Applicant Kathleen Tellez seeks front-yard fencing; board points to ordinance, advises survey

An applicant who identified herself in the record as Kathleen Tellez asked the Hobart City Redevelopment Authority on March 5, 2026, for permission to install a fence that would run from the front of her lot all the way to the rear to give two small dogs room to run.

The board examined aerial and street views and discussed the application at length. "If we allow you to do that, then we're setting precedent," one committee member said, citing the city ordinance and neighborhood consistency as reasons to be cautious. The transcript records members referring to a fence ordinance adopted in 1983 and to the city’s practice of treating certain older fences as grandfathered exceptions.

Tellez described site limitations that prompted the request: an attached garage with driveway access to an alley, no convenient side-door access for the dogs to reach a side yard, and a utility cover in the driveway. "I have 2 little dogs and the lot is consumed by the house mostly all the way back to the alley," she said during her presentation. Board members responded with several practical alternatives, including placing a fence up to the front corner of the house (but not past the neighboring houses’ front lines), using the more usable side yard, or adding a man door on the garage to provide internal access.

The board repeatedly advised the applicant to obtain an official property survey and to consult the building department before the authority could consider any variance or formal change. "You need to have a survey done, like, an actual survey to find out how much space you have there," a member said; staff noted that an existing survey could be submitted to the building department. The board did not record a formal vote on the fence variance at the meeting.

The record includes references to several addresses and street names (Garfield, references to 950 Garfield, and 212 South Ash/212 South Beach) that are garbled in the transcript; the exact property reference was not unambiguously captured in the audio-to-text record. The board instructed the applicant to secure a survey, coordinate with neighbors, and work with the building department on permit and setback requirements. If the survey and supporting materials are submitted later, the board indicated it would revisit the application at a subsequent meeting.

The meeting closed without a formal variance decision; next procedural steps are the applicant obtaining a survey and following building-department guidance.