A yard is several places, not one
Stand at the curb and look back at your house. It reads as one property, yet a fence crosses it in pieces: a stretch facing the street, a stretch along a second street if the lot sits on a corner, a run down each side, and a back line that may meet an alley. Kalamazoo's zoning ordinance speaks to those pieces separately, so plan the fence the same way, one part of the yard at a time.
The height figures in the city's standards
Under the City of Kalamazoo zoning ordinance's fence and wall standards for residential uses, the maximum permitted fence height is four feet in a front yard, four feet in a corner side yard when the fence is in the build-to zone or within the required setback and within 20 feet of the corner side property line, and seven feet in side and rear yards, including when fronting an alley.
Where your own front yard ends, and where a build-to zone or required setback falls on your lot, are things to ask about rather than guess. Ask each company to show you, on your sketch, how its design fits the City of Kalamazoo standards along every run.
Starting at the street
The stretch nearest the sidewalk is the one every passer-by sees. Decide what it should do: keep a dog from the walk, give a flower border a back edge, or simply show where your lawn stops. Some of those jobs may not need a fence across the whole front.
Sketch where this stretch would begin and end, and whether it joins the side runs. Write the height you have in mind beside it, and ask each bidder how that height reads against the front-yard figure above.
If the lot sits on a corner
A lot where two streets meet has a side facing the second street, and the standards give that side its own wording, tied to the build-to zone, the required setback and a distance from the corner side property line. Draw the corner side run as its own stretch on your plan. Ask each company to mark, in writing, where it would place the fence along that side, what height it proposes there, and how it read the standards to get there.
Down the sides and across the back
Past the front of the house, the ordinance's height figure changes. These runs are where a taller, closed fence might be wanted: around a patio, beside a play area, along a garden. The two sides of one yard can ask for different things, so note what each is for.
If the back of the lot fronts an alley, mark that too; the standards name alley frontage alongside side and rear yards. If you use the alley to reach a garage or roll bins out, a gate on that line may save a walk around the house.
Staking the route before anyone visits
A line on paper can look tidy and still feel wrong in the yard. Push stakes or wire flags in where each run starts, turns and stops, and stretch a string between them. View it from the sidewalk and the back door, and move the stakes until the layout looks right. Then tape each run and write its rough length on the sketch.
Ask each company how far inside your boundary it sets posts, and what it does when the lot corners are not plain on the ground.
Gates and getting through
List what will cross the fence line in an ordinary month: a riding mower, a garden cart, bins, a stroller, a ladder carried sideways. Measure the widest and write the gate width you want. Mark which way each gate swings, what it would hit when open, and whether it should lock or close on its own. A meter or outdoor unit near the route will need reaching later, too.
Kalamazoo as the county seat
Kalamazoo County says the City of Kalamazoo is the county's largest municipality and its county seat, and that the county spans 576 square miles in southwest Michigan.
From the Village of Bronson to Kalamazoo
The City of Kalamazoo says it was founded in 1831, when Titus Bronson recorded the original plat for the Village of Bronson, and that the town's name was changed to Kalamazoo in 1836.
Questions to put to each company
Use the same questions on every visit and date each answer:
- "What state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number?"
- How does your design fit the City of Kalamazoo fence standards on each run of my plan?
- Who arranges utility marks before digging, and does the crew wait for them?
- What posts do you use, how deep is each hole, and what goes around the post?
- Can you show proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation before work begins?
Tell the crew about private lines on your side of the meters, such as a sprinkler pipe.
What to ask for in writing
Ask each company to set out its proposal the way your plan is set out, part of the yard by part. For the street side, any corner side, each side and the back, look for footage, height, style and material. Then look for each gate with its width and hardware, post details, removal of any old fence, cleanup, the two warranties as separate terms, the payment schedule, a start window and written answers to your questions. Where a proposal skips a part of the yard, have it corrected before you compare totals.