Deer and Deer Fencing

For some time, the Village has received complaints from residents that there were too many deer fences which they claimed were forcing deer onto their property and were unsightly. Deer fences, by definition, are illegal in the Village as they exceed the legal six foot fence height. There are a number of deer fences that were put up years ago to protect gardens, but lately some have been put up around the entire perimeter of properties without gardens.

The Village has been trying to address this problem. We have discussed this at a number of plan commission meetings that made recommendations to the Village Board. At the suggestion of the Village Board, I appointed a task force to study this issue. The task force, consisting of property owners who had deer fences and those who were opposed to them, came up with a compromise solution to the deer fence issue.

A New Fence Ordinance was considered based on the task force's recommendations. This ordinance was a compromise grandfathering existing deer fences and allowing new deer fences to be constructed with certain setback stipulations. This New Fence Ordinance was voted down by a 4 to 2 vote of the Board of Trustees. Instead, an ordinance was voted in place allowing existing deer fences to stand, with certain stipulations regarding the impact of these fences on trees and drainage, while allowing no new deer fences to be erected. This ordinance will expire in one year at which time the Village Board hopes to agree on an updated New Fence Ordinance.

Discussion of deer fencing has led to discussion of deer management within the Village. The vote against the New Fence Ordinance was based in part on the opinion of some that the issue of deer management should be considered before adopting a New Fence Ordinance. The Board is inviting experts in the areas of forestry, restoration and wildlife management to testify to enable the Village to make a more educated decision as to how the Village should address the issue. At present, we expect testimony will occur sometime in October and November.

Even if you live in an area of Riverwoods where your homeowners' association does not allow fences of any kind, we urge you to attend these meetings. Your opinion on deer fences and on (culling) deer is important to the Village. I urge you, whether you support deer management or reject it, to come to these meetings. We welcome your input and value your suggestions.

After all the meetings take place, a survey will be sent out to all the residents in Riverwoods to get their opinions regarding both deer management and deer fences. Please take a few minutes to respond to the survey on these important issues.

Very truly yours,

Bill Kaplan
Mayor of Riverwoods