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While Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s plans for their new Ohio mansion have sparked a neighborhood dispute, one local resident tells Page Six the backlash is being blown out of proportion, insisting the couple has plenty of support in their tiny lakeside village.
“I think they’re excited. I think it’s great,” a neighbor who lives minutes from the property told Page Six exclusively. “I don’t think people are angry.”
The comments come as residents prepare for another community meeting Tuesday night at Bratenahl’s community center to discuss the landscaping plans for Swift and Kelce’s new $5.35 million lakefront property, which they purchased in March.
“A meeting of the Architectural Review Board will be held on Tuesday, November 10,” a notice from the Village of Bratenahl reads.
The pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end have yet to attend any of the previous meetings in person, instead sending representatives — and our neighborhood source doubts they’ll make an appearance this time around, either.
Bratenahl is a 552-acre residential village located six miles east of downtown Cleveland on the shores of Lake Erie. It is widely recognized as one of the most exclusive and wealthiest per-capita enclaves in Ohio.
The couple’s purchase of the sprawling eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom mansion has left some neighbors seeing “Red” over plans for a six-foot black aluminum privacy fence and proposed landscaping changes.
But our source believes the objections are largely limited to a handful of nearby homeowners, adding: “I think it’s just the neighbors on either side who object. I don’t know why they object — they’ve done a really nice job fixing up the house.”
In fact, the neighbor is so keen to make the couple feel welcome that they reached out to members of the community ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, hoping to get everyone on the same page and make sure Swift and Kelce wouldn’t get the wrong impression of their new hometown Bratenahl.
“We don’t want them to feel unwelcome,” they explained, adding that “the rest of the neighborhood will absolutely be supportive. Everyone else has been excited.”
The resident also noted that Bratenahl is a small village, just four miles long with approximately 1,200 residents, though they weren’t expecting to cross paths with the famous newcomers anytime soon.
When asked whether they expected to bump into the couple, the source scoffed, “Oh, I doubt it.”
“I haven’t attended any of the meetings. Usually, these meetings aren’t very well attended,” the neighbor added, noting that gatherings specifically addressing the couple’s landscaping plans have attracted unusually large crowds and even drawn media attention.
Still, some disgruntled neighbors aren’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat, raising concerns that the planned fence could pose a danger to local deer and objecting to changes to the property’s existing trees and shrubbery.
Kelce and Swift’s planner, Jacob Kutz of Tiny Construction, defended the duo, explaining they were “looking for privacy and security … after one of the largest sales in Cuyahoga County.”
He noted their original plan had already been scaled down from an 8-foot fence surrounding the property to a 6-foot one that stops short of Lake Erie.
As Page Six previously reported, neighbor Chuck Bauernschmidt, who lives two doors down, blasted what he called the “ridiculous … clear cutting of the shrubbery and everything else,” claiming “all the trees are gone” and warning that deer could impale themselves on the fence.
Meanwhile, Katherine Bolton, who has lived next door for more than three decades, has raised concerns about the couple’s plans to plant evergreens near a century-old shared sewer line. She warned of potential “catastrophic sewer backups” and said she had been quoted $75,000 to protect the pipe against tree roots.
But not everyone in the village is opposed to the couple’s plans. And if our neighbor has anything to say about it, Swift and Kelce can simply “Shake It Off” — because there’s a warm welcome waiting for them in Bratenahl.
Page Six has reached out to reps for Swift and Kelce.
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