The Planning and Zoning Commission is recommending a Zoning Ordinance amendment that would give staff authority to administratively approve applications for golf ball fences.

The staff report states that homeowners living along golf courses may experience errant golf balls coming onto their property, striking homes and other structures, and causing damage.

The town has provided a remedy for this in the Zoning Ordinance by allowing residents who might be subject to potential damage to apply for a special use permit (SUP) to install a golf ball fence to protect their property. The SUP requires council approval with a P&Z recommendation.

“While the town does not receive a lot of these requests, we have received enough over the years that we have become comfortable with the rules in place governing the typical installation of such a fence,” Development Services Director John Wesley said in his staff report. “When council considered the most recent request for a golf ball fence SUP last year, they asked staff to review and consider a text amendment to allow them to be approved administratively.”

The proposed ordinance makes no changes to the standards required for a fence; however, it makes the review and approval of the permit application an administrative action. The amendment does include an allowance to still apply for an SUP should the request not comply with the standards or characteristics outlined by the ordinance.

The commission voted 6-0 to recommend the council approve the amendment.

A second item on the agenda for the Feb. 8 commission meeting was delayed until the next session in March. Wesley said staff did not provide the commission with all the information it needed for review in a timely manner.

That item calls for new standards for developers to provide for citizen participation in the review process.