Design Review Board OKs height variance for fence at 2360 Paradise Drive

Julie Stewart, a resident and applicant at 2360 Paradise Drive, asked the Tiburon Town Design Review Board on April 17 to approve a height variance for an as-built fence along the southern and western edges of her property.

The fence is stepped to follow a roughly 15% slope on the lot, the applicant told the board, and measured from the outside of Linda Vista reaches as high as about 8 feet 8 inches where the exterior grade drops off. Stewart said she removed a sliding gate and an associated retaining wall that had extended beyond the property line after town staff told her an encroachment permit could not be issued for that portion of Linda Vista because the adjacent strip had not been granted to the town by an original easement holder from 1894.

The variance request covers the remaining sections of fence that exceed the six-foot height limit due to differing exterior and interior grades. “That section exceeded the property line and so we have removed that section and it is now this that just is continuing the rest of the fence,” Stewart told the board. She said the fence coloration will blend with weathering over time.

The request drew no public speakers and board members expressed support. Vice Chair Rosner said the board had previously been inclined to grant a variance, and members said the removal of the encroaching gate simplified the matter. Board members voted to adopt the draft resolution granting the variance; the motion passed with all members present voting in favor.

The action permits the existing, stepped fence to remain where it exceeds the six-foot standard due to topographic conditions. The board’s approval followed staff direction earlier in the meeting that the specific gate and retaining wall that extended past the property line had to be removed or otherwise resolved before a variance would be granted.

The board recorded the matter as categorically exempt under CEQA.