Strathcona County and homeowner face off over fence

A Sherwood Park homeowner has been told her 30-year-old fence is on municipal property and has to be moved.

Monica Bradley has been told by Strathcona County to move her fence back more than 2 metres along the property line. It’s been there for almost 30 years, several different homeowners, and Bradley says this is the first complaint she’s received about it.

She purchased the property for its large yard and trees, but the , but Bradley could soon lose some of the things she loves most about her home.

The County says her fence, which was built almost thirty years ago, is on municipal property, and must be moved by 2.13 metres, which means she could lose more than 90 square metres of property and landscaping.

"All the gardens are going to have to be taken out," says Bradley.

She bought the home from David Hannon, who lived there with his wife for 27 years. The fence was there when they moved in.

We "bought this in good faith from RBC as a repossession, and it was approved by the county," reveals Hannon, who was as shocked as Bradley to find out the property report shows the fence is encroaching on civic land. Neither owner expected the County to ask that the fence be shifted.

"I don't know why it took 27 years to think there's something wrong," says Hannon.
The homeowners say the County put in new wider sidewalks here about five years ago, but that nothing was said about the fence or property line issues at that time.

Bradley wonders why the County feels it needs the fence moved now.

"The County should be watching the permits and making sure people are doing their due diligence putting up these structures, after the fact is kind of useless."

Strathcona County says the original owner of the home built the fence without a permit. Staff didn’t realize the fence was encroaching on public land until the new homeowners submitted a real property report to get a certificate of compliance from the County.

“Upon reviewing the Real Property Report accompanying the Owners request respecting compliance, the fence was shown to encroach onto the public road right of way,” explains Larry Lunseth, Manager of Land Management Services with Strathcona County.

“A review of the encroachment with Strathcona County traffic experts is to have the fence removed from the road right of way and relocated back to within their property line. This is in direct relation to the safety of the intersection for both vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The fence as currently situated, poses a view obstruction within the sightline triangle for not only the residents, but also for pedestrians and vehicular users of Main Boulevard. Strathcona County is made aware of these types of encroachments through a review of the Real Property Reports as part of the compliance process.”

County staff then visited the area, and believed the fence to be a view obstruction for traffic and pedestrians. However, they’re now agreeing to take another look.

"If there's any room for compromise we're open to it,” says Stacey Fedechko, with Strathcona County. “We just can't, if it’s a public safety issue, we definitely need to address it and have fence pinched back to property line."

Bradley doesn’t believe it’s a safety issue.

“There's no obstruction here. There have been no accidents at this intersection.”
She hopes compromise is still possible, but is warning other prospective homeowners to carefully check property lines before they sign on the dotted line.

"If they're not aware of it, they are going to end up where we are today, losing a ton of property and there's nothing we can do."

Strathcona County has particular bylaws when it comes to fencing. Visit its website to find out more.

With files from Julie Matthews

Below, is a brochure provided by Strathcona County relating to fence building and permits:

Strathcona County fence information