By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

A Fayetteville homeowner will be allowed to build a six-foot privacy fence in her backyard in violation of the city's development standards.

City Council approved the precedent-setting variance Monday following several months of discussion and a series of meetings both at the City Council and Planning Commission levels.

City law prohibits privacy fences in backyards within the city if those backyards meet the law's definition of a front yard, which includes any yard that's next to a street.

Homes that face two streets legally have two front yards, and that has created a safety problem for his child, said Newton Galloway in his appeal of the Planning Commission's denial of his request for a variance to allow the fence.

His son plays in the backyard of the home on Verdon Hill, and that backyard is next to busy Old Norton Road, Galloway said.

In previous meetings, council asked that Galloway arrange to have restricted styles of fence included in the neighborhood's covenants, and provide for extensive landscaping to hide the fence from the road, among other conditions of approval.

City engineer Don Easterbrook pointed out that, once the variance was granted, any similarly placed home in the city would be eligible for the same consideration. “There are quite a number of lots in the city like that,” said Mayor Mike Wheat.

But Galloway argued that the conditions placed on approval of the variance would narrow the number of eligible lots to those that are on collector roads like Old Norton, those that can meet the restrictions on fence style and those where a safety issue exists.

Council aprpvoed the variance 3-2, with Larry Dell and Al Hovey-King opposed. Kenneth Steele, Glenn Brewer and Walt White voted in favor.

Truck parking ordinance gets council OK

If you're currently parking a semi tractor at your home in the city of Fayetteville, you have 60 days (as of Tuesday morning) to get a permit to continue doing so.

City Council Monday approved a new ordinance banning the parking of such rigs in residential areas, but exempting owner/operators who already are doing so. They provided a 60-day deadline for filing a permit for the “grandfathered” rigs.

City officials have been discussing the proposed ordinance for months. The Planning Commission recommended the ordinance, but City Council asked for more study after residents who currently park their trucks at home objected, saying the restriction would cause them to lose their business.

The grandfather clause solved that problem and, after a few other changes, council approved the ordinance Monday.