Geneva aldermen amend city’s fence ordinance

GENEVA – Aldermen voted Tuesday to amend Geneva’s zoning ordinance to increase the maximum allowable fence height to 48 inches – or 6 feet for a side or rear yard – following the Planning and Zoning Commission recommendations.

Chain link fences will be prohibited in street yards and the maximum allowable fence height will be 4 feet in corner street yards, irrespective of the yard’s relationship to neighboring properties, according to the amendments.

Fences in a street yard must be an open fence but not chain link, according to the amendments.

An open fence refers to opacity, and requires openings between the slats of a fence to be at least 30% open, according to the amendments.

A fence may be 6 feet high for a side or rear yard, unless the rear yard directly abuts a front street yard of a neighboring property. In that case, it will be restricted to four feet according to the amendments.

The issue is not to have an abutting neighbor’s view suddenly blocked by a completely opaque wall.

The previous maximum height was 42 inches.

Community Development Director David DeGroot said the changes give residents more flexibility and eliminates height conflict for fence regulations for spas and swimming pools.

Fifth Ward Alderman Craig Maladra said the opacity requirement provide a compromise “between what one person might want to put up and what one person living next to him might want to see.”

“Having to look at a wall is not what we buy into in the public realm,” Maladra said. “The whole concept of setbacks, the whole concept of all these different yards exits because we’re trying to balance what the homeowner wants with what the community expects as well. I think the opacity strikes that valance fairly well.”

Second Ward Alderman Bradley Kosirog said the proposed changes “allows for a better aesthetic in our community.”

“I think I was a big a proponent of the opacity issue at our COW meeting last time, and I still am,” Kosirog said. “And it’s what Alderman Maladra said, it’s a good compromise between what you would want and what your neighbors might want to look at.”

After discussing the amendments for an hour, aldermen voted 6-3, with one absent, in favor.

Fifth Ward Alderman Robert Swanson said he did not agree, that the changes were making the city’s fence rules more restrictive.

“I’m uncomfortable making our rules more restrictive,” Swanson said. “We were reacting to requests from the community, ‘We were losing our choices, 42 inches (for a fence) is a difficult size. And we’re responding by saying, ‘You know what, 48 (inches) is fine but we want you to put in the fence we want you to put in.’ And your choices are now limited by that.”

Swanson, 1st Ward Aldermen Tara Burghart and Michael Bruno voted no. Third Ward Alderwoman Becky Hruby was absent.