by Timothy Rutt
Don't worry: your front yard fence is probably OK.
Sussy Nemer, field deputy for County Supv. Michael D. Antonovich, said Monday that the county is not trolling Altadena for fences that violate county codes — even though many of them do.
Last week, the Altadena Town Council shared the contents of a letter from Antonovich requesting that regional planning not enforce a rule limiting the height of front yard fences, hedges, and walls in Altadena. Fences that violate the height codes require a conditional use permit (CUP) which would cost at least $8,000. But that's only in Altadena.
Accoding to Nemer, it's Altadenans who got themselves in this mess: Altadena is unique among unincorporated county towns in requiring a CUP for non-conforming fences, as opposed to a yard modification. "In every other community, a front yard modification costs $800," Nemer said.
The culprit is Altadena's community standards district, which was last modified in the 1990's, that put in the CUP requirement for fences. Nemer said. "There are a lot of things [that require a CUP] in Altadena that don't require a CUP anywhere else in the county," she said.
What started the Altadena fence dust-up was the old culprit, the complaining neighbor. A complaint was filed with regional planning about a front yard wall that violated county codes — and the owner of the property responded by drawing up a list of approximately 2,000 addresses that also had nonconforming walls and fences.
That's where they got the list, she said, not from inspectors driving through town, collecting violations.
So what's the answer to this problem? Nemer says that the county has hired a contractor to solicit public input on a new community standards district for Altadena, with work to begin after the first of the year. Handling a noncomforming fence or wall could be as difficult as CUP, as easy as a yard modification, or the height requirement could be modified completely, Nemer said.
In the meantime, Antonovich has asked regional planners to put a moratorium on enforcing this rule. "Please don't enforce it, please wait until we hear from the community," Nemer said. "Our thought is, most people don't know [about the rule]."
UPDATE: Sussy Nemer e-mailed to correct that the fees for a yard modification were raised last year, so the current cost is actually $1,260, not $800.
