After saving your money, researching options and talking to your neighbors, you’re almost ready to replace that utilitarian chain link fencing around your yard. You’re just waiting on one thing: the building permit for removing your chain link fence. Portland’s bureaucrats will surely rubber stamp this application, you tell yourself. But they don’t. Instead, they reject your plans, saying your fence is protected by historical preservation ordinances. You can’t replace the boundary marker with anything other than chain link fencing, they say. To do otherwise would be to destroy the cultural context of the neighborhood.

Admittedly, this kind of story hasn’t yet popped up in Portland, but a similar series of events recently occurred in Old Town Alexandria, VA, as reported in the Washington Post. A homeowner there, Anita Hall, replaced her old chain link fencing with an aluminum fence. After examining the new fence (which had been erected without the proper municipal permits) city historic preservation staffers reported that by taking down the chain link fence, Hall “would be removing an important contextual clue to the original occupants of this neighborhood.”

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