Do you have a plat or site plan, with your house on it, that you could share? :-)

Also, which USDA zone are you in? Assuming you're in the USA? That will help with plant suggestions. :-)

@One Devoted Dame Not sure what zone but I’m in Western Pennsylvania. Here is our site. Tried to edit out the personal info and added where the neighbors driveway is as well

Based on the image you don’t have much space. The green is all them in the picture. Do you know how many feet, if any, you have beyond the driveway?

@WestCoast Hopeful the green patch is actually mostly ours. We have it staked out and their driveway goes almost to their property line. And our planned finished driveway in the site plan will have to be a few feet smaller as the sewer tap was found where the finished driveway was supposed to be. Probably 10 feet between the 2 finished driveways

Fence?

I would fully do a fence immediately across. Assuming you have a fence planned out back? Toward the road maybe some greenery like yew or cedar hedge

Every spring Costco brings in a good supply of Arborvitae for about $30 ea. It would be good to have a berm of 2 foot height to start things off. Fall is a good time to plant evergreens. Check all the nurseries around and out a bit for end of season discounts. Plant a staggered line if you have width.

@dan1888 what is a berm? Is that just s simple mound to add height?

@WestCoast Hopeful We are deciding on a fence and/or evergreens in the back. Would it look weird to just have it in the back and side? The fence wouldn’t connect to the house at all if we did it this way

Along one side of our house, with complicated neighbor, we have a fence. Along other side we have yews, laurel, and other barriers and then a fence toward back of our house and into yard. I think you can do whatever works. That said I’m a huge fan of a fenced rear yard.

A berm of a couple feet of rounded dirt with grass or vinca, ivy or a ground cover of your choice to stabilize it. Then you add the taller evergreens etc. in a configuration you like. The arborvitae could be in the center critical blocking area with other shrubs at the ends to give the landscaping a look other than merely a screen.

Not sure what zone but I’m in Western Pennsylvania.

I'm gonna guess zone 5 (a or b?); you can put your ZIP code into the link I posted above, to know for sure. :-)

I, also, would recommend a fence with a native vine, since it looks like y'all's driveway is almost on top of your lot line (unless the plat is surveyed incorrectly)?

I found Railroad Vine and Coral Honeysuckle that are evergreen/semi-evergreen natives in PA. :-)

I'll second the suggestion for Arborvitae. We had a hedge of them in our first house in MA, so similar climate. Spend the money to get some 6 ft specimens and you'll have a ready made visual barrier.

Put some motion spots and cameras up. The neighbors will probably move to the back yard.

From your plat, I don’t see that you have room for arborvitae. Plus planting a row of those is not a guarantee - even if one or two don’t do well, you can have gaps. The idea of a fence sounds like more of a sure thing. I agree with the post above that suggested a fence along the driveway starting around the front of your house and extending to the rear lot line. You could extend it across your back yard now or later.

(not a pro) Looking at your plat, it doesn't look like there's much room between your driveway and the lot line. I'd do a pretty lattice fence that you can put shallow plants in front of (e.g. climbing hydrangea, climbing ivy, etc.) I'd ask a landscaper for ideas that will work in your area. Remember that you'll want to leave some space next to the driveway to put snow when you have to shovel, so arborvitae might take up too much room.

Put some motion spots and cameras up. The neighbors will probably move to the back yard.

Why? They aren't doing anything wrong, and how would that help during the day? Harassing your neighbors for no reason won't accomplish anything. If the OP wants privacy, and to never interact with her neighbors, then she should put up a fence.

@suedonim75 we won’t be putting up cameras or motion lights. They are very nice and friendly, we don’t want to cause any animosity so whatever we decide, we will discuss with them first. I’m sure they won’t mind some added privacy at our expense.

What are your neighbors doing in the driveway that requires that space rather than the assumed backyard space? do they have young children? rather than rushing into setting up an obvious line of demarcation..just wait.

i definitely wouldnt rush into putting up a fence. its easy to offend with fences…especially if you dont talk to your neighbors about it first.

my younger daughter with several children just went through something similar. offended several neighbors with a backyardfence installation. everything is smoothed over but could have been avoided with a little finesse.

OP has said they will work with neighbour.

Won't the driveway be open to the street? How much privacy can you really get with one fence on the side? A fence will be troublesome for clearing snow.

How much privacy can you really get with one fence on the side?

If the neighbors tend to hang out in the driveway, then this one side of fence will provide quite a bit of privacy. I understand what the OP is saying. Once her driveway is in, there will be very little space between them. My neighbors hang out in their driveway instead of their backyard, and they are absolutely allowed to. But, it is awkward at times because you feel like you are in a fishbowl, I just want to clean my garage without an audience. (I'm not that exciting, but for whatever reason, they still watch what I'm doing). Or they have people over so there is a crowd of people standing there. So there are times I won't do what I planned on doing until they go in the house, or leave.

(I'm not that exciting, but for whatever reason, they still watch what I'm doing). LOL

I'm a big fan of watching the comings and goings of my street but since I'm NOT home most of the time, it's a rare treat for me. Plus, I grew up in an apartment so there's still that bit of novelty with being a "street observer."

There is one little old fella on the street over who looooves to sit in his garage, with the door open and just watch the cars drive by.

A fence seems to be the best option if all parties agree. Just make sure you set expectations on who will do the weedwacking on their side.

@suedonim75 my neighbors sound very similar to yours. They work from home and always seem to be home. And he loves to make work calls while pacing up and down the driveway. And when they have people over, they play cornhole and hang out in the driveway. When we started to build, he jokingly (i think) asked us who was building the fence, him or us.

We were in a similar situation, we put up a fence on that side of yard. One of the best things we did. Good fences make good neighbors.

Perfect. Best outcome really.