https://www.google.com/maps/@36.2026051,-115.0279903,3a,75y,74.1h,105.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sL-gXAO4lbdBnW0L5XVM8lw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu
See for your own bad self
Posted on 06/13/2024 7:06:10 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
City officials threatened to cut utilities to home ahead of Fiesta party.
For months, an arguably 8-foot to 11-foot fence centered in the Oak Park-Northwood neighborhood on the Northeast Side of San Antonio has been embroiled in community controversy. Now, when city staffers sought to shut off water and utilities just before the homeowner at the root of the drama was set to throw a Fiesta party, the city and homeowner sued each other. Each say the other is being unreasonable.
The Oak Park-Northwood neighborhood is in a tizzy after the relatively new owner of a property on Country Lane erected a tall, stone privacy fence around their home. City ordinance limits front fences in the neighborhood to 3 feet and side and back fences to 6 feet. However, city staffers say the fence climbs to 8 feet in the front and up to 11 feet in areas along the side and back.
When city staffers caught wind of the fence, they inspected it sometime in early March and issued a stop work order. Well, the homeowner, registered as Moonstar Adventures LLC, kept up the work anyway, says the city. So, city officials began issuing citations nearly every day, totaling upwards of 30 tickets that range in price from $500 to $1,000 says Moonstar Adventure’s attorney R. Javier Guerra.
Eventually, sometime in April, city staff had enough and threatened to cut off utilities to the home. In court documents obtained by MySA, the city cites public safety concern since the fence didn’t have an engineer’s letter addressing design and construction of the fence, bracing mechanics, foundation type, and more. This threat to cut power posed two problems for the property owner: They had plans to have a big Fiesta party just days after the notice, and one of the property owner’s daughters recently had cranial surgery, according to court documents.
“One of the residents at … Moonstar is involved in Fiesta and has planned a large party in the Courtyard of the Home on April 26, 2024,” Guerra’s countersuit against the city reads. “As mentioned previously, another resident underwent cranial surgery and is on post-surgery bed rest as well as suffering from anxiety and fear related to the diagnosis, prognosis and possible requirement of additional surgical intervention. Despite all of this and there being absolutely NO THREAT to any of the citizens of San Antonio, The City wants to cut all utilities to force the residents to leave the home.”
The city says the fence presented a danger to the hundred or so attendees slated to arrive at the Fiesta party, citing the lack of engineer’s letter.
Both the property owner and city staff are sticking to their guns. The city is suing Moonstar Adventures LLC to have the fence cut down to come into code compliance, and the property owner is seeking between $100,000 and $250,000 in damages. Further, Moonstar Adventures argues the definition of their wall as a “fence” should be reconsidered by the court.
The property owner in question sought a variance from the San Antonio Zoning Board of Adjustments earlier this month, notably after erecting their towering “fortress” wall in violation of their permit, but the board opted not to approve the variance. So, pending a judgement, Moonstar Adventures may have to cut down their fence upwards of 5 to 6 feet.
It’s not just the civil actions that lend to the drama surrounding the fence. The local community has been up in arms over the fence, saying it ruins the “atmosphere” of the neighborhood and comparing it to a prison fence. Among the vocal opponents to the fence is Jeff Wentworth, a well-known attorney, justice of the peace, and former Texas senator.
“What was formerly for decades a normal residence on a quiet, tree-lined street in Northwood has been converted to a military-style Mexican drug cartel compound-looking installation. Or a state prison,” Wentworth and his wife, Karleen, wrote in a public letter. “Or an industrial commercial operation of some kind. With a very high masonry wall that completely surrounds the entire property off Country Lane. Not a normal residence that naturally fits in the neighborhood. Completely alters the essential character of Country Lane and Northwood.”
Wentworth lives across the street from the property owner – a single mother who lives with two daughters. Guerra says his client has been repeatedly harassed by neighbors, noting one neighbor continuously sat in their front lawn and snapped photos of the fence and front of the homeowner’s property.
Neighbors argue the fence violates city ordinance, alters the atmosphere of the neighborhood where crime is uncommon, and expressed upset that the property owner moved on the construction both without permission and well after city officials told her to cease work. Guerra, however, says this is a matter of safety, and he says the whole ordeal has caused much stress for the mother of two.
“I will tell you that this has been very stressful for her,” Guerra told MySA. “They’re good people. I mean these aren’t like bad people from out of town… They’ve lived here forever… So, yes, this has been very stressful because nobody wants to have to hire a lawyer. All she wanted to do was put a fence around her property and make it safe and feel safer.”
I’m thinking on a local and national level...double-standard politicians, the invasion at the border, the lawlessness of big cities, the wack jobs stabbing babies at the supermarket.
Pandemonium should not be the norm, but we are rapidly getting there.
It’s amazing how high deer can jump if they want to get over a fence.
{Just sayin’...]
Move away from ‘Rat controlled Urban Utopias...
In which case we have his permission to harvest because he can not, by law, put them back in.
I have taken some tasty deer before but his are really a cut above.
And this is why there is a top on our garden. Also because we let the chickens run around in there and that keeps the hawks away.
Ah, okay. I guess to defer to comment is to be...or, at another time, not to be.
You are correct.
and Joe Biden's Delaware Beach House. We paid for the wall. biden-builds-taxpayer-funded-wall around delaware-beach-house-despite-opposing-border-barriers
Sorry, Mene. I’m dealing with health issues and admittedly not as sharp as I used to be.
I usually understand replies, but I didn’t understand yours. Caught the Hamlet reference, but the rest did not compute.
Can you help me understand?
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.2026051,-115.0279903,3a,75y,74.1h,105.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sL-gXAO4lbdBnW0L5XVM8lw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu
See for your own bad self
If it is a max of only 3 feet, why even bother having a fence?!
Small dogs and toddlers could be restrained .
..
Would it be the same for cyclone fences?
They don’t obstruct the view...
That is quite an impressive wall. It looks properly constructed and very adequately braced. That wall in San Antonio is certainly not made to code and should come down.
Does build it and they will come apply here?
That sounds like a more efficient way to do it but that’s not what I’ve seen. Saw it up close at our residence when I lived in Taiwan way back. Broken bottle glass shards mortared in on top of a brick wall.
The law regulates fences and says nothing about walls.
Whether it’s a wall or a fence, it is probably unstable and should probably come down. One aspect of the story not yet mentioned is that the city is way out of bounds in threatening to cut off water and electricity because of this issue.
I won’t comment, or, maybe I will...
In the 50s and 60s as a kid I saw this all over in Mexico along with burglar bars, it was embedded glass shards I saw as well, nasty looking, that and the window bars on homes were mysterious and ominous to a 1950s American boy, little did I know those people would be taking over America a few years later.
Some in the Turtle Creek area do as well, but they look nicer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.