Board of Appeals delays fence-variance hearing for 2143 Alfred

The Troy City Board of Appeals on Aug. 13 postponed consideration of a front-yard fence-variance request for 2143 Alfred after the applicant asked the panel to delay the hearing until its next meeting.

Dominic Magnus, city planning staff, told the board the property is in an R-1D zoning district, which requires a 25-foot front-yard setback along Alfred and limits fence height to 30 inches within that setback. Magnus said the petitioner seeks a variance to keep a wood-and-mesh deer fence that is 6 feet high and placed 1 foot from the Alfred property line. “This fence is currently installed,” Magnus said, and staff has an enforcement file (EN2025-00558) for work without a permit.

Magnus described the proposed run as 30 feet along Alfred with a 24-foot return toward the house, for a total of 54 feet of six-foot-high fence proposed inside the required front yard. Of the total 91 feet of fence described in the packet, Magnus said 37 feet complies with the zoning regulations and does not require a variance.

When asked whether the petitioner was present, the applicant asked to postpone. The board received a motion to delay the hearing to the next meeting; the motion carried on a unanimous vote of the three members present. No substantive findings on the five variance criteria were made because the board did not hear the case on its merits.

The board chair noted the petitioner could elect to wait for a full five-member panel but also advised that three affirmative votes would be required to grant any variance if the hearing were held with three members present.

The case remains pending and will return to the Board of Appeals on the agenda of the next scheduled meeting for full consideration unless the applicant withdraws or requests a different procedure.