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The Danville Planning Commission is poised to consider upholding a previous decision to approve a land use permit for a replacement fence on an El Pintado property that was appealed by the owners of a neighboring property.
A longstanding fence at 540 El Pintado Road that exceeded the town’s 3.5 foot limit eventually succumbed to years of wear and tear, and was removed with the goal of replacing it with a fence of the same height.
Following negotiations between the owner of that property, Antonio Alvarez, and the neighboring property owners at 546 El Pintado Road, Lisa and George D’Olivo, the old fence was replaced by one below 3.5 feet and in compliance with the town’s requirements.
Alvarez applied for a land use permit that would have allowed for the construction of a 6-foot tall fence in the same location as the previous one, which did not meet the 5-foot setback requirement currently in place under town requirements.
Although Alvarez’s application was initially approved by town officials, the D’Olivos filed an appeal raising concerns about the setback.
In a staff report prepared for the upcoming meeting, associate planner Riley Anderson-Barrett argues the original decision to allow for the replacement fence should be upheld and the appeal denied due to caveats in town ordinances that give officials the authority to approve the project and a lack of sever consequences for the D’Olivos or other neighbors.
“The Town believes that the granting of a land use permit and the resulting fence will not be detrimental to the health, safety, and general welfare of the Town,” Anderson-Barrett wrote. “The proposed fence would be constructed along the edge of a private access easement which primarily serves one property located to the rear of the property on which the easement is located. Permitting the fence to maintain a six foot height without a five foot setback will not impact the health or safety on this property as it has historically existed on-site.”
Staff are recommending that the commission vote to deny the appeal and uphold the previous decision to approve the replacement fence.
The Danville Planning Commission is set to meet at 5 p.m. on Tuesday (Aug. 8). The agenda is available here.
I drive by this abomination every day. The fence in question when originally constructed had another foot and a half of lattice attached to the top, making it close to 8 feet tall! I noticed some days ago that the lattice was taken down, but the framing for it remains in place. No decent person would put up a neighborhood eyesore like this. Riley Anderson-Barrett should be looking for a job elsewhere as this is being written. We have zoning rules to prevent this sort of stuff from happening, and maybe the Town Council should be taking the Planning Commission to task here. Frankly, I am surprised it’s taken this long for an adjoining property owner to ask for redress, I just wonder how it was allowed in the first place.