By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

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.

A 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.

A 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.