Tire shop gets OK on electric fence

The owner of a tire shop on Nebraska Avenue may keep his 10-foot-high electrified fence, a city variance panel has ruled.

No one spoke against the proposal at a public hearing last week.

Tampa's code enforcement department recently cited the owner of LNR Tires, 9402 Nebraska Ave., for an electrified fence installed in 2002 behind a chain-link fence.

Steve Michelini, representing owner Rueben Pena, provided the city's Variance Review Board with police reports and data showing about $98,000 in inventory stolen from the shop in four months. Before installing the fence, the owner tried guard dogs - a German shepherd and his pet boxer - but the animals were stolen.

He next unsuccessfully tried barbed wire, now removed, and an alarm system. Nothing stopped the thievery until the electrified fence was installed, Michelini said.

"It is something that will work toward stopping people putting you out of business," he said.

This was the second test of a revised 2009 city ordinance on electrified fences. The first request for an electrified fence at Sunshine Tire Shop, 8634 Nebraska Ave. in Sulphur Springs, was denied by the review board, which found police logs, not incident reports, insufficient to prove a security need. It also determined the shop was too close to a city park to qualify for the fence.

Tampa City Council members later overturned the board's decision, citing the ordinance's vague language, and approved the fence. But the city's legal and land-use staffs were asked for recommendations to clarify what was required to prove a security need.

A public workshop will be held in April before any ordinance revisions.

"It's a poorly drafted ordinance that doesn't give us a lot of guidance as to what the security need is," said variance board member Randy Baron.

There was some reluctance to support the fence at LNR Tires - the business is north of Busch Boulevard and north of Sulphur Springs - even among those who sided with the board's prevailing 4-2 vote.

"Normally, I am not in favor of electric fences under any circumstances," said board member Randy O'Kelley. "I'm having a hard time not supporting this petition."

O'Kelley and Baron agreed the owner had tried options and had data showing property losses sharply declined after installation of the fence.

Board member Steve LaBour, who voted against the fence, said the data also showed that the shop's alarm system worked as a deterrent.

"It scared somebody off," he said.