By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

It just made sense to residents of Stonebriar subdivision on Old Norton Road to fence in their back yards.

The problem is that, because their back yards abut Old Norton Road, they're not back yards. According to definitions in city ordinances, they're front yards, and Fayetteville laws don't allow front yards to be fenced.

During tonight's City Council work session and Monday's council business meeting, Teri Race Galloway will appeal the city Planning Commission's denial of his request for an exception to that rule.

The commission voted 3-1 to deny the request, with member Segis Lipscomb opposed, and rendered he same vote on a similar request from Larry McMichael.

Homes in the subdivision face the subdivision street Verdon Hill, with rear yards abutting Old Norton. The city defines that situation as double frontage.

Six-foot privacy and safety fences already are in place in the subdivision, because residents didn't know about the city's ordinance banning fences for double frontage lots, McMichael and Galloway told the Planning Commission.

They need their fences so their children and pets can play in the back yard in safety, the residents told commissioners. In addition to his request for the variance, Galloway has filed a constitutional objection to the ordinance, saying it deprives him of proper use of his property.

“I think people move in just like he did... they don't know this ordinance exists,” said Lipscomb during the May 25 Planning Commission meeting. “I don't think it's that commonplace when somebody moves into a city that they aren't allowed to build a fence,” she added.

“Let's get the ordinance changed if you think it's capricious and arbitrary,” commission Chairman Bill Talley responded.

Meanwhile, commissioners said, they aren't allowed to grant variances because the residents didn't know about the ordinance.

City Council will discuss the matter during its work session tonight at 7 at City Hall, with a vote scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m.

Also on the agenda:

ä Proposals for widening, curb and gutter, sidewalks and drainage improvements for Church Street between Lanier Avenue and Georgia Avenue. The project is one element in the city's downtown revitalization efforts. Impact fees will pay for the work.

ä Award of a bid for drainage improvements on Wyngate Circle. The city plans to replace a 36-inch storm sewer with a 54-inch pipe to relieve flooding of upstream property. City engineer Don Easterbrook said the county Public Works Department has agreed to help with other flooding problems in the same area, providing labor and equipment for similar work at Wedgewood Drive and paces Drive.

ä A rezoning and annexation request for Argonne Forest, a 127-acre subdivision and 17-acre office park planned for New Hope Road at Ga. Highway 314. The Planning Commission has recommended that the annexation be approved, but that the residential portion of the project be zoned R-30, requiring three-quarter-acre lots, rather than R-22 as developer Bob Rolader is requesting.

Rolader told The Citizen recently that he can't make the project work if the land is zoned R-30. He plans 152 homes and 15 office lots. Council won't act on Rolader's request Monday, because such requests have to be formally read twice. Second reading will be in July.

ä A request from Fenwyck subdivision for speed humps. Two humps would cost about $1,000 each, Easterbrook informs the council, adding that the homeowners' association is expected to assume the cost. Easterbrook said he is checking with the state Department of Transportation to make sure installation of speed humps won't keep the state from resurfacing the subdivision streets later on.