Fence facing etiquette

[HeyBub]

It must suck to live in a city with zoning.

[HeyBub]

Ah, one of the exceptions I discussed earlier. Ordinarily, when the neighbor starts putting up an expensive fence - say one made out of marble blocks topped with gargoyles, you SIL is obligated to voice her objection else she would assent by silence to the grandiose plan.

Here, since the neighbor said he'd foot the bill for the whole thing, including battlements and watchtowers, she should be completely off the hook. In the worst case, she'd be liable for half the cost of a fence normally found in the neighborhood. Plus court costs, lawyer fees, and various notary charges.

[trader4]

As hard as it may be to believe, there are actually folks out there that don't want a junk yard or fat rendering plant going in the lot next to their house.

[Don Wiss]

On the topic of grandiose fences. There is a trend in some neighborhoods around here to make fences and window bars out of stainless steel instead of wrought iron. And then leave it unpainted. Ostentatious.

Don.

(e-mail link at home page bottom).

[HerHusband]

Why not build a fence that looks good from both sides?

I only have one small fence, and live out in the country where none of the neighbors can see it anyway. Since I can see both sides of the fence, I built it so it looks the same from either side.

Anthony Watson Mountain Software

[krw]

My gate hinges and strikers are unpainted stainless (at least all the ones I installed). Is that ostentatious?

[clare]

Not nearly as bad as living where there is NO zoning and someone decides to build a biker bar on one side of you and a 24 hour truck repair shop on the other.

[HeyBub]

Then deal with the fat rendering place directly.

We had a situation similar some years ago. On the ritziest street in the ritziest part of town, Shell Oil bought a corner lot and announced plans to build a gas station.

The neighbors objected. They cut up their credit cards and mailed the pieces to Shell. The residents vowed all-out war!

Shell decided they didn't want to piss-off John Connally or the sitting Secretary of Commerce (Robert Mossbacher). The company donated the lot to the city for a pocket-park.

[DerbyDad03]

Some have replied that living where there are fence zoning rules must suck. I don't mind the zoning rules, but for me, it sure would suck to live where I would need window bars.

I moved away from such a place over 30 years ago and never regretted it.

Don: I lived in a row house in Queens.

As a matter of fact, if I Street View the house I grew up in I can see the bars on the first floor windows. Rotate the Street View around and I can see the new view from my old living room window. The woods I played in have been replaced with a public school. The street is narrow enough to see right into the windows.

The view from my current (un-barred) living room window is of woods that will never be developed - town owned property consisting of a extremely steep hill overlooking a bay.

Zoning laws I can live with. Window bars (or more precisely, the reason for needing them)...not so much.

To each his own.