Board of Adjustment hears plea for 12-foot privacy fence after petitioner alleges years of harassment

Kristen McFarland asked the Gilpin County Board of Adjustment on March 25 for a variance to allow a 12-foot fence at a property identified in public notice as 601 Old Hughesville Road, saying the additional height is needed to protect her family from years of alleged stalking and harassment by a neighboring resident.

Rob Gutierrez, Gilpin County community development director, introduced the hearing and said the petition (BOA 25-2) seeks relief from the eight-foot maximum fence height in Gilpin County zoning regulation section 4.7(b) for assessor account number N006888. McFarland told the board she has already built an approximately 700-foot, eight-foot-high fence and sought an additional four-foot extension on a 50-foot segment to block a neighbor's line of sight from a mine-tailings pile and an ATV course.

"I'm here to beg you, literally, to make a decision to protect the safety and welfare of your citizens," McFarland said, describing persistent filming, motion detectors and other behavior she said amounted to stalking. She told the board that a county inspector had previously told her the fence structure could support a wood extension and that the extension reduced harassment when earlier screening had been installed.

County staff, however, recommended denial. McFarland disputed the staff findings, saying the record understated the topography and the "extraordinary and exceptional" circumstances she says exist on the property. "This person's harassment is so traumatizing to me that I would pay thousands of dollars in fines to the county rather than take the fence down," she said.

Neighbor Michael Price addressed the board and opposed the variance, saying McFarland purchased land surrounding his property and built the fence while disputes between them persisted: "She spent a million dollars to be next to me. Now she wants to spend an endless amount of money to get me away from her. Doesn't make sense to me." Price also said McFarland's property had been the subject of litigation and ongoing adjustments for several years.

The hearing record includes staff findings that approval could be detrimental to the public good and could "substantially impair" the intent of zoning regulations; the staff report also questioned whether the petitioner had shown the required hardship. McFarland countered that the county inspector had stated the fence could structurally support the extension and that the extension was not visible from most public vantage points.

The board recessed briefly to address audio and Zoom problems; county staff indicated a five-minute recess while remote participants reconnected. At the point the transcript excerpt ends, a final decision or vote on the variance had not been recorded.

The petitioners listed in the public notice included Kristen McFarland, Michael Newsom, Stacy Miller Leonard and Dennis J. Leonard; attorney Jeffrey Shepherd appeared on behalf of petitioners but technical audio issues delayed his remarks during the hearing.

The Board of Adjustment hearing record in the packet and staff recommendation will be material if the board continues deliberations: the staff recommendation, petitioner testimony, neighbor statements and site photos were all cited during the hearing.