After receiving a handful of complaints and a call from The Beachcomber, the King County Roads Division lowered the height of 84 iron stakes along Dockton Road on Tramp Harbor.

Rochelle Ogershok, a spokeswoman for the roads division, said a work crew early last week shortened the stakes from four feet to about one foot.

“We didn’t think it was something we’d hear objections to,” she said. But after a reporter from The Beachcomber called to inquire about the stakes and after some Islanders called to complain, the division decided to shorten the stakes.

“Suffice it to say, we got some feedback,” she said.

The county recently installed the 84 stakes to give county workers precise locations along the road’s aging bulkhead, portions of which are beginning to fail. Such markers are necessary when doing repair work, county officials said.

But some Islanders saw the stakes as a visual blight, marring one of Vashon’s most spectacular public views.

Nadine Edelstein, who lives at Portage, was one of those frustrated Islanders. Reached Monday, she said she was impressed and surprised to see that the county responded so quickly to residents’ concerns.

She wished there were no stakes at all, but the shortened ones are a vast improvement, she said. “It’s a lot nicer, that’s for sure,” she said, adding, “It’s nice to know we live in such a responsive community.”