Zoning Administrator McKay approves 8-foot fence permit at 2451 Slater Street

Zoning Administrator McKay approved a minor conditional use permit to allow an 8-foot-tall fence with gates within the corner-side setback at 2451 Slater Street, following a staff recommendation and brief questions about sidewalks and property lines.

Project planner Suzanne Hartman told the administrator the applicant proposes six feet of solid metal fencing topped by two feet of cedar horizontal slats, two entry/exit gates, and creeping fig planted on the fence to soften its appearance. Hartman said staff concluded the required findings could be met and recommended approval by resolution. She also reported receiving one comment in support of the design.

Hartman said the project was determined categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under a Class 3 exemption for small accessory structures (CEQA Guidelines §15303). She advised that under current city code property owners are responsible for maintaining adjacent sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and that any sidewalk improvements would likely be triggered by a future building-permit application rather than by the planning entitlement being considered.

The applicant, Lindsay Massie, the property owner and a local architect, addressed the meeting by Zoom and clarified property-line and sidewalk questions. "My property actually does not extend all the way to the street," Massie said, adding there is more than the roughly five feet that a city sidewalk would require between her property line and the curb and that "the fence is also one foot inside my property line." Massie said that, in her view, the space would allow for a sidewalk in the future without moving the proposed fence.

During brief questioning McKay and staff asked whether a legal sidewalk easement exists; Hartman said she had consulted engineering, which raised no objections to the fence location but could not confirm the presence of a legal easement at the hearing. Hartman said sidewalk installation would typically be triggered by a later building permit unless a variance or other process were sought.

After the presentation and clarifications McKay said he had no additional conditions or modifications to staff's resolution and approved the permit. He noted the decision is final unless an appeal is filed with the planning and economic development department within 10 calendar days; for this item the appeal deadline was stated as Monday, April 6, 2026.

The decision allows construction of the described fence within the corner-side setback at 2451 Slater Street, subject to the conditions in the staff resolution and standard appeal rights.