Al

I believe the council member from your ward would be very happy to hear from you and that is an excellent place to start….( an at large member or the Mayor would be glad to help too.)…and of course I would be glad meet you and share ideas on how you can get involved and help in this area.

Please call me any time at 770-9587

I would like to get involved with the creation of these parks. Can you help me get connected to the correct person or group? I appreciate your help. Keep up the good work!

Thanks,
Donnie Worley

If it were a resource we needed/could store in times of need, or truly did not have in excess, then it might be another conversation.

And as long as the supplier has the option of discontinuing the sale if local resources demand a cutback, then I don’t see the problem.

Al

Al

It highlights that we have many citizens willing to take the time and make an effort toward continued investment and improvement for Sanford and Lee County.

With that positive energy, I believe Sanford is well positioned.

Al

Aethestics is a major concern for many people in our city. I believe in a homeowners rights and also believe in protecting neighbors property values. If you look at the house on the corner of Hill Avenus and Bennett Street. Does this help or hurt this neighborhood as a whole? With the diversity we see in our neighborhoods….unfortunately in some cases…..government may have to play some type of roll.

Thank you for your comments.

If someone is concerned about what their neighbors might build, then they need to move to a neighborhood with a covenant.

What’s next? Will the City seek to limit the type of hedges I can plant along my property lines? Will bushes with pricks and briers be forbidden because someone walking on the sidewalk might be “harmed”?

How about putting sidewalks on *all* city streets? That would (IMHO) go a *lot* further to improving the aesthetics of the city. Unless I’m mistaken, the city gets a certain easement from the sidewalk, that could be used to limit how far folks put their fences.

Ideally wouldn’t it be nice if one could just ‘flip a switch’ and a neighborhood’s appearance could improve overnight, criminal activity decrease, traffic slow down, etc? But unfortunately we know all these changes are gradual. So I don’t know know if it is reasonable to ask residents to change or remove something they’ve installed to counter these concerns before they too abate.

Also, is it fair to demand that a property owner undo something that was erected lawfully years or even days prior? I don’t know.

Perhaps an approach that we use in building code and the Historic Preservation Commission may be an option to consider? In those cases the existing construction is ‘grandfathered’ until it is ‘touched’. But once someone modifies or repairs the structure, the new code applies.

In this case it would apply that once someone modifies or repairs the fence, it would be disallowed. One catch-22 that can arise here though is that some residents may let the fences deteriorate and become even more unsightly or unsafe in an attempt to avoid removing it altogether. To counter this there would need to be health, safety, and appearance code to address the condition of the fence as well.

It’s a tough subject, but this isn’t a problem unique or new to Sanford alone. Many cities have enacted similar ordinances, so perhaps another avenue of research is to see how other cities have addressed the issue?

Al

http://sanfordcityblog.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/192/

There is some other good feedback in that earlier post as well.

But succinctly (unlike my post above ) I think that tall compound-like front yard fencing is aesthetically unpleasant, devalues surrounding property through that impression, and actually can increase criminal activity.

There are several topics that fall under ‘appearance code’ I personally would like considered, and in this case would support code to minimize these types of fencing within Sanford city limits.

Do some searches online for treatises on this subject. Although there definitely are varying opinions, there is a great deal of anecdotal and actual evidence suggesting that these types of fences exacerbate the criminal problem directly and indirectly; the former by providing ‘cover’ for criminals to case and victimize property, and the latter by breaking down community ties that otherwise strengthen neighborhoods against the problems these fences ostensibly are there to reduce.

And even without any studies, surveys, or other objective data, we all know the impression neighborhoods ‘fortified’ with bars and fences convey. That impression does not encourage investment or attract families. Instead it can perpetuate the environment the fences are railing against.

Al