2 Glendale Councilmen Drop Out of Debate on Frontyard Fence Ban

The Glendale City Council on Tuesday postponed making a decision on whether to uphold its almost 80-year-old ban on frontyard fences.

Two council members who have fences said they would abstain Tuesday because of a possible perception of conflict, and the council decided to wait until all five members could vote on the matter.

Mayor Guz Gomez and Councilman Bob Yousefian recused themselves, citing the potential appearance of a conflict of interest. Yousefian, who lives at his parents’ home, said he would take their fence down this weekend and would vote on the fencing ordinance in the future.

“As soon as possible, I will eliminate that conflict of interest,” said Yousefian, who promised voters last fall that he would support the fence ban.

City staffers are still trying to determine whether Gomez’s fence is illegal, or if it could qualify for a variance. When the mayor bought his home five years ago, the fence and a retaining wall were already in place.

Of the 64,000 parcels in the city, Glendale officials have identified about 1,500 with walls or fences that could be considered illegal. The law was written in 1922 as part of the city’s General Plan. Supporters of the law say it preserves the city’s green areas and gives the community a more open feeling.

A moratorium on enforcement of the law issued in 1999 remain in effect.

“Personally, I think it’s a good law resulting in a quality of life in our community other communities don’t enjoy,” said Sam Engel, a neighborhood services administrator who oversees enforcement of Glendale’s municipal code, including the fence law.

Of the about 300 municipal code violations logged in Glendale every month, only five or six involve walls or fences, Engel said.

Most violations are criminal misdemeanors, although no one has ever been sentenced to jail for having a fence in their frontyard, Engel said. Only about 3% of cases are sent to the city attorney for prosecution.

The city has grown increasingly divided on the ban, but most of Glendale’s 191,000 residents seem to favor it, officials said.