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| Updated: 10/18/2011 9:51 pm |
Published: 10/18/2011 8:24 pm |
SHERWOOD, AR - People living in the Austin Lakes on the Bay subdivision in Sherwood are upset the mayor tore down a barrier fence between their neighborhood and the Park Crest Apartment complex.
Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman says the fence wasn't well-maintained and needed to come down, but the Austin Lakes neighbors say the fence needs to be replaced.
Chad Poland lives in Austin Lakes on the Bay, a block from the fence separating the Park Crest Apartment complex from his neighborhood. He says tearing down the fence isn't safe. "Leaving it in the condition it's in right now, my 6-year-old kid or any other kid could walk over there and get a rusted nail in their foot." Mayor Hillman says the fence is on city property on a sewer main, and needed to come down for security reasons.
On Saturday, October 15th, Mayor Hillman along with volunteers tore the fence down, upsetting Poland and his neighbors at Austin Lakes. "We spent our time, our money as a neighborhood to keep the fence maintained. The Park Crest Apartment residents damaged their own fence, which fell onto our fence. There's a police report, and Mayor Hillman knows about it. A car crashed into the fence and damaged a support beam. Other than that, the fence was completely intact."
Park Crest Apartments put up their own fence at the end of August because a city ordinance requires separation between multi-family dwellings and single family residences.
Poland says the mayor told the volunteers who helped tear down the Austin Lakes fence they could have the lumber. "How can you give away something that doesn't belong to you? The residents of the neighborhood paid for that lumber, and that lumber belongs to us."
People living at Austin Lakes say they either want their money back, or want the city to rebuild the fence. They say they need the fence for protection. Poland and his neighbors say they've taken their concerns to the city council, but they say they don't feel like they're being heard. They say they've had problems with the residents at the Park Crest Apartments with gun shots and garbage thrown over on to their property. Neighbors at Austin Lakes say they need their own fence for safety.
