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Good Fences Make Good Neighbors A
sentiment I heartily endorse, except in cases where fences create fortresses
that prevent the casual flow of community interactions.
Berkeley has a rich architectural heritage that all of us treasure.
We, more than most other communities, have gone to great length to preserve
and protect our historic and architectural legacy. Yet allowing tall, gated
fences in the front yard setbacks of our residential neighborhoods impedes a
sense of welcoming and character, instead sending a not-too-subtle message
of protectionism, exclusivity, isolation and even impending danger.
I don’t think any of us want Berkeley to look like the walled and
gated suburbs east of the hills. Other
cities have recognized the community benefit to “open” front yards and
street side yards. Many cities
our size, including Palo Alto, Santa Monica and Hayward
- limit front yard fences to four feet or less.
Our neighboring cities, Albany and El Cerrito limit front yard fences
to three feet, and in Oakland it is 42 inches.
They have all determined that private and protected space inside a
six-foot fence is more appropriately placed in the rear yards.
Certainly there are legitimate reasons why a homeowner would need to fence
in their front yard and those should be permitted.
But I believe we could develop a set of best practices, incorporating
certain design elements such as semi-transparent screening, that could
fulfill the needs of the homeowner while sustaining the ambiance of our
neighborhoods. As chair of the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting in 2004, I concurred with the Task Force’s recommendation to refer this issue to the Planning Commission. It is on the commission’s work plan for 2006/07, and I look forward to the City Council receiving their recommendations later in the year. Indeed, good fences make good neighbors, but we also want good neighbors to build good (and sometimes shorter) fences. |
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