In Highland Park, fencing match becomes federal case

By Lisa Black, Tribune reporter

The dispute that started between two neighbors with a regal view of Lake Michigan was never just about a fence.

At least, that's what a Highland Park resident says about an 8-foot-tall barrier running alongside his backyard on the lake's shoreline — a structure that's now the subject of a federal lawsuit.

Joel Cahn maintains in the suit that the city and its mayor, Nancy Rotering, have violated his civil rights by pressuring him to lower the height of the solid spruce fence — even though it was approved by city inspectors, and an official sided with Cahn in a city administrative hearing in June.

Cahn asserts that Rotering, who lives across the street, has used her status as a city official to interfere in the case because another neighbor who opposes the fence is her friend and political supporter.