Recently I agreed to be the chairperson of the On the Fence Committee for the condominium homeowners association where Earl and I live. You might wonder why there’s even a need for such a committee, fences being a rather minor part of the overall association budget.
But after 18 years since the condo development opened, the fences have acquired a lot of baggage. And it’s the committee’s charge to empty those suitcases going forward. It will be a challenge, because even though there are guidelines about the fences in our condo documents, history will note that they’ve not been followed.
We have co-owners with the standard fence recommended by the developer from the start, non-conforming fences that are smaller or larger than the standard, and some co-owners who have no fences at all. There is also the question of who is responsible for maintaining them.
For inspiration, I reread “Mending Wall,” Robert Frost’s poem about two neighbors who meet annually to repair the stone wall between their properties. I thought it might offer some insight into our own fence problem. Instead, it heightened my awareness that fences and walls can be viewed as barriers but still need to be tended. They also deteriorate from weather and various critters. And sometimes they need to be replaced altogether. Or not.
Now I’m ambivalent about my chairperson duties. Before reading Frost, I had a definite idea of what I thought this committee should accomplish. Now I’m not so sure. Suffice to say, the baggage has become heavier.
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