The parking lot of the Woodstock Police Department soon will be fenced in after the Woodstock City Council voted to approve fencing this week.
Currently, the parking lot to the west of the building, where police staff park their personal and police vehicles, does not have any fencing, and, according to city documents, “personnel have witnessed and had to address numerous instances of individuals and groups with questionable intent entering into what is supposed to be a restricted area.”
The fence, which has a “conservative and traditional” black steel picket style, will be 6 feet in height and about 810 feet in length. The city will buy the fence from Woodstock-based Fence Factory Family for a cost of $63,000. The price tag includes both the fence itself and installation, according to city documents.
The police department needed a variance from the city code to accommodate the fence’s height. Fences such as the one the police department is putting up are limited to 4 feet in height.
“A 6-foot-high fence would be more effective in restricting unauthorized access than the allowable 4-foot height can provide,” according to city documents.
City documents also called the 2001 construction of the police station a “monumental accomplishment” but said the fence has been an ask for a while.
“Considering the inherent dangers of the police profession, the personnel of WPD have long-requested for this project to be completed for their sense of safety and security,” Woodstock Police Chief John Lieb wrote in a memo to City Manager Roscoe Stelford.
The Plan Commission unanimously approved the fence, which also passed the council as part of the consent agenda.
However, city officials had a brief discussion about the fence’s gates at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The fence will have two gates, one for the Lake Avenue entrance that will be a cantilever gate and a second off Fremont Street that will be a swing gate.
“Having a gate on Lake Avenue, I’m concerned about the traffic delays waiting for that gate to open,” council member Melissa McMahon said.
Lieb said the police department plans to have the gate open most of the time.
“It really should not impact the flow of traffic at all,” Lieb said, adding that the police department will make adjustments if it does.