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Homeowner Reagan Wellum seeks front-yard fence variance in Bellaire after residents cite safety concerns
Summary
A Bellaire homeowner asked the Board of Adjustment for a variance to install a 4'2'5-foot wrought-iron front fence at 5223 Beech/Beach Street, citing recent crime and vagrancy across the street; staff said the property is not on streets where front fences are allowed and reminded the board a variance requires six affirmative votes under the code.
Homeowner Reagan Wellum asked the Bellaire Board of Adjustment to allow a 4- to 5-foot wrought-iron fence across the front yard of her corner property at 5223 Beech/Beach Street, saying recent changes to neighboring Houston-owned lots have created a safety risk.
"Our home is located at 5223 Beech Street, Bellaire," the applicant said when introducing the submitted letter and evidence. The applicant described repeated incidents in the past two years — vagrant encampments on the adjacent cleared lot, razor wire on a neighboring commercial fence, gunshots, a reported daytime carjacking near the stop sign in front of the house, and a reported attempted abduction — and said the quoted cost for the proposed fence is approximately $6,000.
Multiple neighbors spoke in favor. "I think it's an undue hardship on Reagan and Jeff not to allow them to build the fence to keep people out of their front yard," said Cheryl Gussett, who identified herself as a next-door neighbor. Business owner and nearby resident Debbie Rank also described frequent vagrants near her shop and said she would not feel comfortable there in the evenings without accompaniment.
City planning staff told the board the lot sits in the R-4 residential district with a 25-foot front building line and that Bellaire'9s fence rules permit front-yard fences only on a specific list of streets (South Rice, Chimney Rock, Newcastle, Bissonnet, Bellaire Boulevard and certain frontage conditions). "Since the property is not located on the streets listed above, the proposed front fence does not meet the city's requirement for a front fence to be allowed," staff said, and reminded members the board must make the four affirmative findings listed in section 24-704 of the city code to grant a variance.
Board members repeatedly expressed sympathy for the applicants'9 safety concerns but cautioned that general crime or nuisance reports do not automatically satisfy the legal standard of a parcel-specific, non-self-created hardship. The board moved to vote on approval; the transcript records individual vocal responses (including an on-record "Aye" and at least one "Nay") but does not include a complete roll-call tally or an explicit final disposition in the available transcript.
Next steps noted during the hearing: if the variance fails, the applicants must wait one year to reapply; several board members suggested the applicants seek a rule change through Planning & Zoning or the city council if they believe multiple parcels face the same problem.
