Anonymous complaint of Glen Ellen fences causes grief to fire survivors

An anonymous complaint about rebuilt fences along a stretch of Highway 12 destroyed by the 2017 wildfires has triggered county-issued citations, and upset the homeowners who say county officials are giving them the run-around.

“I’m angry, to be quite honest with you,” said Todd O’Donnell. “They are not making it easy to get back to normal. This is just one more road bump. I feel like we’re being bullied by the county.”

O’Donnell lost his Sylvia Drive home in Glen Ellen just off Highway 12 to the 2017 wildfires and his family was the first in his neighborhood to rebuild their house and the fence that surrounded it. It is the fence that is in question and that got him slapped with a citation and multiple fines by the county for not having the proper permit and building the fence too high. Other neighbors in the area are also in the same jam, he said.

Maggie Fleming, spokesperson with Permit Sonoma, said the county is working with O’Donnell and the other neighbors to resolve what the county said are code violations – which vary depending on zoning districts – that include “unallowable heights and distance from the center line of the road.”

“Our staff is committed to working with residents to resolve these code violations,” Fleming said. “Planning staff are available to explain the code if needed. Property owners have options for bringing noncompliant fences into compliance including removing the fence, changing the fence height, or relocating the fence.”

O’Donnell and at least one other neighbor – who asked not to be named – rebuilt their fences in the same style as the fence had been before the fire.

“What we are trying to restore is the same wooden fence” and landscaping as it was before the fire, said the other neighbor.

O’Donnell said he rebuilt the fence at a greater height for “site protection,” to “block out the disaster tourists,” and “block out the sound of” Highway 12. The new 7-foot fence is about 8 inches higher than the original one, which was built in 1979, and had never been the subject of any complaints, he said, until he and neighbors received a code enforcement notice in November, 2018.

That particular segment of Highway 12 has, since 1974, been designated a “Scenic Highway” through California’s Scenic Highway Program, operated through Caltrans and a landscape architecture program. There is a set of criteria a highway must meet to earn the designation, such as having “memorable landscape that showcases the natural beauty or agriculture of California,” and “the amount of natural landscape a traveler sees” from the road, according to Caltrans.

It is through the lens of the Scenic Highway designation, that O’Donnell and his neighbor suspect the complaint was lodged with the county. Both have said they either have replaced landscaping or offered to add more, but the county said that wasn’t enough.

“We had no control over the fires, which exposed the fence. Now we’re being blamed for vegetation being burned,” O’Donnell said.

Both O’Donnell and the other neighbor say they have been told to remedy the solution in various ways, either by completely removing the fence or by moving it to another location on their property, but they have disputed the setback requirements the county is now requiring.

O’Donnell said he’d be willing to meet the County halfway. He said he is willing to trim the height of the fence to the height it was before the fire. He has Google Earth photos of the fence pre-fire to prove that it was there.

O’Donnell said he was told by Permit Sonoma officials to file an application with new fence plans and pay the permit fees. He was granted an extension by the county following the death of a family member who lived with him and was partial owner of the property.

“Moving back to our rebuilt home hasn’t been such a great experience,” he said.

Sonoma County has jurisdiction over this segment of Highway 12 while the City of Santa Rosa manages more western sections of the road, specifically by Oakmont where fences are of varying heights.

Email Anne at anne.ernst@sonomanews.com.