- April 18, 2024
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Palm Coast officials agree a 6-foot fence may help combat vandalism near Ralph Carter Park.
The saying goes, “If you build it, they will come.”
Residents in the R-Section, however, are hoping that if the city builds a fence around Ralph Carter Park, the hoodlums will stop coming into their neighborhood.
City Manager Jim Landon announced April 27, at a town-hall-style meeting, that the City Council would likely approve a 6-foot fence around Ralph Carter Park. The fence, which will comply with city ordinance, will be a chain link fence.
Marion Petruzzi lives on Richardson Drive, directly across from the back of the park, and she has spearheaded a Neighborhood Watch in the R-section.
“We’re inundated,” she told Landon and the four Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies. She said hooligans have been causing problems on her street and throughout the neighborhood. Petruzzi said that the night before the meeting a group of kids kicked in her garage door “for no reason.”
According to Palm Coast ordinance, the fence can’t be taller than 6 feet. Residents suggest they need at least an 8-foot-tall fence.
Representatives of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office maintain that a fence will not solve the problem and even challenged Petruzzi about her Neighborhood Watch. When pressed, Petruzzi admitted that the group has only met one time.
At the May 3 City Council regular meeting, Petruzzi spoke during public comment, asking City Council to address the size of the meshing on the fence. The city received quotes on a 6-foot fence with 2-inch openings, but Petruzzi said the fence needed 1-inch openings.
She then added that if a fence is erected, and it doesn’t stop trespassers from entering and exiting Ralph Carter Park via Richardson Drive, it will be because the wrong type of fence was built.
City Council members Frank Meeker and Mary DiStefano, along with Mayor Jon Netts, all agreed the city should erect a 6-foot fence with 1-inch openings.
Still, Netts said: “A fence is a deterrent, not a solution.”
