By Thane Grauel
WESTPORT — Good fences make good neighbors.
But would neighbor-friendly fences be even better?
That’s a question zoners are looking into.
A potential text amendment — calling for the “good” side of a fence to be positioned toward neighbors — was discussed Tuesday afternoon by the Zoning Regulation Revision Subcommittee of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The “good side” is considered the finished side, without unsightly support beams and fence posts exposed to a neighboring property.
“The basic idea is, a lot of times people, especially right on busy roads, will put a fence up right in their front yard that borders the road, or in the setback, fences can go in the setback, bordering their neighbor’s property,” said Planning and Zoning Commission Chairwoman Danielle Dobin.
“And they’ll put what is the good side, or the pretty side, the finished side of the fence, facing them and the bad side faces out,” she said.
“It just becomes kind of an eyesore,” Dobin said. “It’s then incumbent on their neighbor to landscape in front of the fence, and if this is on the road, the bad side just generally stays facing out, and it’s a little bit of an aesthetic issue.”
The town has fence regulations, but does not require permits for those that fall within typical parameters.
“To the extent we do this, we really need to educate the fence installers,” Dobin said. “Because otherwise they’ll have no idea. And most homeowners would have no idea either.”
Some people who spoke at the virtual hearing thought people are typically courteous and would do the right thing without any regulations.
But human nature, like many a fence, can have a not-so-pretty side. Others wanted to see the courteous practice made official.
John Bolton, a P&Z alternate and lawyer, said he’s handling a case where someone is installing a “very ugly fence” that faces his client.
He said that fence ruins the aesthetics and diminishes property values.
“I think there should be a standing order, so to speak, that the pretty side of the fence should always face out” toward neighbors, he said.
Commission member Michael Cammeyer agreed the nice side should face outward from the installer’s property.
“I always thought that was common courtesy,” he said.
“I think that it would be better not to create more non-conformities,” said Valerie Seiling Jacobs of existing fences in town that don’t have the finished side facing out. “And maybe just encourage people.
This could be part of our neighborly thing in Westport, like, let’s do the right thing folks. Like Michael Cammeyer said, that’s always been the New England custom,” she added.
“I just don’t think that people necessarily do the right thing,” Dobin said. “Particularly when it involves more cost to them.”
“There’s always going to be some people that don’t care,” Bolton said.
The subcommittee agreed fence positioning is a discussion that should be considered by the full commission.
I am from Westchester, moved to Westport in 1996… As long as I can remember in New Rochelle , larchmont , And White Plains that was our town ordinance rule since 1980s. I have been practicing as an interior designer / general contractor…. Good side always towards the road or Neighbour , common courtesy and respect. I do remember double siding a fence for a client once ?
From the “Don’t Assume that You Know WhatPeople Want” department:
I recall that when Canal Park was being built, a fence was to be installed to protect the residential neighbor to the east. The fence was proposed to be erected with the “smooth “ side facing the neighbor, but he requested that it be reversed so that he would feel that he was fencing out the project, not that he was the one being fenced out.
Friends were told by the people installing their fence to put what you might call the “bad side” toward the neighbor to keep anybody in the friends’ yard from climbing the fence into the neighbor’s yard. That seems a good and neighborly thing to do.