Saratoga News
News
Planning commission study session focuses on fences, newsracks, blight
By Shannon Burkey
The Saratoga Planning Commission will hold a study session on Aug. 7 at 5 p.m. to gather public input on updating existing and creating new city ordinances.
The city is looking to update the existing fence ordinance and add a blight ordinance and newsrack ordinance to its list.
"Most of our ordinances are needing updating. There are some things we just don't have spelled out in our codes," said community development director John Livingstone.
The three ordinances to be discussed at the study session came up because residents have voiced concerns over the years about the lack of an ordinance or the need to change an ordinance, Livingstone said.
The fence ordinance currently allows for a 6-foot fence on residential property. But, according to Livingstone, property owners often will add a lattice to the top of their fence in order to try and get around the height maximum, causing neighbors to report them.
"We get pulled into all kinds of neighbor versus neighbor feuds," Livingstone said.
Currently, the only solution a resident has for a lattice-topped or higher fence is to try and get a variance from the city.
One of the issues the planning commission will look into is creating an exception process that would require a lower level of approval than a variance to address fence feuds.
"Fences are kind of a big deal in this community, and it gets pretty dicey," Livingstone said. "Fence issues get to be huge among neighbors and the city gets dragged in. Having an exception process will give us another avenue to address these issues--at least there would be a process available to us."
The other ordinances to be discussed are new regulatory ordinances the city now sees a need for.
The newsrack ordinance would affect the numerous newsracks in the Village. In the past, residents have complained that the news: racks are not well maintained and some have old papers and garbage in them.
The new ordinance would help the city enforce the cleanup of the racks and ensure they are placed in the proper places throughout the Village.
The blight ordinance, which would also be a first in the city, came about after several residents complained to the city council about a vacant home at the corner of Kilbride Drive and Glasgow Drive in Saratoga's Golden Triangle area.
Neighbors of the house said it had not been maintained in well over a year and had become an eyesore. They said that the house has been broken into twice, and has bushes and weeds growing to the roof and dead trees on the property.
But because the city does not have an ordinance to force a homeowner to clean up a blighted house, the city's hands have been tied.
One of the reasons Livingstone said this particular ordinance has never been put on the books is because it has never been needed. A blight ordinance would affect only people with abandoned or under-maintained houses and that is a rare occurrence in Saratoga.
Planning commissioners would like to hear input from all residents and are urging everyone to attend the study session.
"The city spends so much time, money and resources on things like this and we may be able to help reduce some of that with this study session," Livingstone said.
The study session will be held on Aug. 7 at 5 p.m. in the administrative conference room at Saratoga City Hall, 13777 Fruitvale Ave.
