Fayetteville's

Planning Commission probably has denied Diane

DuBose's request for a waiver of the city's fence

restrictions, effectively sending the matter to

City Council for a final decision.

Commissioners

met after press time last night, a week earlier

than usual because of the impending Christmas

holiday.

In

previous discussions, commission members have

said they don't have the authority to grant such

a variance, the way the law is written.

Applicants whose variance requests are denied by

the Planning Commission have the right of appeal

to the City Council.

DuBose,

as owner of record at 115 McIntosh Park Drive,

filed the variance request on behalf of tenant

Robert Holmes after city officials discovered

that Holmes had built a six-foot privacy fence in

violation of the city ordinance.

Similar

violations and variance requests are becoming

commonplace. Homeowners often are surprised to

find that city law prohibits privacy fences if a

home's back yard faces a street or road. The

ordinance defines such "double

frontage" yards as front yards, and allows

only small ornamental fences in front yards.

City

Council recently granted a similar variance to

Terry Galloway of Verdon Hill off Old Norton

Road, but only on the condition that rules about

the styles of fence allowed and future

maintenance of the fences be spelled out in

neighborhood covenants.

rash of fence variance requests has prompted the

Planning Commission to begin looking at ways to

alter the ordinance. Commission member Segis

"Al" Lipscomb has argued that the law

is so unusual that most residents are caught by

surprise.

Buyers

often don't know about the law until they erect

fences and then are cited by the city, Lipscomb

said.

And

in many cases, they assume there's no problem

building a fence because they see other fences in

the neighborhood that were built before the city

law went into effect, she added.

Also

on the agenda last night were:

� A preliminary plat for the

Apple Orchard, a 50-home, 20-acre subdivision at

Beauregard and Grady avenues. Commissioners were

expected to approve the plat.

� A request for revisions to

the common area plan for Stanley Oaks subdivision

on White Road. The change would move the walking

trail and picnic tables closer to a planned cul

de sac, and calls for a pavilion instead of the

picnic tables. Under the old plan, the picnic

tables were on the far side of a small creek,

prompting environmental concerns.

zoning change for The Village, a 110-acre mixed

use development on Ga. Highway 54 at Tiger Trail,

also were on the agenda, along with creation of a

new zoning category for the development, but

those items were expected to be tabled as

commissioners continue to discuss the merits of

the new zoning category.

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