Minutes - Council - 01/13/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Community Development Assistant Anderson reviewed pictures of the fence, noting that the electric portion of the fencing system is not hooked-up or in place at this time. Prior to the fence being turned on the Konzaks would have to add five-inch brackets to the outside of the fence with three additional wires to protect people from the electric fence. Mark Kubat, 6530 167'h Avenue NW, Ramsey, stated that he lives on the north side of the Konzak property. 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 allowifig the electric fence with a setback of three to five feet from the property line. That was a proposal 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 from Mr. Elvig. He then contacted staff and Mr. Anderson explained that staff agreed to allow the fence to be installed one to two feet from the property line. Again the surrounding residents felt that 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 of the fence 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 maintaining them, but with a fence placed fight on the property line, when a horse leans over the fence it will be going across onto the neighboring properties. He made the statement to staff that if he were to stand on his property line he could extend his arm through the electric fence and staff's response was that his arm would be on the adjacent property. Then the argmnent 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 surrounding property owners do not have a problem with the Konzaks having horses or having an electric 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 the 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 property and they should not have this type of 'Jurassic Park' fence in their backyards. The fencing material that is being used does not fit what he has ever seen for containing horses. Bev Kleckner-Thiele, 16611 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 have a fence on their property that is 30 feet from the property line and only covers about l/3rd of their property. What has been proposed is a new fence with new material that goes around the entire piece of property. When the issue came about in June there was no valid explanation as to why the City was not requiring a wood or chain link fence as required by City Code. Thc four reasons the Konzaks have given for an electric fence all could be handled with a wood fence. When 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 budget. Ms. Kleckner-Thiele stated that the City cannot deviate from an existing ordinance simply because someone cannot afford to comply with the requirements. If the City had enforced the 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 what should be done with the Konzak's fence. She reviewed the language in City City Council/January 13, 2004 Page 10 of 24