Fence issue in FFX county.................Anyone ever face the same issue? (Arlington: houses, college)

[Thinking-man]

Hi,
for a house on the corner lot, we got a complaint (from someone) about the fence. The 'law' apparently says that if you're on a corner lot, the fence on the two 'faces' of the house, can not be higher than 4 feet. The current fence is about 5 or 6 feet but several other houses nearby have the exact same set up.

i'm not sure why anyone would complain (or would have the time to do that) because the fence is not an eye-sore at all and doesn't bother anyone (apparently it does). The person from county came by and told us that someone complained and that he hates doing this because he sees nothing wrong with the fence...'but if someone complains, he has to enforce the law'.

my question to you folks:

1. have you ever seen a case like this in ffx county?
2. what do you think we should do aside from cutting the fence? (the inspector guy told us to go to court and try to say that the fence came with the house....or something else.....like religious reasons....etc.) thoughts?

[statecollege]

If some can have multiple wives or beat their kids for religious reasons, I suppose it makes sense that a high fence is in accordance with one's faith!

[Thinking-man]

Originally Posted by statecollege

If some can have multiple wives or beat their kids for religious reasons, I suppose it makes sense that a high fence is in accordance with one's faith!

lol thanks.

[kmkat]

do you have a pic of the fence? We have a neighbor that did the same thing on corner lot and actually enclosed a hunk of county land at the same time and I would never dream of turning them in. I was kind of mad as basically they have taken public land and made it their own but I figure that karma will handle it and why get involved. Do you know what neighbor complained?

[Thinking-man]

Originally Posted by kmkat

do you have a pic of the fence? We have a neighbor that did the same thing on corner lot and actually enclosed a hunk of county land at the same time and I would never dream of turning them in. I was kind of mad as basically they have taken public land and made it their own but I figure that karma will handle it and why get involved. Do you know what neighbor complained?

don't have pictures i can post.
no, the county wouldn't tell us which 'neighbor'.

[TyroneBiggums]

1. That is in the zoning ordinance. The corner lot technically has two front yards, which is why you are "supposed" to have a fence 4 feet or less. Funny that they don't restrict the heights of trees in the front yard.

2. You can get a zoning exception. I've seen that happen - in fact, you might have some luck if your corner lot is on a busy street. Call the Department of Planning and Zoning: 703-222-1082

As for your neighbors, I guess you live near some d-bags. It would have been nice if they had approached you beforehand, but that probably makes too much sense.

[ACWhite]

It's possible that a passing driver who maybe thought s/he nearly missed hitting a pedestrian or another car reported it. I think that the rationale for the rules (we have similar ones in Arlington, not only for fences but also for shrubs) is that a higher fence on a corner lot can block visibility. My neighbor on a corner was reported by someone because his bushes were overgrown into the sidewalk and apparently a pedestrian reported it - that's how I learned about it.

[Caladium]

Thinking outside the box.... you could try claiming that you've had problems with deer running through the yard and into the street, and the higher fence keeps them from doing that. I have no idea if that would work or not, but it's a thought.

[Thinking-man]

Originally Posted by TyroneBiggums

1. That is in the zoning ordinance. The corner lot technically has two front yards, which is why you are "supposed" to have a fence 4 feet or less. Funny that they don't restrict the heights of trees in the front yard.

2. You can get a zoning exception. I've seen that happen - in fact, you might have some luck if your corner lot is on a busy street. Call the Department of Planning and Zoning: 703-222-1082

As for your neighbors, I guess you live near some d-bags. It would have been nice if they had approached you beforehand, but that probably makes too much sense.

thank you so much for the info.
what do you think i should use as my 'reasoning' for the zoning exception?

Originally Posted by ACWhite

It's possible that a passing driver who maybe thought s/he nearly missed hitting a pedestrian or another car reported it. I think that the rationale for the rules (we have similar ones in Arlington, not only for fences but also for shrubs) is that a higher fence on a corner lot can block visibility. My neighbor on a corner was reported by someone because his bushes were overgrown into the sidewalk and apparently a pedestrian reported it - that's how I learned about it.

Yes, it's possible that it was a passing driver.
the fence is only half way along one of the faces, and another half on the other face. (hard to imagine without a pic...i know....) but my point is that it doesn't block visibility in any way, shape or form.

Originally Posted by Caladium

Thinking outside the box.... you could try claiming that you've had problems with deer running through the yard and into the street, and the higher fence keeps them from doing that. I have no idea if that would work or not, but it's a thought.

thanks for the idea. any other ideas? :-)

[TyroneBiggums]

Originally Posted by Thinking-man

thank you so much for the info.
what do you think i should use as my 'reasoning' for the zoning exception?

If you are on a fairly busy street, I would argue that the fence provides screening from traffic (privacy and noise abatement). If you have kids or pets, you can say that it helps keep them away from the street. I'm not sure where you live, but I've seen pedestrians use other's yards as cut-throughs, particularly on a corner (goes back to privacy, but in this case, for foot traffic). My advice is that you approach this as though there was no fence and you were going to build one. Why do you want it there? Why should they give you permission to build it? Keep in mind that in order to get an exception, you need to make a very strong argument.

You mentioned that the fence does not run the length of the yards, nor does it obstruct visibility. It may be possible that there was an exception in place already (although the inspector should have already known that).