Agenda - Council - 02/10/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mark Kubat, 6530 167'h Avenue NW, Ramsey, stated that he lives on the north side .of the Konzak properrty. He explained that the letter the residents received from City staff indicated that staff tried ~'to work with residents to resolve the issue, which is not true. There were five letters and four visits to the Konzaks but staff did not take the time to meet With anyone else. When he contacted Mr. Elvig about the issue Mr. Elvig explained that City staff was leaning towards allowing the electric fence with a setback of three to five feet from the property line. That was a prO~posal the surrounding property owners thought was fair. During his discussion with Mr. Elvig; he requested that when a decision was made that he be contacted, but he never heard back fi-om Mr. Elvig. He then contacted staff and Mr. Anderson explained that staff agreed to allow the fel3ce to be installed one to two feet from the property tine. Again the surrounding residents felt tDat was reasonable, but they did not think it was acceptable that using wires as barriers was reasonable. The neighboring residents feel that a wood board should be used on the backside oftherlfence parallel with the live wire. The Other questions they had was why is there a need for three live wires. Staff has indicted that they are more concerned with containing large animals not m~iintaining them, but with a fence placed right on 'the property line, when a horse leans over the ifence it will be going across onto the neighboring properties. He made the statement to st~ff that if he were to stand on his property line he could extend his arm through the electric fence a~d stews response was that his ann would be on ~e adjacent property. Then the argument would be the same about the horse leaning over the fence and .encroaching on their properties. They feel the fence should .be placed back at least two feet from the property line. The surroundidg property owners :do not have a problem with the Konzaks having horses or having an elec~c fence to contain them, the issue is the location of the fence and the material that is used as a barrier. When he was told by Mr. Anderson that the setback would be one to two feet from trbe property line he did not understand why the City was not enforcing the setback because the Konzaks have been placing the fence on the property line or within inches of the property line. They have 14 residents that live on one-acre lots surrounding the Konzak's ~ r.~ r ~,'. . , . , . . property and !tl~ey ghould not have this type of Jurassic Park fence m their backyards. The fencing mate~a[1 that is being used does not fit what he has ever seen for containing horses. Bev Kleckner-T~hiele, 1.6611 Coquina Street NW, Ramsey, stated that they have lived in Ramsey for 14 years. She explained that it was not an issue of relocating an existing fence. The Konzaks do currently 'l~aVe a fence on their property that is 30 feet from the property line and only covers about 1/3rd df.~[heif property. What has been proposed is a new fence with new material that goes around th~ entire piece of property. When the issue came about in June there was no valid explanation aS tx) Why the City was not requiring a wood or chain link fence as required by City Code. The four reasons the Konzaks have given for an electric fence all could be handled with a wood fence. Wh~en she contacted Mr. Anderson questioning why the City would not require a wood or chain link fence the only response he was able to give was that the wood fence was not in their bud§et, Ms. Kleckner-Thiele stated that the City cannot deviate from an existing ordinance s~p!y because someone cannot afford to comply with the requirements. If the City had enforced th~',e existing ordinance the issue would not have dragged on for six months wasting taxpayers money. They have a horse owner down the road with a wooden fence with one live wire, which is ~hat should be done with the Konzak's fence. She reviewed the language in City Code pertaining to fences and asked that the City Council enforce the requirement of a wood or chain link fence'. To have an eight wire fence with three electric wires was not acceptable. There is no guarantee !{his wire fence will not be vandalized just like their other fence was and it affects the lives of 13 families. Some of the families have lived there for 30 years and the Konzaks have lived there for 0nly seven years. They personally were considering placing a playhouse in their backyard and they cannot do that with three live wires being located right on the property line. From her back step to the proposed fence is only about 75 feet. There is a reason ordinances are established which is to benefit the community and they are worthless if they are not enforced.