Washington’s City Council rejected recommended changes to the city’s historic-district guidelines, including those related to fences and walls.

Several people spoke in favor of the proposed changes, but the council, during its meeting Monday, voted 4-1 to not change the guidelines. Council members Virginia Finnerty, Doug Mercer, Richard Brooks and Larry Beeman voted for Finnerty’s motion to reject the suggested modifications. Council member William Pitt voted against the motion.

Finnerty said several people asked her to support the proposed changes. Finnerty said she talked with John Wood with the State Historic Preservation Office in Greenville and historic-preservation officials in Edenton, Elizabeth City and New Bern about the matter.

“I found that … the recommendations are not appropriate. As a matter of fact, 6-foot fences are allowed in those towns. In considering that requiring 5-foot fences would be an additional expense to people because they do not come in that size so they would have to be custom-made, and considering that there supposed to be privacy fences, a 5-foot fence could hardly be called a privacy fence, I would recommend that we do not approve that and leave the guidelines as they are, please,” Finnerty said.

The council, with a 4-1 vote, placed a 12-month moratorium on any efforts to change guidelines related to fences in the city’s historic district.

Among those supporting the recommended changes were Dee Congleton, Don Stroud and Jerry Creech. Congleton and Stroud are Washington Area Historic Foundation members. Congleton served on the committee that helped develop the proposed recommendations.

The committee explored several options for fences. Committee recommendations included: streetscape fences must be no taller than 4 feet high and of an open design, with at least a 1-inch gap between pickets; privacy fences in back or side yards must be no taller than 5 feet; and several other design/construction guidelines. Among the examples of appropriate fences were brick

The proposed changes were been debated and reviewed for several months. The council, during a meeting in November, conducted a hearing on proposed changes to the guidelines, and then decided to send the proposed changes back to the commission for additional review. The proposed changes regarding fences, walls and shrubbery, among other items, elicited support and opposition.