Robert

Holmes says he just wants to keep his dog in the

backyard and thieves and vandals out.

But

he'll have to take his request for a zoning

variance to allow a backyard fence to the City

Council. The Planning Commission last week turned

him down.

Holmes

said he recently caught a peeping Tom looking in

the rear windows of the house he leases, and

that's not all. "My tomatoes were taken

right off the vine, and I've had yard equipment

taken."

The

home faces McIntosh Place Drive, a subdivision

street, but the rear of the house is just a few

feet from Creekwood Trail, a collector road that

serves the neighborhood off Ga. Highway 314 just

beyond the highway's split with Ga. Highway 85.

According

to city ordinances, the home has two front yards

and no backyard. The law allows ornamental fences

of up to four feet in front yards, but Holmes

says that's not enough to solve his problems.

The

fence Holmes wants the city to approve has

already been built. He didn't know he was

breaking the law, he said, adding that other

homes near his have fences just like his.

But

those fences, and others in the area around White

Road and Creekwood Trail, are a bone of

contention for neighbors, said Mike DeLowe, who

spoke in opposition to Holmes' variance request.

Not only are the fence builders breaking the law,

he said, but they're also breaking neighborhood

covenants.

"We

moved into a subdivision with protective

covenants understanding that there would be

restrictions," he said. "We've

complained about every one that's gone up,"

he said of the fences.

Fence

concerns are creating headaches for the city

government. Double frontage lots like the one

Holmes lives on are commonplace in the city, and

residents complain that they have no way of

knowing when they buy the homes that they can't

build fences on them.

City

Council recently set a precedent by granting a

variance for a similar home in Stonebrier

subdivision off Old Norton Road, but Planning

Commission members say they don't have that kind

of authority.

"If

the City Council wants to go change an ordinance,

it's their prerogative," said commission

member Allan Feldman. "I don't think it's

our prerogative."

"I

still think it's a safety issue," said

commissioner Segis "Al" Lipscomb,

"covenants or no covenants." She voted

against the motion to deny the variance. If

Holmes' landlord decides to file an appeal to the

City Council, it could be heard at the group's

Jan. 3 meeting.

<!--

-----------