While

residents of a Fayetteville subdivision continue

to look for ways around the city's ordinance

banning fences in some of their back yards, Mike

DeLisle of McIntosh Woods subdivision says he

sees the issue from the other side of the fence.

"We're

looking with concern," DeLisle told City

Council during its work session last week,

speaking for the McIntosh Woods Homeowners'

Association.

Residents

of Stonebriar subdivision at Lester and Old

Norton Roads have made several trips to City Hall

seeking relief from an ordinance that prohibits

privacy fences in front yards, and defines front

yards to include those facing any street or road.

Several

lots in Stonebriar face a subdivision street,

Verdon Hills, but their back yards also are next

to Lester or Old Norton. According to city law,

their back yards are front yards.

The

result creates a safety hazard, residents have

argued, because there's no fence to separate

traffic from their children's play areas.

At

City Council's suggestion, neighbors are working

to come up with covenants that can be enforced by

the homeowners' association to assure that fences

will be uniform in appearance, will be maintained

and will have a buffer of vegetation so they

can't be seen as much from the road.

In

two subdivisions next to his, DeLisle said,

fences on similar "double frontage"

lots were built years ago and are now beginning

to age and become eyesores. "It looks very

poor," he said.

He

agreed with the city's plan to require a

landscaped buffer in Stonebriar, but added that

the city should make that requirement part of its

regulations.

"It

ought to be done when the developer comes in with

the plat," he said, "not left to the

homeowners' association."

"That's

good input," said Mayor Mike Wheat. City

officials will continue to ponder the issue, he

promised.