A Phoenix subcommittee has approved changes to the city’s fencing ordinance regarding golf courses and the proposal now will head to a full council vote.
The proposed ordinance would require owners of closed golf courses to submit to the city a landscape plan for their course and obtain a use permit before putting up any temporary fencing. Fencing would need to be 50 feet from the perimeter and no razor wire would be allowed near residential areas. By right, a property owner could fence in any safety hazards like water or sand traps.
The ordinance that was approved by the subcommittee allows a zoning hearing officer to be flexible on the 50-foot setback.
The ordinance change will be voted on by the full city council on June 4.
The idea for the change came from City Councilman Sal DiCiccio after the owners of the closed Lakes Golf Course in his district put up a fence overnight too close to residential areas.
“The idea of putting razor wire in a neighborhood doesn’t make sense,” he said. “This takes the razor wire off and still allows fencing to occur.”
DiCiccio said he was proud of the new ordinance, which doesn’t prevent any golf course owner from closing their course or putting up a temporary fence, but just increases the transparency between the golf course and the neighborhood.
“It doesn’t prevent anyone from closing the course at all,” he said. “It doesn’t prevent anyone from doing construction work. It sets in place the ability that anything has an extreme hazard, gets fenced off, they’re allowed to do that, it allows zoning hearing officers an incredible amount of latitude to adjust to each situation individually … I want to commend staff for all the work they’ve done on it.”
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