Peachtree City has legalized privacy fencing on South Fairfield Drive to help 12 homeowners cope with traffic, lights and noise from a neighborhood convenience store.

The City Council authorized a variance for 102 South Fairfield, the only actual application made to the city, to allow construction of a six-foot fence at the rear of the property. But 10 other homeowners will be covered in a comprehensive variance specific to the 100-110 and 700-710 addresses on the street, planners said.

Under normal circumstances, according to development services director Jim Williams, city ordinances allow only a four-foot fence on properties visible from a "collector road," in this case, Wisdom Road. The Texaco service station and convenience store at Wisdom and Ga. Highway 74 generates traffic which has caused problems in the area.

The City Council initially heard Freeman T. Randolph Jr.'s variance request on Nov. 19, but tabled the matter so that staff and homeowners could find a solution for the problems. It also was reported at that time that six-foot fences had been disallowed, but at least one had been installed already and another had been cut down to four feet to conform with requirements.

At the earlier meeting, several Fairfield Drive residents and the owner of the convenience store spoke in favor of the fence variance, prompting the decision to study the situation further, Williams said. Both City Planner David Rast and the city's landscape architect have now reviewed the area and have recommended the higher fences along with replacement of trees in "gaps" in the greenbelt along Wisdom Road.

The council agreed that the city should proceed with replacing landscaping on the buffer area behind the Fairfield Drive homes. About 40 trees will be planted, mostly wax myrtle and leyland cypress, with the cost paid by the city. Williams said he believed that the higher fences would give the residents the privacy they need, while the additional landscaping will prevent "looking at a stockade of fences" along Wisdom Road.

No one would be required to install a fence, Williams added, but those fences installed should conform to the style and design of one which exists at 104 South Fairfield.