Glendale Hearing Officer Takes Under Submission Variance Request for School Perimeter Fencing

The Glendale Planning Hearing Officer closed the public hearing on April 9, 2025, and took under submission a request by Glendale Adventist Academy for a standards variance to allow new perimeter fencing and gates within required street-front setbacks.

Senior planner Nicola Hlady told the hearing that the project (case PVAR0040242024) would add about 871 linear feet of wrought-iron fencing, ranging roughly between 5 and 8 feet in height, with eight pedestrian gates and one vehicular gate to secure the southern perimeter of the roughly 11-acre campus. Hlady said staff finds the existing campus is a legal nonconforming use in the R1R single-family residential zone and that buildings on the campus already encroach into the 15-foot street-front setback, a pattern that supports the variance findings. "Staff recommends approval of the project, subject to the conditions stated in the draft conditions," Hlady said.

Why it matters: The variance would allow new fencing closer to the street than the 15-foot setback normally requires to improve campus security in areas where natural terrain provides less protection. Staff framed the request as balancing security…