Covington board grants variance for 8-foot metal fence at 815 East 3rd Avenue

The City of Covington Board of Adjustments on Tuesday, Dec. 17, granted a variance allowing an 8-foot metal fence at 815 East 3rd Avenue, voting 4-0 after city staff said an application form was incomplete when a permit was issued.

The property owner, identified in the record as Sakai (the record also refers to her as Miss Shockey), told the board she had spoken with an inspector before ordering materials and "I did confirm that I could put an 8 foot metal fence," adding that the installed fence "is not tin, which is prohibited in the zoning, and it is of good quality."

City staff member Chris told the board that the portion of the application requesting fence material had been cut off and that the inspector should have sought the missing information but nonetheless issued the permit. "Miss Shockey did have a permit for what she put up," Chris said, and the city would pay to replace the fence with a code-compliant wooden fence if the board denied the variance.

Allen, who addressed the board on code specifics, summarized the ordinance's list of prohibited materials: "no barbed wire, razor wire, electrified, tin, asbestos shingle, black tar paper, or hazardous material shall be used in fence wall construction," and stated that the installed fence did not appear to fall into those categories.

Commissioners reported visiting the property before the meeting and said the fence was not visible from the street; one commissioner cited the applicant’s landscaping plans to screen the fence and moved to grant the variance. A second was heard, and the board recorded four yes votes: Miss Butler, Mister Gilley, Mister Lucas and Mister Romage. The motion passed, and the variance was approved.

The board also approved the minutes from its previous meeting earlier in the session. With no further business, the chair closed the last meeting of the year and said the board will reconvene in January with five cases on the agenda.