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Kathleen Tellez seeks front-yard fence; Hobart authority cites ordinance, suggests alternatives
Summary
An applicant, Kathleen Tellez, asked the Hobart City Redevelopment Authority for permission to extend a fence to the front of her house to create safe outdoor space for her two small dogs. The board said front-yard fences are generally prohibited by a 1983 ordinance, suggested alternatives and told her to provide a stamped survey and work with the building department.
Kathleen Tellez, an applicant at the Hobart City Redevelopment Authority meeting, requested permission to install a fence that would run from the front to the back of her lot to give her two small dogs usable outdoor space.
The Chair cautioned that the city’s ordinance generally does not allow new front-yard fences and said allowing one could set a precedent. "I don't think, that we'd be able to entertain, allowing a front yard, fence there for a couple of reasons," the Chair said, noting past cases where fences were allowed only because they predated the ordinance.
Tellez described the property layout and constraints: "What I'm trying to do is put a fence and a fence around the front of the property as well as all the way to the back. ... I have 2 little dogs and the lot is consumed by house mostly all the way back to the alley." She told the board she lacks a convenient side-door access to the garage and that modifying the garage or adding doors would be costly.
Committee members reviewed aerial and street views during the meeting and pointed to neighboring fences that appear to be grandfathered because they predate the ordinance adopted around 1983. One Committee member summarized the board’s standard: exceptions are reserved for lot or land anomalies, such as when a house sits on a lot such that what appears as a front yard is functionally not a front yard. "Those extraordinary circumstances ... have to do with the land," the Committee member said.
As a compromise, board members suggested the applicant could place a fence up to the front corner of the house (stopping short of the curb line) so the yard gains usable space without extending to the public-facing curb. Members also advised investigating side-yard options, such as creating a man door in the garage, and confirmed that financial hardship alone does not meet the land-based standard for an exception.
The board instructed Tellez to provide a formal property survey or submit an existing stamped survey to the building department so staff can determine the exact property lines and advise what is permissible. The Chair and staff recommended she coordinate with the building department to confirm where a fence could be placed and what permit or variance process would apply.
The authority did not take a final vote on the variance at the meeting. Next steps are for the applicant to obtain or submit a survey and follow the building-department instructions for a formal application or permit process.
