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Growing Fence Problem in Margate

• Fences across Margate yards aren't looking so good lately

Images

How would you like to wake up to this fence every morning? It abutts the sidewalk, is void of landscaping and is in desperate need of repair. And the color? Click photo to enlarge.

Possibly one of Margate's longest contiguous wooden fences. It could use some landscaping, no? Click photo to enlarge.

Without landscaping, this fence combo doesn't stand a chance in a beauty contest.

The warped fence is a common ailment in Margate.

Houses throughout the city are connected by fences such as these, many of which are not aesthetically pleasing.

The jury is out on this match, however striking the red may be.

Simply not very attractive. How about shrubbery instead?

More connectivity issues.

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By Mitchell Pellecchia, Staff Writer

Monday, June 7, 2010

Six foot high fences across Margate yards have become an eyesore for residents. Many have grown old, dilapidated and misaligned due to wind, while others offer no landscaping for passing pedestrians and motorists to enjoy. Where one fence color ends, another begins, and it isn’t always pretty.
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Margate fence laws for commercial businesses along the State Road 7 Transit Oriented Corridor in Margate were recently amended to prevent businesses from erecting fences in their “front yards” so as not to mask buildings, block access or hinder connectivity and parking.

According to an ordinance amended at Wednesday’s Margate City Commission meeting, Margate city staff found that “the installation of fences in any front yards to be unsightly, and may result in lower property values and/or the worsening of slum and blighted conditions within the city.”

Although the ordinance protects the beauty of Margate’s TOC, it does nothing to address unsightly residential fences – many warped, discolored and in disrepair – located along rear and side yards across Margate neighborhoods.

City Planner Ben Ziskal said city staff confronted the problem in 2008, suggesting to Margate commissioners that fences along resident’s side and rear yards require a minimum setback from sidewalks and be landscaped for beauty. At the time, the setback from sidewalks was a minimum 15 feet, Ziskal said.

To no avail, not only did the city commission reject staff’s idea for at least a 30-inch setback, they rejected the notion requiring fences to be landscaped.

Instead, elected official passed a law requiring no setback from sidewalks and no landscaping at all.

Reader opinion.
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