By Amira Van Leeuwen
KYLE — For the last seven years, Kyle resident Jose Mendez has looked out his French doors while sipping his cup of coffee, but now his view is obstructed by barbed wire fencing peeking out above his picket fence.
Contributed Photo
Barbed wire fencing outside a Waterleaf Falls backyard fence.
In response to concerns raised at the meeting on Dec. 6, city council directed staff to work with Waterleaf Falls residents to replace the back panel of fencing that touches the city’s metal wire fencing near the wastewater treatment facility adjacent to multiple residents’ backyards.
“City council and staff are working with the Waterleaf HOA and residents to ensure that the quality of life and home values of the residents are minimally affected by the fencing around the wastewater treatment plant, while also ensuring that this vital piece of public infrastructure is secure,” said Rachel Sonnier, the city’s director of communications. “Thank you to the residents that brought this issue forward and worked with council and staff to find a solution.”
Councilmember Miguel Zuniga wanted to see if there was a way to reimburse the replacement of the backside pickets for the residents so the city could set a good example of being a good neighbor. He suggested reimbursing residents for the 8-foot pickets to replace the 6-foot pickets so they don’t have to see the barbed wire.
“It does impact their quality of life, not to mention possibly their market resale value,” Zuniga said.
Mendez described the wire fencing as “unsightly.”
“Per our HOA agreement in Waterleaf Falls, I can’t even have a basketball goal that’s being seen from the roadway,” Mendez said. “However, when I turn onto my road, that’s the first thing I see, is the beginning of a prison yard.”
Tracy Scheel, president of the Waterleaf Falls Homeowner Association, also voiced her concerns about the wire fencing.
“I am well aware of security and such, however, they [the fencing]are pretty tall and pretty unsightly in regards to razor wire behind your house. When they built these houses, and they had this around the original wastewater treatment plant they may have had a fence, but there was no razor wire,” Scheel said. “So they look like they’re backing onto, to be quite honest, a prison.”
Scheel noted that some homeowners and the HOA were not notified about the installation of the metal fencing.
“I know it’s really not something that you have to do, but it’s common courtesy when you’re going to put something up against somebody’s fence that you let them know that that’s gonna happen,” Scheel said.
Councilmember Daniela Parsley questioned whether the fencing was temporary or permanent.
Public Works director Harper Wilder said the fencing was permanent and that they would like to keep the 8-foot fencing to have a form of “deterrent.”
“As operators, you always go with the caution, and you want to make your facility as secure as possible. So, that’s my vote,” Wilder said. “But, if you all choose to change that or you want to just do an 8-[foot]fence, then we abide by that. We’ll do whatever’s asked of us.”
Zuniga said he was glad that progress was made between residents and the city in finding a good outcome for the fence disturbance behind residents’ property.
“I look forward to seeing more of this collaboration within our community,” Zuniga said.
