PIXABAY/Front yard fences are not permitted in Margate.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – The old adage, “Good fences make good neighbors,” may take on a different meaning in Margate as the city plans to enforce its no front yard fence policy.
According to Zoning Officer Roger McLarnon, front yard fences have been “popping up like mushrooms” over the weekends – many of them made of plastic that planners consider unsightly. The only problem is front yard fences are not allowed in Margate.
The issue was discussed during a recent Planning Board meeting and at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday, June 17. At both meetings, officials agreed the practice must end. Just turning their heads and allowing residents to erect fences without first obtaining a permit or zoning variance would be “a terrible trade-off,” Planning Board Chairman Richard Patterson said.
The city requires extensive front yard landscaping on new construction and erecting fences along the sidewalks or right-of-way defeats the purpose of landscaping, they said.
“It takes away from the beauty of the landscaping, which is aesthetically pleasing,” Commissioner John Amodeo said.
Little picket fences look nice in Cape May, but not in Margate, planners agreed.
“We represent 6,000 residents and 10,000 visitors and Margate is so unique… (allowing them) would be a step backwards,” Patterson said, before asking planning board members for a straw vote.
The vote was taken in response to a memo from Administrator Richard Deaney asking the board to review the issue and make a recommendation to the commissioners to determine if an ordinance revision is necessary. They voted 6-1 to continue the no front yard fence regulation.
It is likely that property owners are erecting fences to keep dogs and children in, or perhaps, to keep dogs off their lawns. McLarnon said one resident admitted he erected a front yard fence to keep his children from running into the busy street, another said he wanted to prevent dogs from defecating on his lawn.
According to McLarnon, front yard fences have never been allowed in Margate, or at least not for the last 35 years, and of the 65 or so that have been erected, most of them were installed without obtaining a permit or zoning variance. Some fences have been erected in the city’s right-of-way, which creates liability issues for the city.
The city will be notifying property owners that they have two options: remove the fence or go before the planning board to obtain a variance, McLarnon said.
He said the city would be notifying residents who have front yard fences by letter to give them a chance to remediate the problem. If they don’t comply, they may find themselves in court, McLarnon said.
“Some may not even know they need a permit, but to prevent the proliferation of front yard fences, we need to nip it in the bud,” he said.
Amodeo said the notification is likely to “create havoc.”
Deaney said decisions on ordinances always falls on the shoulders of the commission.
“People will still come back to the commissioners,” he said. “You have to weigh all those things…but it’s not acceptable the way it is now.”
In many instances, fences are being erected along abutting driveways, and when they are, neighbors next door have a hard time opening their car doors.
“It’s pitting neighbor against neighbor,” Deaney said.
At one time, there was a zero-foot clearance between properties to accommodate abutting driveways. Today, the ordinance requires a 1-foot setback, McLarnon said.
“When it becomes a hardship and people can’t use their driveways, it forces more vehicles onto the streets,” he said.
“It would seem to me…we are opening Pandora’s box here,” Mayor Michael Becker said. “I don’t believe in passing ordinances we can’t enforce.”
Solicitor John Scott Abbott said he did not “relish” the idea of going after 60 property owners and recommended the board find a “happy medium” instead.
If the commissioners should decide to allow front yard fences, the planning board would create new design standards and the commission would codify them in an ordinance revising the existing code.
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