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Battle against city ordinance bears fruit By BUFFY POLLOCK CENTRAL POINT - A family's successful battle against a 20-year-old fence ordinance is prompting the City Council and staff to reconsider the ordinance's limitations. Windy and Richard Middleton's plans to build a 6-foot fence at a smaller setback than the current ordinance allows was approved Thursday after a three-part fight that included a planning commission denial in June and a continuance by council earlier this month. "My concern is just about this thing setting a precedent," said council member Donna Higginbotham, the only council member to vote against the variance request. But City Administrator Jim Bennett explained, "A variance approval has little risk of setting a precedent because it's just that - a variance." The Middletons' 6-foot fence will be built about 4.5 feet from their property line. The current ordinance, written in 1982, requires a 20-foot setback on 6-foot fences. The Middletons argued such a setback would have eliminated usability of much of their yard. Property owners who install a 42-inch fence are not required to have any setback from property lines, but the Middletons cited safety and privacy reasons for the taller fence. Fence variance requests have caused city staff so much work that the city increased the fee from $200 to $400 on July 1. The Middletons said they were not informed of fence requirements for corner lots when they purchased their land in Central Point East four years ago. "The regular setback would've been up to the corner of their house and would've cut the yard down tremendously," said Councilman Dick Halley. "Were going to have to go back to the drawing board considering corner lots and also make developers be more forward with purchasers of corner lots." Planning department staff is researching fence ordinances for other cities in order to effectively review the Central Point ordinance. "It's not just the issue of my fence. We're here about the bigger picture. We think this thing could use some flexibility," said Richard Middleton. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.