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<br />Resolution No. PC-95-36 <br />Page 4 <br /> <br />Other properties are across streets or, as in the <br />case of the church, have driveways on Golden Road, <br />rather than Hopyard Road. The use of the property <br />as a day care center is a special circumstance <br />unlike other residential lots in the area. Fencing <br />in the front yard is needed to achieve the amount <br />of play space necessary for the expansion of the <br />day care facility and provide for the safety of the <br />children. The applicant has agreed to install a <br />vinyl-clad chain link fence with a substantial <br />landscape screen which staff feels would be <br />aesthetically pleasing and appropriate. <br /> <br />This residentially-zoned property is unique in that <br />it is a very large lot in comparison to the <br />surrounding residential lots and it is one of the <br />only residential lots to have direct frontage onto <br />Hopyard Road. Many other residential lots adjacent <br />to Hopyard Road have soundwalls and other solid <br />fencing along their Hopyard Road property lines. <br /> <br />There are special circumstances which justify <br />granting a variance for the height of the fence. <br /> <br />B. The granting of the variance will not constitute a <br />grant of special privilege inconsistent with the <br />limitation on other properties classified in the <br />same zoning district. <br /> <br />In order for this finding to be made, a <br />relationship must exist between the unique site and <br />the variance in question. The orientation of the <br />applicants' front yard on a major arterial street <br />is unique in this area. Other residential <br />properties surrounding this site front on smaller <br />collector streets, and those on the west side of <br />Hopyard Road have a six to eight foot high <br />soundwall along their Hopyard Road side and rear <br />property lines. <br /> <br />This 23,000 square foot site is substantially <br />larger than the surrounding 6,500 square foot lots. <br />Lots of this size in the R-I-20,000 zoning district <br />are permitted to have open fencing which does not <br />detract from the appearance of the property and <br />streetscape. In the past, variances for the height <br />of fences in front yards have been supported when <br />circumstances, such as the safety of children, <br />warranted higher fences. <br />