The fence height limit in Monte Sereno has been an issue that's been debated off and on for some time in the city, but Brain decided to take the issue to the city council last week in an effort to get some resolution.

The Brain family shares an 8-foot fence with its neighbors, the Padgetts, and the two families have been told that the fence must come down to conform to the city ordinance. However, other fences of a similar height are allowed to remain, depending upon when they were constructed.

The Brains and Padgetts say that's not fair. And because the city has been steadfast in its determination that the fence must come down, Cindy Brain decided to take her quest straight to the council's front door.

She went before the city council at its March 16 meeting to find out what needed to be done to change a municipal code, and what she was told leaves the council in an interesting position.

Apparently, the city could change the ordinance by a vote of the council. That, however, likely could never happen, since three council members—David Baxter, Curtis Wright and Mark Brodsky—have fences on their own property that exceed the 6-foot height limit. We believe that the three would have to recuse themselves from any vote on the issue, resulting in the lack of a quorum with only two remaining members eligible to cast votes.

With such a vote not an option, the council could decide to place the item on the ballot to allow the voters of the city to determine the issue. However, the panel does not seem to be inclined to take that step, despite the prodding of Brodsky to move in that direction during a council meeting last year.

The final option would be for a resident of the city to circulate a petition to get the ordinance changed. In order to get the item placed on the ballot, signatures of 10 percent of the 2,422 registered voters in Monte Sereno would have to be collected.

The Los Gatos Weekly-Times encourages Brain, or another Monte Sereno resident, to step forward and get the needed signatures, then let the voters decide how tall they want their fences to be.

In a city like Monte Sereno, a residential community where many lot sizes are large and the terrain is hilly and rural, it makes sense to offer residents some latitude when constructing fences so that they can maintain their privacy.

It's necessary for a city to maintain order among its residences, which is why cities must have building ordinances in place to govern construction policies. But a 2-foot lattice atop a 6-foot good neighbor fence hardly seems like the place to hammer down the letter of the law.

It seems only fitting that the residents should make the final decision on fence heights—at the polls in November.