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May 18, 2007
Front Yard Fencing
To make a very long story short i need to install a chainlink fence ASAP in my front yard. Its going to be between my property and a school Yard (no residential neighbors would be affected). I know you aren't allowed to have backyard fences that are higher than six feet but is there anything about front yard fencing? I wouldn't think there would be since there would be no fire hazard. My thought is to install an 8 foot fence with barbed wire at the top, is this legal?
Thanks in advance
Comments
wow. welcome to Baghdad.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 11:48 AM
Ok op here- The reason why i want an 8 foot fence with barbed wire is because
1)Right now the city has the schoolyard closed off with its own 8 foot fence but that fence ends right at my property line. There is currently an iron 3 foot fence between my property and this schoolyard. What is happening right now is that every day i have about 50 kids climbing over that fence thru my front yard so they can get into the schoolyard (which is under construction). They have been damaging plants, trash cans etc. Plus its just unnerving to find your private property being trambled on like this. I have tried talking to the school about this, they don't care, i contacted my local councilman, they don't care and i have called the police and they refuse to even send a car out. So What are my options to stop trespassers? Nothing except for this. So is it legal or not?
Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 11:54 AM
don't use barbed wire
you called a rent a fence company like National?
Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 12:59 PM
op again - if i don't use barbed wire any kid could easily climb a chainlinked fence. I don't really have/want to spend the money right now for iron fences which would be harder to climb (though at some point that would be the preferred solution). Barbed wire is really the only way to keep someone from scaling it. I haven't called any fencing companies yet b/c i want to know if this is even legal. But maybe i should just start calling.
Posted by: AnnaBee at May 18, 2007 1:42 PM
I know that it's illegal to put barbed wire on scaffolding (though just about everybody does it anyway) so I suspect it's illegal all over. I can see that this situation is aggravating, but do you really want to have to look at barbed wire, and do you really feel comfortable with the message it sends? Especially since you're trying to make your yard look nice with plants, I don't see how having barbed wire is an improvement over a few crushed plants. Will the situation improve when the schoolyard construction is over? Can you stand outside and yell at the kids first thing in the morning? Then they might decide to stay out of your yard.
Posted by: kate at May 18, 2007 2:54 PM
kate - of course i don't like the idea of having barbed wire. But honestly what else can I do? I have tried yelling and screaming and they could care less. My plan is to try to put up a stopgap measure and save up money so i can redo the entire front of the house (i need the front yard redone anyway). Then i can put up iron fences.
btw most of my neighbors don't really take care of their houses so even with barbed wire my house will hardly be the eyesore of the block :).
Posted by: AnnaBee at May 18, 2007 3:09 PM
Either way, I don’t think it will do much good, chain or iron fence. Did it just start as a result of the construction or something habitual that has been going on for a long time? Who is your local councilperson? Did you actually go to their office and they refused any assistance? Try again, (also contact the Board of Education) and try taking the approach that the school, which yard is under construction, have create a danger for students, who have been climbing the fence to enter into the school. Correct me if I am wrong posters, but if any of them hurt themselves on the property, they can attempt to collect for damages? Hope all goes well.
Posted by: BedStyliving at May 18, 2007 3:48 PM
Anna, get some big thorny shrubbery. It can grow higher than 6 feet, you don't need a permit, and it'll scrape a lot of hands and knees.
Or (but this is probably more long-term than you want) concrete wall with broken glass at the top like they do some places in S.A.
J
Posted by: noq at May 18, 2007 4:18 PM
I guess you could put punji sticks on your own property. Similar to barbed wire- legal until someone gets hurt.
Hedges/ thorns seem to be the best long term solution seeing as the school will always be there.
Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 4:37 PM
What about coating the chain link fence with vegetable oil imbued with a strong die and coating the top of the fence with the sticky glue used in rat traps?
That way anyone climbing the fence will ruin their clothes with the dye and will lose their shirt to the glue.
If the problem continues into winter you can get one of these http://www.comforthouse.com/scarecrows1.html But I think it would just attract kids in the summer, unless you used stinky water, you can make the water stinky by using one of those hose attached fertilizer tubs and filling it with sulfur.
Good Luck!
Posted by: danielk at May 18, 2007 4:50 PM
danielk don't you have some electrical wiring to do?? LOL LOL
Posted by: AnnaBee at May 18, 2007 4:59 PM
Bedstyliving - Actually it was kind of an ongoing problem that has been made worse by the contruction. My councilman is Bill Deblasio and their office claimed they would talk to the parks department and the school for me. They also claimed they would speak to my police precinct about coming by when it happens. As far as i can tell none of that has helped at all. The school told me that they are only responsible for their kids and they didn't think any of their kids were trespassing on my property (which honestly i can't prove). They also told me that when its not school hours that its really the park's department's responsibility and they aren't allowed to do anything.
The liability issue is actually what concerns me the most. This is why this has me so frustrated. I feel like its only a matter of time before someone hurts themselves and i get sued. I suspect that issue may prevent me from putting up barbed wires also. I feel i am damned if i do and damned if i don't if i put up something to deter people from climbing the fence i am actually increases the risk of someone getting hurt and suing but if i do nothing i may get sued anyway. I can always try danialk's suggestions though :)
Posted by: AnnaBee at May 18, 2007 5:12 PM
maybe that company that makes that wall of flame kit to deter car-jackers has something for fence hoppers
http://www.nothingtoxic.com/media/1129528800/Anti-Carjacking_Flame_Device
Posted by: Anonymous at May 18, 2007 5:22 PM
I think you are underestimating the effectiveness of the 8' chainlink fence.
Since the rest of the fence is 8' high and its not being climbed, what I see is that they are taking the easiest route. So don't try to make your part of the fence unclimbable, just make it harder to climb then the rest. Then they'll climb up elsewhere if they choose to and not hurt themselves on your properly.
For example, typical chain link fence fabric is easy to climb because you can put your shoes in each "diamond" and climb up. So I would put up an 8' fence using very dense fabric (1" diamonds instead of 3", or something like that). Another solution that I saw was a fence that had extra vertical wires inside of each standard diamond. That kept your foot out. A final solution that I saw, which I doubt worked well, was to put two layers of fabric on top of each other, with the center of one diamond on top of the edge of the other (therefore somewhat difficult to use diamonds).
I've dealt with issues like this a number of times. A similiar issue I had was with my garbage cans. Even though they are not next to the sidewalk, people would walk up to my very neat and organized front yard to throw away wrappers and stuff like that in my cans. It would have been fine except that they didn't separate garbage and recyclables and they would just throw off the lids. My solution was to get new cans with heavy permanently hinged lids and chain the cans to the fence tightly so that the lids don't stay open. After that it was easier to go elsewhere with their garbage instead of using my cans.
I was a BK kid and I climbed many fences to play baseball when I was a teen so take my word on it.
Posted by: victor at May 21, 2007 10:52 AM
GREASE OR TAR FENCE
Posted by: CLAUDE ELDER at May 24, 2007 4:17 PM
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