News

Jun 03, 2023

We spent $10,000 on expensive privacy fences

HOMEOWNERS had spoken out in frustration after natural resource officials installed a wire fence right behind their more expensive fences. The Papio Natural Resources District put up wire fences along

HOMEOWNERS had spoken out in frustration after natural resource officials installed a wire fence right behind their more expensive fences.

The Papio Natural Resources District put up wire fences along the homes of West Omaha residents in Nebraska to enclose a silt collection basin that officials built nearby.

“You could climb right over it, you could jump over it,” homeowner Wally Pasko told local NBC affiliate WOWT in September 2020.

Pasko's $10,000 aluminum fence stood barely six feet away from the cheap wire fence.

“It’s not very wide it’s going to be difficult to maintain. I have no idea what it’ll look like in six months but right now it makes no sense whatsoever,” Pasko said.

Papio NRD general manager John Winkler explained why the fence was installed.

He said the fence identifies property boundaries and provides liability protection for taxpayers.

Additionally, Winkler said the federal permit for the project they are working on requires fencing.

“It looks like something that should be on the farm,” said Kim Morman, another homeowner.

Morman added: "It doesn’t look like a fence that even should be behind these homes. If they’re going to do a fence at least put something up that would be appropriate."

A wood fence would have been a better fit, according to the Homeowner’s Association president of the neighborhood.

Homeowner Kathy Pasko said: “We already have nice fencing and landscaping and we don’t need this."

The NRD argued that the wire fence was the best option for their budget.

They also made it clear that the Homeowner's Association was notified of the fence weeks before this dispute.

The basin that the fence surrounds starts out like a lake, but the area will later become a wetland.

Its primary purpose is to collect sediment to prevent it from clogging Lake Zorinksy, which is a few miles downstream.