“Just off Golf Course Road west of Oak Harbor, the Navy and its neighbors are taking differing views of a recent addition to the landscape. In fact, you could say they are poles apart.Ordinarily, the folks who live across from the Navy-run Gallery Golf Course driving range say they’ve gotten along pretty well with the military. They say they’ve been tolerant of the regular gunfire from the nearby rifle range and the periodic low-level flyovers of high-powered aircraft. But that was before the Navy decided to put up a fence.A 50-foot fence.A 50-foot fence smack in the middle of their view. Thursday morning we saw telephone poles going up, said neighbor John Flynn, reflecting back to the end of September when, much to the residents’ surprise, a crew of workers began installing a series of support poles on Navy property across the street from their homes. During the next three days, 30 poles were erected in an open-ended rectangle about 250 yards long around the driving range. Last week golf ball-impenetrable netting was hung between the poles to complete the project.The netting isn’t as opaque as we thought it would be but the poles are outrageous, said Flynn.Indeed, the view of the golf course, Puget Sound and distant mountains from many of the neighbors’ decks and picture windows now includes what looks like a forest of branchless, leafless trees all topped to a uniform height. Flynn said some of the homeowners are now concerned about what the altered view may do to their property values.I just think it’s ridiculous, said neighbor Constance Stockmyer, who claims she had one of the best views in the 40-acre home-site tract. After more than 30 years to think they would just block it out like that. There’s no excuse.Navy officials have not given the homeowners a lot of excuses. But they did give them some justifications for their actions. The course’s driving range has been at the some site for decades without any fence to stop errant golf balls from hooking and slicing onto the golf course, across Golf Course Road or into neighboring fields. Neighbors said they were told that the Navy compiled reports of injuries and property damage that couldn’t be ignored.Navy officials declined to answer questions from the News-Times on the neighbors’ concerns but they did issue a statement late Tuesday. It states: The Navy is concerned with the safety of all who patronize the Gallery Golf Course. We are reviewing the specific issues associated with the driving range nets. It has always been the intention of NAS Whidbey Island to work with the community and be good neighbors.But for the neighbors, safety is not the issue. Neighbor Bill Bloch said the most dangerous balls are the ones that stay low. He insists that there is no need for a fence 50 feet up. Bloch and Flynn both say that there is an implied risk of being hit by a ball anytime you walk around a golf course. As a result, they see no reason for such a high fence on the course side of the driving range, either. The neighbors also question the need for a high fence at the end of range.Even Tiger Woods couldn’t hit one over the end poles. Fifty feet at 300 yards would require a 600 yard drive on the fly, said neighbor Ray Priest. We asked that the poles be tapered and brought to the level of the trees and power lines along the road adjacent to the course. That suggestion was ignored.The feeling that they have been ignored is central to the neighbors’ complaints. Though there are many government regulations covering such things as environmental damage, building height, signs and even compatibility with the surroundings, there are no real laws protecting someone’s view. Nevertheless, the neighbors think that since the Navy had been studying the fence issue for more than a year, the local homeowners should have at least been advised of the plans or asked for their opinions.I don’t know whether it was arrogance, stupidity or indifference … but somebody dropped the ball, said Bloch. Bloch and his wife are just completing construction of their new home overlooking the range. The home’s design features clear panels along the deck to take advantage of the view. He said the view was one of the key reasons they chose to build where they did. The civil thing to have done was to talk to us, he said.Once the fence started going up, the neighbors began asking a lot of questions and put in requests for official documents. According to Priest, the documents showed that the Navy chose the highest and most expensive options from among several estimates and waived any requirements for environmental review. In doing so, the Navy acknowledged that the project would not violate any federal, state or local laws. But Priest said that’s not the case. He points to Island County’s 35-foot maximum height restriction on buildings. Things such as smoke stacks, communication towers and water tanks are exempt from the law but there is no mention of golf course fencing. The county rules do not apply to federal land, however.The neighbors say that since raising their concerns they have gotten very little communication or help from Navy officials. Priest said the neighbors have been told that the Navy’s decision is final and that any requests for modification were rejected.NAS Whidbey Public Affairs Officer Kim Martin painted a slightly different picture Tuesday.We’re trying to do the right thing, she said.Not surprisingly, the neighbors take a different view. Flynn said they believe the Navy is no longer interested in working with them, so they are now seeking help on the congressional level. Bloch said he’s surprised that the Navy has picked such a place to take an uncompromising stance.We’re not a bunch of rabid reactionaries, he said. Nothing we’re complaining about has to do with national security. “