Martin: they said something about a pipe that goes into the asphalt. They were
supposed to deal with all this stuff, I just had to deal with the variance portion. I have
two children with autism in their teenage years. One already broke their arm climbing
the chain-link fence. I have disabled placards from the DMV. They tend to elope. He
lacks special awareness, so the main thing is to have something they can’t climb or
see over. It isn’t about privacy; it is about safety. I understand the City’s standpoint
about having it a certain height. My neighbors both agreed, they help look out for my
boys. I’m not sure on the specs of the fence itself. I have the specs they gave me; I
can forward that. I wrote down some different reasons: 1) safety of my autistic children
2) barrier to prevent wandering 3) handicap accessibility due to the eloping tendency.
They’re so trusting they would go with someone, no question. 4) I love St. Paul, but my
neighborhood isn’t the greatest. We’ve had a lot of theft. People fighting in the yard.
The bus stop brings a lot of people. I’ve had to call St. Paul Police Department a few
times. I can’t stress enough how it is all about safety. We have chain link fence now, it
is 4’ high, and my older son is cognitively around six decided to climb and broke his
arm. Had a titanium rod and 7 screws put in. 5) both the neighbors have tall trees in
the area where you back out of the driveway, so there’s already a visibility issue due to
bushes on each side. I can’t imagine a fence making much of a difference. I’ll be
taking those out to put this fence in, they’re 12’ tall. The Pins were checked and the
fence there now is quite inside my property line, so I found those bushes were mine. 6)
street racing on our street. We’ve had people’s cars in our yard. 7) they have therapy
dogs and I’ve had to lock them away because the dogs can’t go in the front yard. It is
all just safety. We’re requesting the six feet around the house, and they’ll remove the
current fence.
Moermond: what is the existing fence like?
Martin: it is 4 feet. It doesn’t extend to the front. The new fence would have the same
footprint on that side. They have small kids as well, so they were excited about it. It’s
the backyard and part of the side yard.
Bruhn: the once fence would be the neighbor’s north back yard?
Martin: yes, part of their backyard.
Bruhn: and you feel it is necessary to encapsulate the entire yard?
Martin: for my kids, yes. There are so many things I worry about with their disability.
This fence has been approved by the CADI waiver service; they’ve deemed it
necessary for my boys.
Bruhn: I can only authorize variances because of three very limited reasons. I do have
concerns about access for emergency vehicles. That being said if it was approved by
Council we wouldn’t be opposed.
Moermond: I do have concerns about the barricade/fortress nature of it. I understand
the immediate neighbors may be ok. Future neighbors? If we could say it only applies
for you, while you live there, with your children’s needs it would be a different
conversation. Do you have, or have you looked into a security system with an alarm
that is triggered if the front door is opened?
Martin: we have that. it just happens in an instance. They’re bigger than me. They’re
strong kids, they just aren’t cognitively there. It isn’t something they will ever grow out
of. They are so tall and so big they could be gone in a second.
Moermond: what about an alarm code that goes off if a pin isn’t entered, that could be