CLAYTON — A resident asked the town council on Monday to change its rules to allow a particular type of fence that she believes is both aesthetically pleasing and prevents flooding: chain-link fencing.

“It blends in well to the environment, especially where you have a green background,” Carol Dianne Raubenhaimer told the town council during the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting.

Raubenhaimer is not the first resident to bring up the idea of allowing chain-link fences. In December, James Lipscomb, a former council member who owns Home Towne Realty, approached the council at a meeting and asked them to rethink the law that currently prohibits them in town. Lipscomb said that he knew of multiple homeowners who wanted to build chain-link fences but were prevented from doing so by the current code.

Under the town’s current rules, chain link fences are specifically outlawed.

According to David DeYoung, the town’s planning board director, chain link fences were disallowed in 2006 because of their aesthetics. The board has not reconsidered chain link fences since that ordinance was created, but he said they would take a look at it now.

Town Manager Steve Biggs also said that what Raubenhaimer brought before the council should be considered.

In Raubenhaimer’s explanation in favor of chain-link fences should be permitted, she explained that in a flood zone, coated chain-link allows for the natural flow of water, where wooden alternatives divert the natural water flow, potentially causing flooding in other areas. She said in her neighborhood near Sleepy Creek Drive, there is a flooding problem and wooden fences there would eventually deteriorate the longer they are near damp or wet areas.

Raubenhaimer also suggested that even if chain-link fences are not allowed in the front of a home, they should be allowed on the side and back of the home. Such is the case currently in Apex, where chain link fencing is allowed only in the side and or rear yard and it is not allowed to be used by a developer of a subdivision for buffering or screening. Also in Apex, chain-link fences are permitted for single-family recreational uses, including playgrounds, swimming pools, hot tubs, spas, tennis courts, volleyball courts and basketball courts.

The council has not yet put the item on their agenda, but was receptive to the idea presented at Monday’s meeting.

James: 919-553-7234