Tuesday evening, July 7th the Plymouth Board of Zoning Appeals met in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 7:30 p.m.
The BZA heard the variance request of Jack and Katie Stanifer at 14719 Oak Court in the Tall Oaks subdivision to place a privacy fence that would be 11 feet tall instead of the required 7 feet.
The home sits on the north side of State Road 17 and the Stanifers have an above-ground pool in the back yard. While a portion of their back yard has pine trees for privacy, the pool sits out where anyone driving by on State Road 17 can see anyone in the pool.
Jack Stanifer said the height of the fence is necessary because State Road 17 sits about 6 feet higher than his backyard and a 7 foot fence would not block the vision of people on the highway.
The Stanifers received a letter from the Plymouth Building Commissioner when they started construction without a permit. Mr. Stanifer said he lives in the country and didn’t realize he needed a permit from the city because he is in the 2-mile zone. That’s when he also learned of the city’s standard for the height of the fence and a stop work order was placed on the construction.
The Stanifers explained that they plan to use lattice on the upper two sections of the fence and leave the bottom section.
During the public hearing portion of the variance request, Doug Feece, President of the Plymouth Plan Commission said the city made the laws and restrictions for a reason and he’s afraid that others will be asking for requests to not follow the city standards.
The Board of Zoning Appeals approve the variance request as presented with clarification that the fence will be no more than 11 feet tall with lattice on the upper two sections only and there will be no signage placed on the fence for any reason. The approval passed with all three members present voting in favor.
