TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Supplemental Information about Proposed Fence Regulations for the Proposed Neighborhood Conservation District for the Morgan Creek/Kings Mill Neighborhood
DATE: June 12, 2006
PURPOSE
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide supplemental information to the Council about the proposed fence regulations in the proposed Neighborhood Conservation District for the Morgan Creek/Kings Mill neighborhood.
The Council held a public hearing on May 15, 2006, and received citizen, Planning Board and Council comments. The Council continued the hearing until tonight. A follow-up memorandum was distributed to Council in preparation for the June 12, 2006, meeting and included a discussion of the proposed fence regulation. However, the memorandum inadvertently omitted a discussion about how the proposed fence regulations would affect corner lots and how a front yard would be identified.
FENCE DISCUSSION
In addition to concerns about the language of the proposed fence regulation, and how the regulation would apply to pools, several Council Members requested further discussion on how the proposed fence regulations would affect corner lots. This discussion was inadvertently omitted from the follow-up memo and is addressed here:
Comment: The Land Use Management Ordinance provides zoning standards for street setbacks, solar setbacks and interior setbacks that relate to the orientation of the lot and the street rather than the orientation of the lot and the structure built upon it. Therefore, corner lots are considered to have two street setbacks. However, we believe that the Clarion Associates recommendation regarding fencing was intended to apply to the front yard only, which would require a corner lot to comply with the fence regulation according to which street the house faced. We continue to recommend the restriction of fences as proposed by Clarion Associates.
To reflect our interpretation of the regulation, we included a footnote in the Neighborhood Conservation District Plan that states, “Front yard for this fence standard shall be the street the house faces.” Please see Attachment 1 for a copy of the Morgan Creek/Kings Mill Neighborhood Conservation District Plan.
ATTACHMENT
1. Morgan Creek/Kings Mill Neighborhood Conservation District Plan (p. 1).