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Vote orders clutter-free fences
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Temporary fences surrounding Scottsdale construction sites must now be screened and free of political campaign signs and barbed wire.
The Scottsdale City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to amend its zoning ordinance to provide a more aesthetically pleasing look surrounding construction sites and vacant lots.
The biggest change is the requirement that any portion of the chain-link fence visible from the street must include a partially transparent fabric or vinyl screening. In the environmentally sensitive lands area — north and east of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard — the fence must be a dark green or dark brown color.
On a vacant site or around a vacant building, the fences can be no higher than 3 feet and may include posts to keep people or cars off the property.
According to the new ordinance, the screening itself must be kept in a “neat and undamaged condition.” Building or code enforcement inspectors will enforce the new rules, Assistant City Manager Ed Gawf said.
Frank Gray, Scottsdale planning general manager, said the new regulations were brought forward last year by the Planning Commission, which was noticing that some construction fences were not maintained and falling down.
“The fences were becoming an eyesore to the community,” Gray said.
The ban on political signs on private-property construction fences comes as the council prepares to vote in two weeks whether to ban temporary signs, including political ones, from all public rights of way.
While political signs on the fences will be banned, the new rules do allow conceptual images of the proposed project to be posted, along with safety signs and contact names and numbers of the construction company. The council was shown the construction fence for Safari Drive condominiums in downtown Scottsdale, which has drawings of what will rise beyond the fence.
“I’d rather look at that site up there than a bunch of beige that goes on forever,” Councilwoman Betty Drake said.
Fences will not be required for projects that will be completed in less than three weeks, if the total area is less than 5,000 square feet, or for improvements to a single-family home.
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