Temple terrace – After some public outcry on proposed code changes, which mainly fences and hedges involved, the Temple Terrace city council approved some improvements that have solved the problems.
The primary processing was to remove hedges from the scope of the revised regulations.
In the second reading of February 4, the city council unanimously approved a regulation that has changed sections of the city's land development code.
One of the changes was the removal of hedges from what was presented at the first reading that triggered the biggest debate among the council members and online. It essentially classified the hedging in the same category as fences and limited them to the fence height restriction of 7 feet.
Tom Borroni, the city's code director, informed the council members that he approved most of the changes, the inclusion of hedge altitude limits were difficult.
“The hedges should never have been in there,” said Mayor Andy Ross. “The staff used this there. I wish they didn't have because it caused a lot (dismay).”
The hedges still have to be kept at certain heights to prevent them from hindering the prospects on streets or entrances.
The removal of hedges from the regulation was one of three revisions that the Council had requested.
Another was the initial ban on steel rays when building fences.
“We know that due to the different profiles, sizes, applications and measuring devices of steel rays that are available out there, we actually suggest removing the unaffordable text,” said Greg Pauley, the director of the Community Development.
After all, Pauley and his team addressed a problem in which some council members had the director of the discretion when determining exceptions.
Pauley said that the discretion was clarified in a section and “consolidated the registration authority of the director of materials and styles of fences, walls, decorative fences and decorative walls”.
In addition, the director is authorized to decide which option to determine the front yard should be used if standard methods result in contradictory results within the code.
In addition, the director's discretion was removed to the fence in terms of pressure and art.
“This is, as you remember, the same section that speaks over the finished side of the fence to the outside, and then everything that is up or painted must be inwards from this approval process. “
The Council also discussed the question of relief that was discussed at the first reading in January.
Council member Alison Fernandez wanted to clarify the responsibility of the homeowner in relation to the identification of relief and the recording of this information while going through a permissible process.
Pauley confirmed that the application process requires a survey in which the relief information is listed.
If not, it is the responsibility of the homeowner to take care of this.
The new regulation offered several other changes and explanations that make it easier for the residents to maximize their courtyards and to facilitate the effort.
“This is a good change,” said Ross. “The most important thing that it does is to better define the side centers, the rear yards and the atria, and it makes it much better to make people take full use of their garden.”
This will be particularly helpful for residents with irregularly shaped land, added Ross and cited the classification of side centers, which should now and should now be classified as part of the back yard. This enables the homeowner to use it to be used or use it at will.
The revisions are carried out after one year of the work of the city staff in order to address problems with the previous regulation.