Jackson wants wildlife-friendly fencing rules townwide, 38 inches is the key

If you live in town and your idea of a backyard is a 6 foot privacy fence, Jackson is about to have that argument out loud.

In a May 18 workshop, council will dig into a proposed tiered Natural Resources Overlay that would put every parcel in town into a base, mid, or high habitat tier and scale the paperwork from nothing (base) to a simple checklist (mid) to a full environmental analysis (high). The flashpoint for most homeowners is fencing: staff is proposing wildlife-friendly rules across the entire town, including a 38 inch height standard in the mid and high tiers (with some limited flexibility in the mid tier) plus a townwide list of prohibited fence types and materials tied to entanglement risk. Council is also being asked whether to keep existing creek and wetland buffer distances, and whether affordable housing, agricultural, and small-structure exemptions should stay in the new NRO process. Details are in the Town Council Workshop Agenda Packet.