Fence in historic district still in limbo

♦ The Historic Preservation Commission gives its blessing but several issues remain.

The new owner of a home in Rome’s historic Between the Rivers District won approval from the Historic Preservation Commission for a fence around their property on East Fourth Street Wednesday. However, the family still has several hurdles to clear before they are allowed to keep the fence standing as is.

The fence separating the DuPree Apartments at 203 E. Fourth St. from the home of Nicole Collins and Shane Rehburg was started by the previous owner of the home, in violation of a ruling by the HPC over a year ago. The fence is 8 feet tall, however the HPC guidelines only permit a 6-foot fence.

“We’re here to apologize. We didn’t go through all the right steps and procedures,” Rehburg said.

Marti Walstad, the couple’s neighbor at 207 E. Fourth St., said that she couldn’t tell the HPC how many needles she had seen in an alley right behind the apartments, an alley which is now blocked off by the fence. “It enhances my property value as well,” Walstad said.

HPC member Mary Sib Banks told the couple, “It’s a good looking fence. Nobody is arguing that.”

Building inspector James Martin said the fence could be cut down to 6 feet in height and everything would be fine by code.

To keep the 8-foot height, the couple now has to get approval from the Planning Commission, which considers Unified Land Development Code rules, and they will need a variance for the height from the Board of Adjustments and then need a design professional to sign off on the stability of the fence and provide a set of drawings that detail its stability to get an after-the-fact building permit.

HPC Chairwoman Audrey Kendrick, herself an architectural designer, hinted that

Read this story online for a link to the Rome Historic Preservation Commission page on the joint Rome-Floyd County website.

it could be a big challenge to get a licensed designer to sign off on someone else’s work.

The HPC also approved the installation of a backyard pool for Steve Protz at 17 Rosewood Road.

The pool will not be seen from the road and the HPC determined it would not be a detriment to the College Heights Historic District.