Council approves Alma Farms right-of-way warranty deed; privacy fence question leaves bond in place

The City Council approved a warranty deed conveying a right-of-way for the Alma Farms project and directed staff to verify whether a six-foot privacy fence had been required as a condition of the development, with one council member saying the city would hold the developer’s bond until that clarification.

The issue arose during discussion of the Alma Farms warranty deed. A council member said, “when you drive down the road, you see everybody's backyards,” and recalled a condition for Alma Farms that called for a six-foot privacy fence behind existing parcels to screen backyards from a multipath. Council members asked staff to check the project file and plans; a staff member said Jerry Weiss was researching the matter and Jennifer would verify whether a privacy fence had been part of the initial plan.

After brief discussion, a motion to approve the warranty deed was seconded and the council approved the deed. One council member said they would hold the developer’s bond pending clarification: “I’m still holding their bond. So I’ll hold that until we get this, just like some clarification.”

The meeting transcript shows the council approved the deed but did not record a roll-call vote count in the excerpt. The council did not make a final determination in the meeting about whether the required fence exists; staff were asked to report back with documentation from the project record.

Staff named in the discussion included Jerry Weiss (researching plan records) and Jennifer (asked to confirm the record). The council also referenced the project’s multipath alignment as the location where the fence would screen properties.