Dear City of Cotati and Cotati City Council,
My name is Kristen Tamayo and my husband and I purchased our home in West Cotati a little over 4 years ago. The purpose of my writing this letter is to weigh in on the proposed code change for an application process to allow for taller fences within the normal setback from the road. I am very much a proponent of this change to allow a possible path forward for residents who find themselves in unique situations and limited by the current code.
To provide a bit of background, I own a home that we purchased back in December of 2021. It had the same owner for over 30 years and one of the improvements that was high on our list was to build a privacy fence. The way our lot is situated, most of our yard is on the side of our house. When we first purchased the home and up until recently, we have only had a short 3 ft picket fence around our yard which does not provide any privacy from vehicle or foot traffic on our road. If we are hanging in our backyard solo or entertaining, everyone from the neighborhood or walking down the street can peer right in and see everything that is going on.
In addition to the obvious reasons that people want privacy in their back yards, we also have 2 daughters and I was never fully comfortable letting them play in the back yard completely unsupervised as we have had pedestrians speak with them from the road, etc. We also have a lab who would bark at any passers-by, much to our neighbor’s dismay. As such, we saved the money to be able to install a 6ft privacy fence with 2 feet of lattice at the top around what we consider to be our back yard.
The fence is set back off the road per the required setbacks but because it falls within 25 feet of the road, we were unable to legally add the lattice to the front due to it being frontage even though it is technically our backyard fence. We still kept the picket fence with room between the two to emphasize an obvious front yard but we were told there is no way to get an exception to add the lattice in the front at this time. So, while the new fence is drastically better than having only a picket fence, it still allows anyone in a tall truck to see into the yard when they drive by.
While I am a believer in rules and regulations for good reason, I think it would be beneficial to add a provision to the code that would at least allow residents to apply for exceptions on a case by case review basis. No two lots or situations are always the same and providing a pathway for people to get things done to their property that could positively impact home value or the overall enjoyability of their property is a huge plus for me. There will be cases where an exception doesn’t make sense or can’t be granted for various reasons, but I trust the city to review each case and make a logical decision.
I truly appreciate your attention in this matter and I’m happy to answer any follow up questions if needed.
Sincerely,
Kristen Parrish Tamayo
707.290.5685
[email protected]
600 W School St. Cotati, CA 94931