When Is a Fence Important?

If you have a fence in your yard, why is it there? Whether you have a picket fence or a privacy fence, it likely serves a purpose. Does it protect your home and your privacy? Does it keep your pets and children from danger? This question recently came up for a group of residents in an area of Seattle when plans to remove a fence became an issue of controversy.

Since 1945, there has been a fence between the park for which the Madison Park neighborhood is named and the nearby waterfront. Recently, plans were made to remove the fence to provide easier access to the waterfront.

According to officials, this strip of waterfront is a reasonably-sized chunk of the very little waterfront property available to residents and visitors in the area, and they would like to see it open and more easily accessed.

The proposition is driven by a belief that public interests have changed since the fence was erected, and they want the Lake Washington shoreline open for more people.

Many of the area's residents feel differently. Not only do they dislike the idea of their neighborhood becoming a parking lot and being overrun with traffic, they're also concerned about the safety of the children who often play in the park. Waterfront access for others also means easy access to the lake for neighborhood children, a situation many residents deem far too unsafe to allow for the fence to be removed.

The State Parks Department agreed that the fence was originally erected for child safety, leaving residents asking, “What's changed?”