ORDERED:
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MARLBOROUGH, that the code of the City of Marlborough, as amended, Chapter 3, Building Code, be amended by adding the following article and section.
ARTICLE IV
Section 3 – Permits and Regulations
No fence, barrier, wall, plant or hedge wall may be erected, repaired, modified or installed within the City of Marlborough without a permit issued through the Office of the Building Inspector. Application for said permit shall be made with the Building Department on forms prepared and supplied by the Department. The Building Inspector will grant permits upon determination that the type of fence, its location, and other specifications are in full compliance with all provisions of this ordinance and all other City ordinances.
No fence or barrier shall exceed six feet in height, except in the case of manufacturing plants, truck and bus parking lots, school yards, electric transformer installations, commercial storage and auto salvage yards, above ground storage tanks for volatile or hazardous materials, livestock pens and dog kennels, all municipal yards and facilities, road overpasses, ball fields and the like where safety and security considerations shall require a greater height.
Property side line fences and/or barriers running from the street line or sidewalk line into a property shall not exceed three (3) feet in height for a distance of fifteen (15) feet into said properties, except for the same safety and security needs indicated in paragraph 2 above. Within said fifteen (15) feet distance along property sideline, the Building Inspector may further restrict or deny the erection of a fence when its height added to a rise, embankment, wall or ridge along the same sideline would obstruct a clear view up and down the street from any proximate driveway, walkway, or bicycle path entering the street, excepting again those situations where the safety and security requirements of paragraph 2 above shall override the traffic considerations of paragraph three (3).
Fences and/or barriers running erected within fifteen (15) feet of the front property line and/or parallel to same shall be no more than three (3) feet in height and, as with sideline fences within the same fifteen (15) feet distance, must permit the same field of vision along the street from proximate driveways, walkways and bicycle paths entering said street. Safety and security considerations of paragraph two (2) may override traffic considerations of this paragraph as in the case of sideline fences in paragraph three (3).
All lot perimeter fences or barriers shall be set back from property lines a reasonable distance to allow their construction and maintenance without trespass on neighbors property, unless a fence is co-owned by all parties involved and application is made by the several parties collectively. These “party fences” may be erected along property lines as mutually agreed and described in the application form listed with the Building Department.
All living (shrub or bushes) fences or barriers or hedges shall conform to all height restrictions applicable to other fences in this ordinance with regard to the fifteen (15) foot distance from street lines and sidelines.
All barbed wire fences and electric fences shall be clearly marked with hunter orange blazes at intervals of twenty (20) feet. Barbed wire and electric fences shall be permitted and living fences with sharp thorns may be planted only on those properties in RR zoned districts where livestock numbering five or more are actually kept and raised. No type of fence will be allowed in the City on which a person or domesticated animal could become impaled, torn, slashed, mutilated or otherwise grievously injured.
On any lot subject to an easement, the owner or applicant shall procure a release in writing from the holder of the easement and sail release shall be attached to the application for a fence filed with the Building Department. No fence shall be erected that will prevent the use of a right of way which has been established by adverse usage.
The foregoing restrictions on fence heights shall not apply to a fence erected to contain a recreational facility such as baseball backstops, spectator bleachers, tennis courts, archery ranges, swimming pools and like installations.
All fences and living fences existing at the time of this ordinance’s adoption shall be brought into compliance with this ordinance at the time for their replacement, rebuilding or replanting but no later than five years from the date this ordinance became effective.
A fine of $10.00 per day shall be imposed for violators of this ordinance commencing with the 10th day following constructive delivery of a violation notice from the Building Department.
The height restrictions governing fences in this ordinance shall be equally applicable to freestanding walls built in the City after the date this ordinance came into effect. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this ordinance, no wall shall be built or maintained at any time where said wall is capped with broken glass, stone shards, metallic points, or other jagged objects which could do bodily harm to a person or animal coming into contact with same.
The provisions of this ordinance are severable. If any provision of this ordinance shall be found to be contrary to law, then such provision shall not be applied or enforced except to the extent permitted by law, and all other provisions of this ordinance shall remain in full force and effect.
The Public Safety Committee of the City Council on its own initiative or upon application to it by an applicant for a fence permit, after due notice and open hearing, may vary any provisions of this ordinance as it may deem necessary with respect to any particular case when, in its opinion, the enforcement thereof would do manifest injustice or cause undue hardships, provided the decision of the Committee shall not conflict with the spirit of this ordinance. The burden of proof of the manifest hardship of injustice shall be the responsibility of the applicant.
In City Council
Order No. 85-325A
Adopted – Dec. 16, 1985
Approved by Mayor
Kuson J. Haddad
December 26, 1985
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