman was told.
Kim Edwards lives in the same Poinsettia Heights neighborhood as the mayor and says she finds the whole idea ludicrous.
“Limiting the height is ridiculous,” she said. “People want privacy for their yard. We all have those wood fences. Keeps the dogs from barking at each other. And then people want their privacy.”
Collazo, president of the Poinsettia Heights board, has both a wall and fence around his entire house, partly because he lives on a busy corner. The wooden fence is in the front and the concrete wall in the back and on the sides. He switched to a concrete wall after a car crashed through the wood fence years ago.
“I like my house fortified,” Collazo said. “I don’t have to worry about strangers walking onto my property. That’s why I have that fence, to keep people out.”
But not everyone opposes the idea.
Michael Albetta, president of the Lake Ridge Civic Association, has noticed the privacy fence trend. And he doesn’t like it.
“Fences are for backyards,” Albetta said. “The Lake Ridge board is not happy about big tall fences going up. It’s taking away from the look of the neighborhood. You can’t see the house. And it seems unfriendly. They don’t want people knocking on the door.”
Bill Scherer, a prominent attorney who lives in the Rio Vista neighborhood, says he’s glad none of his neighbors have a wooden fence or wall in their front yard. And if someone ever does put one up, he’d rather see a shorter fence than one as tall as Michael Jordan.
“Those wooden fences can wall in the front yard,” Scherer said. “I agree with the mayor. I think it’s unattractive. I’m happy none of my neighbors are doing it. I can’t see walling off your whole house.”
But there is one circumstance where maybe the tall fence is the best option, Scherer said. If the house is downright ugly, a tall fence would be just the thing to shield the neighborhood.
“I guess if I had an ugly house, you might want to do that,” he said.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan