wap wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:33 pm
Fence variance story time.
So we had our first public meeting last night before the Planning Commission.
and I presented our case. I talked about the scope of the project, dimensions. location, style of the fence, etc, and she discussed the reasons we want it; privacy, security, keeping trespassers away from our soon-to-be fire pit, which, in legal terms, we're calling an attractive nuisance. Dirk I'm sure knows the term. Several questions were asked, answers were given, and then they read aloud a letter from that old biddy neighbor lady who I mentioned yesterday in another thread who wrote to the Commission stating she was against allowing us to install the fence because "she'll see it from her front yard" and she'd only be in favor of it if we replace the whole length of chain link fence separating our BACK yards, which is NOT in the scope of this project.
She also wrote that this chain link fence was in poor condition, falling down, and included pictures in her letter.
She was sitting in the audience when we got there but we didn't talk to her. We were just shaking our heads at that point. I immediately disputed the allegation that the fence was in poor repair and unstable. The damn thing is probably 50 years old, heavy gauge and super solid. It might need a paint job, but it definitely ain't falling down. Anyway, the village planner dude that had been helping me along in this process pointed out that the chain link fence is not part of the discussion and is irrelevant to their decision on the fence we want to put in. So the 7 voting members of the Commission then took a straw poll and voted 5-2 yes to recommend approval to the Village Board. A bit more discussion ensued before they took their formal vote and the final vote was 6-1 in favor. Next step is a meeting of the Committee of the Whole (
) next month, where the Village Board will hold its first discussion on the matter. They will then take a vote. If it's a unanimous yes, it will be automatically approved at yet another Village Board meeting later in the month. If it's not unanimous, it will get discussed yet again at that later meeting and it will be voted on again, for the last time.
But get this. After our presentation wrapped up, the Committee opened the discussion to public comment (there are always some citizens to attend these things, mostly retirees, etc) but no one had anything to say so they moved on to the next matter on their agenda about someone who bought some lots for business development or something. Then there was some general public discussion about yet another matter. At this point, that old biddy got up to talk and circled back to our topic, like a half hour after we had moved on, and basically repeated the content of her letter, stating again that she was not in favor of our request to run chain link down our shared property line, to which the village planner dude pointed out that we were, in fact, NOT installing chain link, but new, open fencing, etc. The bitch had her moment to talk during our presentation and didn't, but she got up when the discussion moved on to something different. My dude told her that he'd call her tomorrow to explain what we're actually proposing, but when the meeting ended the sow went up to the dais to get her explanation.
Wife and I are livid. This is a woman who, for the past 24 years,
I've shoveled her snow every winter just to be neighborly. And once, several years ago, out of the blue she drops by (and we HATE the unannounced drop-by. You want to come over, CALL first) to announce that our back yard fence (again with the fence thing) was actually 6 inches on her property line and wanted us to buy that narrow strip of land from her! Fortunately I had our Platt of Survey handy and showed her that she was full of shit as it showed that it was clearly on our side of the property line.