Fences, neighbors and the historic Quapaw Quarter

Arkansas history Fences, neighbors and the historic Quapaw Quarter Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Sep 27, 2013 at 6:47 AM A Tweet from Gabe Holmstrom last night alerts me to the final chapter of a long-running battle over fences in the historic Governor's Mansion neighborhood of the Quapaw Quarter.

Holmstrom said he won a 5-1 vote of the Capitol Zoning District Commission for approval of a fence he built higher than the normal 40-inch limit at his house on Louisiana Street. (He wanted a 48-inch fence to contain a dog.) He figured he'd found a way around the limit by putting a period iron fence on top of a concrete foundation. The planners didn't much like the foundation. The commission's design and neighborhood committees split against and for by divided votes.

Then came a compromise. Holmstrom proposed removing 19 feet of the fence in the front of the house and keeping the rest on the side. Deal done last night.

Here's a complete rundown, including schematic drawing, of this particular fence saga.

That account doesn't begin to tell the whole fence story. Of how Holmstrom and another Quapaw Quarter resident on Scott Street who exceeded the fence limit had been unable to get variances from the Zoning Commission, a state-created agency that oversees zoning around the Capitol and Governor's Mansion. Of how Holmstrom, chief of staff in the Arkansas House, got Mena RepublicanRep. Nate Bell to introduce legislation to abolish the Capitol Zoning District Commission to apply pressure for the fence variances. Of how the Commission held many hearings and discussed fence rules at length. Of how the agency and its fence height rule survived. Here's one of the many previous chapters.

Tags: Capitol Zoning District, Gabe Holmstrom, fences, Arkansas history, Image

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Fences, neighbors and the historic Quapaw Quarter