Deer fence is ruled legal

Bad news for gallivanting Bambies: Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan can keep his deer fence in Willistown Township, a judge ruled yesterday.

Shyamalan wants the eight-foot green-mesh fence to keep pesky deer from running roughshod over his planned formal gardens. Neighbors in Radnor Hunt country blanched at its unsightliness. This is, after all, the land of rail fences and pastures dappled with horses.

But Shyamalan, who directed movies such as The Sixth Sense, where appearances and reality get entangled in a dark sense of foreboding, will get to keep his 123-acre property encircled in mesh.

The decision by Chester County Court Judge Robert J. Shenkin marks the second legal defeat for a group of residents living in the area.

"Certainly we're pleased, and we think it's the right decision," said David R. Adams, one of Shyamalan's attorneys.

John J. Mahoney, who represents the fence foes, said he did not know yet whether the ruling would be appealed to Commonwealth Court.

"The judge obviously gave this matter a lot of thought and so will we," said Mahoney.

The flap began a year ago when Jason and Sarah Ingle, Warren and Caroline Claytor, and Alexandria and George Hundt Jr. argued that the fence violated scenic vistas and township statutes and that Shyamalan should not have received permission to erect it in September 2006.

In an appeal to the zoning hearing board, they said the fence should be lowered to six feet and set back farther from the road.

Township officials countered that the Oscar-nominated director met the requirements for the fence. They said Shyamalan wanted the barrier to keep deer from decimating a network of formal gardens he planned.

The township's zoning hearing board affirmed the issuance of the permit in March, prompting the plaintiffs' appeal to county court.

In a two-page opinion affirming the zoning hearing board's decision, Shenkin concluded that "ample evidence" showed the fence met the necessary township criteria.

Those criteria have since changed, and the township now limits fences to six feet.

According to court records, Shyamalanbought the Willistown property in December 2004 under the auspices of the Willistown Conservation Trust.

The residential tract, formerly the home of the late Almira R. Scott, a Rockefeller heir, included a main house, which is being renovated, and sundry outbuildings.