03-23-95 Regular Meeing and Public Hearing

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~ ~ Page 2 of 4 Board of Adjustment Staff Report of 7-6-95 #A95-002 On May 26, Mr. Smith submitted a building permit request for the front yard fence. Section 10-502 of Zoning Ordinance 1501 states "in case of large lot residential lots [home sites comprised of one or more acres], six feet (6') perimeter fences are allowed as an accessory use. As noted above, the applicant's property is under an acre in size. Based on these factors, the permit application was denied by City Inspector Debbie Wihnore. Mr. Smith is appealing the permit denial. Analysis: Zoning Ordinance Section 11-603.1 empowers the Board of Adjustment to: Hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is an error in any order, requirement, decision or determination made by the enforcement officer in the enforcement of this ordinance. Ordinance Section 11-604.03 establishes criteria under which an appeal is to be reviewed. The Board is empowered to grant an appeal only when it finds that all three of the following criteria have been satisfied. That there is a reasonable difference or interpretation as to the specific intent of the zoning regulations or zoning map, provided the interpretation of the enforcement officer is a reasonable presumption and the zoning ordinance is unreasonable. That the resulting interpretation will not grant a special privilege to one property inconsistent with other properties or uses similarly situated. The decision of the board must be in the best interest of the community and consistent with the spirit and interest of the City's zoning laws and Comprehensive Plan of the City of La Porte. The first of these criteria is a test of intent and interpretation. Specifically, is there a reasonable difference in interpretation of ordinance intent and; if the enforcing officer's interpretation is reasonable; is the ordinance itself unreasonable? The inspector's interpretation of ordinance was clearly correct. This lot is less than one acre in size. Although it is a sizeable lot, it is enough under one acre that a decision to approve the fence permit would have overstepped reasonable administrative latitude. The next question to consider is whether the ordinance itself is unreasonable.