The Sweet Home Planning Commission on Thursday, July 7, denied a variance to allow a six-foot fence to be built around two sides of a detention pond on 4900 Mimosa Circle, abutting Mimosa Circle and 49th Avenue.
Spring Terrace Homeowners Association President Henry Blomberg, who applied for the variance, explained that he wanted to keep children and others out of the pond.
The request failed, 4-3. Chairman Jeffrey Parker and commissioners Eva Jurney, David Lowman and Laura Wood voted against it while commissioners Jamie Melcher, Greg Stephens and Henry Wolthuis supported it.
A variance from the Sweet Home City Code would have been necessary, as it states that fences and walls within a front yard abutting a street and on side and rear yards abutting a street less than three feet from a street property line cannot exceed a maximum height of three and one-half feet when constructed with solid materials, or four feet with open material.
About a dozen Spring Terrace residents spoke in support of the fence, reporting unwanted and potentially dangerous activity.
Mimosa Circle resident Diane Blomberg, who also testified at the meeting, wrote in a May 22 letter to city Associate Planner Angela Clegg, “I have personally watched boys climbing into the inlet pipe, riding their bikes in the pond and throwing rocks in the direction of the surrounding houses. I have also observed a drunk teenage girl climbing on the brick planter. We have also heard complaints from neighbors concerning homeless camping, used needles and litter in and around the retention pond.”
“We have people staying there and kids throwing rocks,” Henry Blomberg said at the meeting. “They also use it as a skatepark with motorcycles. You would not believe the plastic and broken beer bottles – the garbage that gets dumped there. People throw stuff down the storm train: tennis balls, basketballs, assorted animals that have died.”
His primary motive, however, was the safety of children.
“The reason we want the variance is [the pond] is an attractive nuisance,” he said. “We get kids in there. I personally pulled a kid out of the 16-inch pipe inlet, crawling up into it.”
The pond, he added, has “more than a 60-degree slope, and if it’s slick, you’re in the water. It’s not flat; it’s a hole. I’ve taken a couple of tumbles going in there.”
“I’m concerned because I’ve seen the needles,” said Janet McInerney, another resident. “I’ve seen the condoms. I’ve seen the bottles of booze. We know people are getting in there. We’re trying to avoid that and make it safer.”
The detention pond and its surrounding property are owned by the homeowner’s association (HOA), which is responsible for maintaining the landscaping.
Henry Blomberg described it as “a liability for the HOA that we have no defense against, because of it being an attractive nuisance. The state tort says we are responsible no matter what happens.”
He added that the HOA has at least four area families with children under the age of 10, and that the pond’s street corner is a bus stop for Sweet Home School District students.
Previously, the pond was enclosed in part by a hedge, more than six feet in height and five feet in width, abutting Mimosa Circle and 49th. Property owners have since removed it, but when the hedge was standing, according to Blomberg, the HOA installed a “no-climb horse fence” behind it due to problems with kids smoking and homeless people.
The HOA pulled the hedge after it had “not been taken care of correctly for the last six or seven years,” Blomberg said. (City staff were unaware of when that occurred.)
“What you would have had was a bunch of sticks,” he noted. “There would have been no leaves. It would have just been bare limbs.”
The fence behind the hedge was also removed.
According to Blomberg, when the HOA pulled the hedge, needles and homeless camping materials were found.
Now, with the pond exposed, he said, “The best we could come up with to protect both the HOA and the public was to put this fence in. A three-and-a-half-foot fence or an open fence is not going to stop a child. My three-year-old climbed over a chain-link fence and asked me what I was doing. That’s not going to work for what we need to do.”
He stressed that the fence would be aesthetically pleasing.
“I think we have the nicest neighborhood in Sweet Home, if you really want to be truthful,” he said. “I don’t think the homeowners would let me get away with it if it didn’t look nice.”
“The pride of ownership is evident,” Commissioner Henry Wolthuis said, complimenting the HOA. “You take care of your properties. It’s one of the nicest streets in Sweet Home.”
Voting in favor of the variance, he said, “I’m not generally one in favor of fences, because they do become unsightly if you don’t maintain care and maintenance. So, I would probably put my faith in the HOA to see that you maintain that and keep it looking nice like the rest of the properties.”
Commissioner Greg Stephens, also in favor, said, “I appreciate that they’re willing to spend their time and money to make it beautiful, and also as safe as they can make it.”
“With as many storm detention ponds that we do have in the city that are neglected and uncared for by their neighborhood, I can appreciate that they are willing to do something that addresses safety, aesthetics and problems that they all feel are issues in their neighborhood,” Commissioner Jamie Melcher said.
The city staff report presented to the commission recommended a variance denial because staff believed that the hedge’s removal created a need for the fence. Additionally, according to staff findings, a six-foot structure around the detention pond’s perimeter could impede motor vehicle and pedestrian vision entering or exiting 49th Avenue and Mimosa Circle.
Mimosa Circle resident Barry Tevis pushed back.
“I’ve lived there for six years, and I’ve never had any issues with safety as far as making turns,” he said. “With the hedge, which is about the same height [as the requested fence] I never had any problem with it at all. I could see clearly and make safe turns.”
Commissioner Eva Jurney, who opposed the variance, favored an adherence to city code.
“I just don’t want us to lose sight of our responsibility to our commission, and why we’re here,” she said. “I know that we make decisions based on individual situations, but we have a code to abide by, and that’s kind of our North Star.
“As much as we empathize with and understand the situation as it is presented, I’m concerned about us setting the precedent with the homeowner’s association,” she continued. “Are other homeowner associations in town going to come and present us with issues that they think are in need of a variance?”
“The purpose of a variance is usually topographical or geographical, in a state where things have to change because it’s outside the control of the property owner,” Chairman Jeffrey Parker added. “We inherited a lot of issues already with a lot of variances granted willy-nilly in the past, and we’ve kind of paid the price as we tried to mop that up.”
Commissioner Laura Wood discussed a fence’s potential repercussions.
“My concern is not the current HOA, because clearly they’re very active and care a lot about this property,” she said. “But there was a time in the past when the HOA wasn’t as active, and this property wasn’t maintained well, and it’s caused problems.”
“My fear is that there’s a fence put up, and then inside that property is no longer well-maintained, and the city can’t see,” she continued. “And then it becomes a fire hazard, or somebody climbs over the fence and breaks in because the lock hasn’t been changed or somebody brings bolt cutters.
“And then there’s a fire because someone homeless is living in there, and no one can see it until it reaches the height of the person’s home fence.
“In a grassy uninhabited area, that’s what concerns me for the neighborhood. I feel like there are other deterrents that can keep people off the property beyond just a fence.”
“My only major concern is that a wood fence is going to hide a lot of things,” Commissioner David Lowman added. “The way it is right now, you can see if there’s anything in the property. That wood fence is going to hide the kids. They’re going to climb that fence and party, because at that point, they’re going to be hidden from the public.”
The Planning Commission will next meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8 at City Hall.