The St. Tammany Parish Board of Adjustments on an unspecified date heard arguments over a developer’s request to waive a code requirement for an 8‑foot opaque fence around a proposed baseball training facility and postponed the case so the applicant can gather additional documents and consent letters.

Staff presented the case (BOA 254404), describing a 7.003‑acre site in a community‑based facilities district and recommending no objection to the waiver because “substantial natural buffering” surrounds the property and a letter of no objection had been submitted by one adjacent owner. Smitty Smith, the applicant, said the fence would be difficult to construct and maintain in the wooded buffer and asked for a variance. “It would be an unnecessary and undue hardship, and we’re asking for a variance,” Smith said.

An adjacent owner, Albert Raiford, opposed the waiver, noting that the original permit required the fence and that he had rejected previous proposals to remove or relocate it. “I request offense,” Raiford told the board, placing his objection on the record and saying safety and noise were his primary concerns.

Smith provided photographs and said he had reached out to nearby property owners; he also offered to submit an arborist report showing dead trees that would make fence construction impractical and suggested three conditions if the board required a fence: build after hazardous trees are cleared, require neighbors to maintain their side of an installed fence, and have certain equipment removed from the property line prior to construction.

Board members questioned whether the applicant had provided formal written notice to neighbors and whether the board could compel a private party to clear trees. One member noted that prior cases had allowed fences if built inside the 15‑foot buffer but not if it required cutting the buffer. Given an adjacent owner’s explicit opposition, a motion to postpone the matter carried to give the applicant time to obtain additional letters of support and related documentation.

The board did not render a final decision and will rehear the case at a future meeting once the applicant submits the requested materials.