Higher fences, BZA-planning combo sought

Zoning code review By CHRIS BOURNEA Tuesday December 9, 2014 8:38 AM

As the year draws to a close, Bexley's zoning code modernization committee is finishing up work on a set of recommendations to simplify and update the zoning code and design guidelines.

The committee held its final public meetings Nov. 24 and Dec. 1 at City Hall.

The committee includes Mayor Ben Kessler, who also serves as the city's development director; Kathy Rose, building and zoning director; planning consultant Jason Sudy; legal consultant Catherine Cunningham; and representatives from the city's Board of Zoning Appeals and the Planning and Tree commissions.

For more than a year, the committee has been studying issues such as Main Street building design guidelines, parking requirements for businesses and whether to combine the BZA and Planning Commission into one body.

A combined BZA and Planning Commission makes sense in a built-out, inner-ring suburb such as Bexley, Kessler said.

"There are other communities like Upper Arlington that have combined the BZA and the planning commission," he said. "We're trying to keep the process as streamlined as possible and make it more cohesive and coherent."

At the Dec. 1 meeting, the committee also discussed recommendations for residential fences and walls.

"This was one of the most-talked-about sections (of the zoning code)," Sudy said.

The committee recommends increasing the current fence height limit of 42 inches to 48 inches. The change is designed to prevent homeowners from seeking variances to build fences as high as 72 inches, Rose said.

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Higher fences, BZA-planning combo sought