Which Side of the Fence Are You On?

A wise man once said: Good fences make good neighbors.

Of course, he never met the residents of Lee Avenue in Haddonfield and their neighbor, the Methodist Church Cemetery.

The residents and the church are locked in a year-long scrum over the size and design of a fence bordering the cemetery, just off Kings Highway and near the backyards of homes on Lee Avenue. The latest chapter in the saga has a Lee Avenue neighbor hiring an attorney to challenge a borough planning board decision to allow a 6-foot high, wood-panel fence to be erected, over the objection of the neighbors and the Haddonfield Historic Preservation Commission.

The HPC advises the planning board on changes to properties within the historic district, but the planning board has the last word. Several Lee Avenue neighbors have turned out for borough commissioners' meetings over the past 6 weeks to plea for a resolution.

Commissioner Ed Borden, one of three borough commissioners, also sits on the planning board. He recently said he voted to overrule the HPC and allow the 6-foot fence because he didn't think it affected the historical character of the neighborhood.

But in the wake of what the neighbors thought were ongoing negotiations between the United Methodist Church, borough commissioners and them, the fence was erected in mid-March and a way of life the Lee Avenue neighbors had come to know literally vanished, behind a 6-foot fence.

"This has taken a big chunk out of my quality of life," said Maryann Campling, who has lived on Lee Avenue for the past 27 years. "It's not just the unattractiveness of the fence, it's what this has taken away from us. We're all kind of scratching our heads wondering why, after a hundred years are there complaints."

Rev. George Morris, senior pastor of the , said this week that his congregation wants to be good neighbors with Lee Avenue residents, but they also need a certain level of privacy in the cemetery.

"We were addressing an issue of privacy for people who come to visit the graves of their loved ones," Morris said. "Our feeling was the easiest way to address privacy and a better ascetic finish is to go with the fence that we put up."

No one disputes the church has a right to fence in its property. A rusting, metal chain-linked fence previously marked the property line. The small lots that many of the twin homes on Lee Ave are built on have small backyards, some less than 12-feet wide from the exterior of their homes. They had come to rely on a relatively unobstructed view from the rear of their yards.

Neighbors sought a compromise with the church to build a lower fence, or to erect a wrought-iron fence, with them chipping in for the additional cost. Commissioner Jeff Kasko had offered to be an intermediary with the church to seek a compromise after Campling and other Lee Avenue residents repeatedly showed up at commissioners' meetings to complain.

Kasko said this week he was "disappointed" with Morris and the church.

"I wanted to plea one more time to see if there was a compromise," Kasko said. "He said he'd see and he would pass on my concerns to the board of trustees, and then the fence went up. I don't know if my concerns were not passed on, or if they were not taken that seriously, but I'm disappointed."

Morris had a different take on the conversation.

"He misinterpreted me there," Morris said. "I didn't say that to him at all. It gets lost in the shuffle when we went to get the permit, it was issued. Then all kinds of questions came up about our right to do that."

The church had also previously said its ability to sell remaining plots in the cemetery had been hampered by the lack of privacy, with mourners looking into Lee Avenue backyards.

Campling sees it another way.

"We're not upscale folks here, were regular folks," said Campling, a former business executive who now owns a dog-walking business. "I think they're being vindictive at this point. They're not used to being challenged. They're used to having things their way."

Campling has hired an attorney to challenge the planning board decision.

Morris challenged her view of the church.

"It's not like we are this horrorible group of rich people taking advantage of people," he said. "We are doing what we feel is in the best interest of the church. We're surprised at the names we have been called in the mail we've received."

Campling said the narrow streets and small lots of Lee Avenue were originally built for workers at , the center for people with developmental disabilities that has sat across Kings Highway for the past 128 years. She said "this is not the rich end of Haddonfield."

But she also finally concluded the dispute with the church may not be an intentional slight to her neighborhood.

"I don't think they're evil," she said. "I just think they're in their own bubble and have lost touch."

Another neighbor, Ernie Gautier, 62, who works as a technology expert, said he'd miss his unobstructed view of the cemetery. He tore down a deck several years ago and built a patio to get a better view from his backyard.

But he said he's already coming to grips with the fence.

"I'm not going to be upset about it for the rest of my life," he said. "I'll just have to accept it."