07/12/76 Board of Public Works Minutes

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35� REGULAR MEETING JULY 12, 1976 A regular meeting of the Board of Public Works was convened at 9:30 a.m, on Monday, July 12, 1976 by President Rollin Farrand. with Mr. Farrand, 11r. Brunner and Mr. Mullen present. Deputy City Attorney Georgia Luks was also present. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING APPROVED Mr. Brunner reported that the minutes of the meeting.of July 6 had been reviewed and he made a motion that they be approved as submitted. Mr. Farrand seconded the motion and it carried. HEARING ON FENCE ENCROACHMENT AT 807 NORTH OLIVE Mr. Farrand advised the Board that the matter of a fence encroaching on the city right-of-way at 807 N.,Olive Street was before the Board last fall. At that time, the Attorney for the petitioner submitted to the Board pictures of other alleged violations and asked that the Board allow the fence to remain. Mr. Farrand then noted that he had recommended to the Board on June 28, 1976 that the property owner, Benedict Leyba, and his Attorney, Jack C. Dunfee, Jr., be notified that the matter would be publicly discussed at the meeting today. Mr. Farrand reviewed the previous actions on this matter and said that the Board of Public Works had determined that there was an encroachment on the public right-of-way at 807 N. Olive Street and concurred with a complaint that the fence did restrict sight distance and impose a safety hazard at the intersection of Olive and Prast. Mr. Dunfee, Attorney for the: owner, had called the attention of the Board to other sites in the City where the same kind of encroachment was alleged to exist and the Board took: the matter.under advisement to investigate the charges. The City did investigate many of the sites pictured in Mr. Dunfee's petition and has determined that, in large part, these are sites where the property owner is, in fact, on his own property. Mr. Farrand said the City has sent seven letters to property owners with encroachment situations like this one asking them to remove encroachments. Mr. Farrand then noted that Attorney Jack Dunfee was present. Mr. Dunfee introduced himself and said that Mr. Benedict Leyba, owner of the property at 807 N. Olive, was also present. Mr. Dunfee said this matter was brought up in September, 1975. There was one complaint regarding the fence encroach- ing on the public right-of-way. Mr. Farrand wrote a letter to Mr. Leyba asking him to remove the fence. Mr. Leyba then retained Mr. Dunfee to represent him in this matter. Mr. Dunfee filed a petition with the Board on October 30, 1975 asking that the fence be allowed to remain and said it was his understanding that no action was taken on his petition pending further investigation. Mr. Dunfee said there is no indication that this fence is a_traff_ic problem. He said there are other such fences on the public right-of-way and he had assumed that the City would take a position on all such matters and a decision would be made. Mr. Dunfee said, to his knowledge, there is no one complaining about the fence now. The fence has been up for ten months and there have been no accidents. He said.there is no evidence that there is a safety hazard caused by the fence. Mr. Dunfee called the Board's attention to the fence constructed at Central High School, at the corner of William and Washington, which also extends out to the sidewalk line and asked if that fence was a safety hazard and why it has not been ordered removed. Mr. Dunfee told the Board that he had spent one hour driving around the City and had taken photographs of many fences and hedges on the right-of-way and up to the sidewalk line in various locations around the City. He said those photographs were submitted to the Board. Mr. Dunfee said there are only two reasons to order the fence removed; (1) if it is a safety hazard and (2) if it encroaches on the:City right-of-way. Mr. Dunfee said, if the City takes that position, it will have to order all fences, hedges, trees, etc. from parkways all over the City. Mr. Farrand said a permit from the Park Department is required both to plant or remove trees and shrubs from the parkway. Mr. Dunfee said he knows this is not done by most property owners. Mr. Farrand said the fact that it is not done 1 1