West Palm Beach bans fences along scenic Flagler Drive after new homeowner requests a barrier

An unexpected request by a homeowner to fence off a portion of scenic Flagler Drive was blocked last month by West Palm Beach commissioners who banned the use of hedges, fences and walls on the east side of the city's hallmark waterfront promenade.

The fence entreaty came after the relatively new owner of the property in the 5600 block of South Flagler said they had seen “several unsavory acts” occur on a strip of vacant land they own east of the road, but that the city has maintained since Flagler Drive was built decades ago.

Dozens of contiguous lakefront residential properties within the city were divided when Flagler was constructed in the 1920s through the 1940s. Longtime residents said it's widely understood the east side of Flagler is de facto public property.

But as more newcomers settle into homes bought during the pandemic boom, it's not surprising challenges to the status quo are arising. The growing pains range from the design debate over modern architecture in century-old neighborhoods to concerns about high rise towers downtown, and the request to tweak how the city's revered lakefront promenade is used.

The fence request led to a legal review by the city and a query of why, after decades, a fence was necessary.

“The city is still not understanding why the property owner, after all these years, wants to install a fence on the area that the city has maintained since Flagler Drive was constructed,” wrote Planning and Zoning Administrator Angella Jones-Vann in a March email to the homeowner’s attorney.

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Attorney David E. Klein, who represented the homeowner, said in emails with the city that his client had owned the property for less than two years. According to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, the home was purchased in June 2021 for $4.9 million by a trust named after the home's address 5605 S. Flagler.

Klein said his client, and the neighbor directly to the north, who paid $3.8 million, also in June 2021, both wanted a fence. The house to the north was purchased by a limited liability corporation whose owner is listed as Tal Bar-or, co-founder of Lantern Real Estate Advisors, which has offices in New York and Palm Beach, according to its website.

Klein did not return messages left at his office. Bar-or did respond to an email request for comment

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But Klein said in an email to the city that the fence was being requested because his client's property east of Flagler, and the one to the north, are "extraordinarily large in comparison to the other parcels east of Flagler."

And in addition to the unsavory acts, dogs are allowed to run around off leash on the property, Klein said.

“As a result, there have been several dog attacks due to the public using these parcels as a park,” Klein wrote in a March email to Jones-Vann. “Fencing off these two parcels would preclude the public from gathering there and result in less crime and increased public safety to the neighborhood and passersby who are walking, running, or walking their dogs on the sidewalk.”

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Flagler Drive, which follows the Lake Worth Lagoon through most of the city, was heralded in a 1924 Palm Beach Post article as a “motorist’s delight." But it divided several lots into two pieces leaving owners with land for their home on the west side of the road and waterfront vacant property east of the road.

The city maintains the seawall and the private land along the lake.

Gail Levine, who has lived along South Flagler Drive for nearly 30 years and whose property includes land east of the road, said she can't speak for what is happening on the entire drive but that she's seen no bad behavior on her portion.

Although she said it was understood that her property east of Flagler wasn't buildable, she and her husband once tried to plant some decorative landscaping there. It was quickly "plowed down", she said.

"I certainly would not be in favor of a fence," Levine said. "It is an established promenade in an area open to the community."

Jones-Vann said the zoning and land development rule approved by commissioners Aug. 21 to ban fences, walls and hedges was needed “in order to maintain the overall character and vista of the waterfront, and in order to ensure access to the public.”

A much-used walkway and bike path snakes between Flagler Drive and the privately-owned properties to its east.

The fence prohibition covers areas along Flagler Drive between Butler Street and Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, Lakeland Drive and Flagler Promenade South, and Russlyn Drive and Linda Lane.

Douglas Elliman luxury real estate agent Burt Minkoff said he makes it clear with clients about the quirks that come with some properties along Flagler Drive that were divided by the road. Although they are allowed docks if they own property east of the road, the land itself isn’t buildable, he said.

“Most people know about this,” Minkoff said. “You can turn it into a positive thing because the city maintains the sea wall.”

About 20 homes in the popular south of Southern Boulevard or SoSo community, are affected by the fence, hedge and wall prohibition.

Former West Palm Beach City Commissioner and south end resident Shanon Materio said a fence on the east side of Flagler would change the character of the neighborhood by marring the public’s view of the Lake Worth Lagoon.

“It’s supposed to be a promenade,” Materio said. “That’s the beauty of Flagler Drive.”

Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm Beach bans fences along scenic Flagler Drive