During Monday’s meeting, council approved to have municipal staff look into potential amendments to the current fence by-law and return a report back to council by the end of 2021.
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Council is set to discuss a report regarding by-law options for preventing residents from erecting "spite" fences.
The city's councillors agreed to receive the report that would assess by-law options in prohibiting the fences at a November 9 meeting.
After nearly a year, Ward 2 Councillor Trevor Thompson says he's frustrated with the report's outcome.
"When the motion initially passed, I was inundated with people across the municipality dealing with these sort of issues and having absolutely no recourse," said Coun. Thompson. "We waited almost a year to get a report back that basically said 'Oh well,' and I think it was very frustrating to everyone who I had spoken to."
A spite fence, according to the report, is a fence built with malicious intent to obstruct a neighbour's light, air or view, and serves no useful purpose to the landowner.
According to the report, those types of fence laws are common in the United States, where they are deemed a private nuisance, but not in Canada.
"Chatham-Kent does not have a private nuisance system, but would rely on a municipal staff member or committee to make a determination under by-law about whether the fence was constructed out of spite," the report read. "It would be very difficult, if not impossible for a staff member or committee to assess the property owner’s intention in the construction of the fence."
Chatham-Kent's fence by-law currently regulates such things as height of fence, location of fences in visibility triangles, type of fences, and the materials they may be constructed from. However, it does not address that a fence cannot be built out of spite or for an illegitimate purpose.
Councillor Thompson said he wants there to be more specific language that discourages spite fences and hopes other councillors will agree.
"If we can't have a spite fence by-law, we could strengthen our current by-law to take some of these considerations in place," he said. "People should have the opportunity to enjoy their yards and their views."
