Neighborhood

fence disputes continue to plague the

Fayetteville Planning Commission.

The

city's ordinances prohibit fences (other than

four-foot ornamental fences) in front yards, and

its definition of front yards includes any yard

that's next to a road or street.

Therefore,

the back yard of Diane DuBose's home on McIntosh

Place Drive is legally a front yard. The home is

on one of a series of lots that face McIntosh

Place Drive with Creekwood Trail at their back

doors.

DuBose's

request for a variance to allow her to erect a

six-foot fence in her back yard is one of a

series of similar requests in recent months that

have left Planning Commission members scratching

their heads, and one member arguing that the law

should be changed.

Segis

"Al" Lipscomb said during last week's

commission work session that she feels it's not

reasonable to expect homeowners moving into a new

subdivision to check city ordinances for laws

governing fences. She suggested requiring that

real estate agents inform prospective buyers of

the law whenever they are selling "double

frontage" lots.

"This

is not like other zoning laws," she argued,

"because it's so unusual."

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.

Meanwhile,

DuBose's variance request is on the agenda for

the Planning Commission's December meeting

Tuesday, Dec. 14. She requested that the item be

tabled from the commission's November meeting.

Commissioners

will discuss Dubose's request during a work

session Dec. 7. The work session is normally the

second Tuesday with the business meeting the

fourth Tuesday, but December's meetings have been

moved up to avoid conflicts at Christmas time.

Planning

commissioners invited public comment at their

November work session since the item was on the

agenda, and McIntosh Place neighbors launched

into an hour-long discussion that ranged from

disagreements over neighborhood covenants to

personality conflicts.

Planning

Commission acting chairman Kevin Bittinger

pointed out that the commission has no

jurisdiction over the covenants and other

internal neighborhood disputes, but must judge

the variance request on its own merits.

He

also suggested that Lipscomb e-mail members with

her thoughts on changing the ordinance for future

discussion.

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