Annapolis committee amends fence-permit rules, delays final vote for fiscal review

The Annapolis Rules and City Government Committee on a virtual session advanced and amended proposed changes to the city’s fence-permit rules in Title 17 while postponing final approval until staff supplies a staffing and fiscal-impact statement.

The committee adopted a set of amendments that sponsor Alderman Savage said were meant to close a loophole exposed by a recent ward case in which a long perimeter fence was removed without a permit. “What I found out… was that a significant length of fence — I think over 600 feet — was removed without a permit,” Alderman Savage said, and the proposed code change would make clear that large removals require a complete application.

The key amendments the committee approved were: removing a 400-foot exemption so that no existing fence may be removed or demolished without a complete application; requiring applicants to show existing trees of a certain size within three feet of the proposed fence on scaled drawings; and changing the building board of appeals’ discretion to a duty to reverse or modify orders that are contrary to the code. Alderman Arnett…