Dispute over fence divides neighbors in Lancaster subdivision
Stockade along backyard at pond puts neighbors at odds on privacy vs. safety
Good fences — with apologies to poet Robert Frost — don’t always make good neighbors.
A group of residents with children and grandchildren in Lancaster’s Whispering Pines subdivision are up in arms over a neighbor’s new stockade fence.
They say that it is unsafe because it blocks some neighborhood views of a 15-foot-deep retention pond with steep, slippery banks that never completely freezes in winter.
The fence owner, Michael Winiewicz, says that the Town of Lancaster approved the permit to build the 6-foot stockade encircling his backyard and that he and his wife are entitled to their privacy.
“If something should happen to a child in that pond, I am liable,” said Linda Brombos, who along with her husband, John, and more than a dozen other neighbors paid a recent visit to the Town Board, seeking help to get the fence moved, removed or made less opaque.
The Brombos’ property, like that of several other neighbors, extends to the water’s edge and includes a portion of the pond itself.
Winiewicz, whose property also includes a section of the pond, disagrees that he has created a safety problem.
“Before I bought this property, I always intended to put up a fence,” he said.
“I even asked the sales agent if there would be any problems or restrictions and was told, ‘You can do as you please.’ ”
Winiewicz said he worked closely with town officials prior to installing his fence to make certain that it met all municipal codes. At their request, he said, he also included two custom 10- foot-wide gates to allow town access to a drainage easement.
“I built a quality fence,” Winiewicz said.
Fifteen neighbors have hired Buffalo attorney Kevin A. Ricotta to represent them in the fence dispute.
Ricotta said every Whispering Pines resident whose property rings the pond — and in some cases includes portions of it — is legally responsible for the safety of anyone who might tumble into it.
The Town Code states that the Town Board can revoke a permit for the installation of a fence if the board determines that the fence “as proposed to be installed would or could pose a threat to the public health,” Riccota said.
Traditionally the neighbors whose homes surround the pond say they have tried keeping a watchful eye on it so that children chasing frogs or teens horsing around near the water’s edge can be warned away or, if necessary, rescued.
With the installation of the stockade fence, 14 potential pairs of eyes that could be trained on the pond have now been narrowed to eight, and some of those neighbors are rarely home, John Brombos said.
“It’s so slippery, even adults can fall into the pond,” he said.
Recently, he said, a landscaper cutting a neighbor’s grass fell into the pond and had to be rescued by two co-workers.
The Haines family — which has three boys ages 14, 12 and 7 — can no longer see the pond because of Winiewicz’s fence. The mother, Erin Haines, was previously able to look out her patio door to check their whereabouts.
“It seems to me, Mr. Winiewicz has some responsibility as a good neighbor to pay attention to what’s going on on his property,” she said.
By John Brombos’ count, there are at least 21 youngsters in the immediate neighborhood, 12 of whom are younger than 6.
“Kids come walking through here all the time from Aurora Street, too, because it has no sidewalks, and from Pinetree subdivision,” said Rosann Shiesley, the Haines boys’ grandmother.
Brombos said he is puzzled about why the liability and responsibility scenario with the pond should be any different from what it would be for a pool owner. If someone owns a pool, he said, they don’t build a fence that doesn’t include the pool.
Town Supervisor Robert H. Giza said he spent about an hour visiting the pond last week and talking with neighbors about the fence. He has also asked Town Attorney John Dudziak for a legal opinion.
“I don’t like the looks of the fence,” Giza said. “I think it’s kind of ruined the parklike setting there for the neighbors, but I don’t think it’s a safety issue. I can’t say it’s more dangerous.”
