Facing security concerns from homeowners adjacent to Kenwood Park and also the Fayette County Recreation Commission, the Fayette County Board of Commissioners voted last week to install fencing in certain areas of the park including an electronic gate at the entrance and exit.
At a previous meeting the commission was told that county marshals have seen problems with people using the park after hours, necessitating the need for the security gate such as the one used at Lake Horton, for example.
The fencing meanwhile was requested by several residents who wanted to delineate where the park ends and where their property begins. In one such case, the fencing will protect the public from having access to a privately-owned pond.
The fencing will be erected along a portion of the walking trail at Kenwood Park. The total cost for the fencing and the gates is anticipated to be $40,000.
County Administrator Jack Krakeel said it could cost the county an extra $12,000 a year to manually open the gates because it would create a need for overtime in the County Marshal’s office. The marshal’s office is in charge of security at county facilities including parks, among other duties.
Krakeel said that the marshal’s office indicated it would not be feasible to change deputy marshal’s schedules to accommodate the opening of the park in the mornings.
To save money the county is using a fencing company it already has a contract with to fence the mitigation sites acquired for the construction of Lake McIntosh, Krakeel said. The fencing is anticipated to cost about $15,000 and the gates about $25,000.
The county is looking into the possibility of using a solar-powered gate system, but is undecided so far depending on the projected lifespan of the solar panels, Krakeel said.
The fencing along the properties would be 4-foot-tall hogwire, and fencing along the entry way to prevent vehicles from going around the gates would be a 6-foot-tall black vinyl chain link fence.
Commissioner Eric Maxwell recommended that the county use landscaping to help screen the view of the 6-foot fence at the entrance, though he hates to put in the gates and fencing because the park entrance looks very nice without them. Regardless, Maxwell said he would vote for the fencing and gates because he thought the case was made that both were needed.
