Inverness Airport's Security Fence Hits too Close to Home

Marge and Bob Masters thought they had found a tranquil spot to spend their retirement when they moved to Inverness from Pinellas County last year.

Now they're worried that a Citrus County project to place fencing around the Inverness airport off U.S. 41 S will make their peaceful back yard look like a concentration camp.

County officials are applying for a $330,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to step up security at the airport with a new fence stretching 18,601 feet around parts of the west, south and east sides of the site. The chain-link fence will be 6 feet tall, topped by three layers of barbed wire.

Federal and state officials say that's the standard design required for airport security.

But the couple say it is an unnecessary eyesore. For weeks they've been going door to door in Inverness Highlands collecting signatures from neighbors who agree. They plan to ask county commissioners for help at a meeting on July 11.

"How many neighborhoods do you know that have barbed wire in their back yards " asked Marge Masters, 62, who says the fencing would affect nearly 30 homes in her neighborhood. "It's not like it's a military facility. ... The commissioners need to really listen to the residents."

She said their concerns began a few weeks ago, when county surveyors popped up in their back yard one morning, spray-painting lines on trees and planting stakes in the ground. They say that was the first they'd heard of the airport fencing.

They learned that even though the airport runway is more than a mile north of their Arden Terrace home, the property behind them is designated for airport use.

Since then, they've been researching fencing rules in the county's land development code, preparing drafts of letters in protest and meeting with several county officials.

A list of questions they've prepared notes that the fence will give them feelings of "false imprisonment" and represents "inexcusable behavior from our government leaders who could care less about our heartbreaking predicament."

But Commissioner Joyce Valentino, who met with the couple recently, said Citrus officials want to work with them and their neighbors.

"The problem is that the grant will not cover any other fencing. They have to put up the fence the federal government wants," Valentino said.

"If the county decides to put a different type of fence in that section, it will have to be county dollars that do that."

Currently, the county's portion of the project's price tag is about $7,000, Engineering Section manager Quincy Wylupek said.

Valentino said she understands why residents are upset, but correcting the problem may be easier said than done.

"I don't know what the county could do, or what we're actually obligated to do," she said.

She said covering the fencing with plants may be a possible compromise.

Wylupek, who oversees projects at the airports in Crystal River and Inverness, said consultants and county staffers walked the length of the fence line three times to come up with ways to ease the impact on nearby properties.

The fence will be placed between 1 and 2 feet from the property line, he said, which will be "less of a visual impairment for some people."

Wylupek said the airport started upgrading its security last year, installing some new fencing and security swipe cards.

Plans are also in the works to lengthen the airport's runway, craft a new master plan and purchase a new jet fuel tank for the airport.

Meanwhile, Marge Masters points to provisions in the county's land development code that say fencing must blend in with neighborhoods as much as possible. The couple have collected more than 20 signatures from supportive neighbors.

The Masterses say the county should consider placing the fence closer to the airport runway.

And they say residents in the neighborhood may be willing to help pay for a less obtrusive fence, if the county will help them work out the details.

Bob Masters has placed tomato plants, cacti and a porch swing behind the couple's three-bedroom home. They want to enjoy their property for years to come.

"We're working on it little by little. It's just doggone relaxing to go in the back yard," said Bob Masters, 59. "But that shadow of a 7-foot fence will be halfway on my property. ... It will create a prison effect."

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