Sense people have already hinted on the grading, I thought I would throw in some ideas. I would see if I could get a climbing vine for the neighboors fence to the right, obviously checking with the neighboor, something like confederate jasmine. I also would look into some red roses to echo the red theme, and check into the new bright red stunning crape myrtle, it would give summer red to the house. I would plant four 2 on one side near the back hiding the siding on the side and 2 on the other kind of staggered with the first one at the front of the porch and the next one behind it. That would hide that hole and add depth making your house look bigger as well as complmenting color. I know you cant get ride of that chain link, but the more you can hide of it the better. Peronsally I think repainting chain link is tedious but worth the effort with oil based rustoleum. I just got through painting a slightly rusted vegtable garden fence in white and it looks insanely good for chain link. I am not recommending that for the front, but possibly for the sides and back, black wouldn't draw your eye to it as easy. You don't have room for shrubs to cover it so thats why I mentined a climbing vine. Keep whatever you plant in the front yard low. Personally I would bring in some bags of soil, about 30$ worth of composted manure, 1 10$ bag of peat, and 2-3 bags of loam, and would plant annual flowers all across the front the 1st year, and then slowly add in perinneal. Its such a small area that wedding would be easy. This would save you from having to mow the weeds. Also 3-5 bags of mulch would go a long way. I mean for under 100$ you could have that entire front bed looking amazing and it would do tons for curb appeal. Maybe its just me but I think a dark purple with hint of red picket fence around the front would look great, You could get a vinyl picket fence and custom paint from lowes. http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=202842-77007-73000930&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3159825&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1 Its 3ft by 8ft. Guessing you would need 4 pieces & gate x26 a pice so thats 140$ish with gate, then about 30 in exterior paint. That would take are of the entire front for 270, new fence, annuals, soil, mulch, and 120 for 4 red really nice crape myrtles and a couple weekends of time. So for about 400$ you could have the entire front street view, side view, front beds, and side beds done with great soil and tons of color/seasonal interest. I am currently doing an area twice that size for about the same price :)

A few circumstances that could aid your plight are whether you are on a busy street or not, whether you have room to contruct a turnaround (ie, hammerhead), and how far back from the road the inside edge of the circle is from the road. You could certainly have more leverage in claiming hardship if backing out is a safety hazard and you have no alternative method of turning the car around. Most zoning by-laws have a definition section (sometimes they are hard to find). Many zoning by-laws can now be downloaded from municipal websites in pdf form. These are easily searchable, if that helps. I have seen "driveway" defined as an "The travelway for vehicles between the access and the garage or parking area" (this would not be good for you), but I've also seen it defined as a "travel way" (which would be good). Zoning boards have a lot of descretion that is backed up in court. It is very difficult to overturn their descretion when applying their interpretation of an unclear definition unless they have not applied the definition consistantly. If the definition is not written or not written clearly, your interpretation of it is no more valid than theirs, so you will not stand much of a chance of overturning it. I would suggest that you try to force them into writing a clear definition as early as possible in order for them to have to commit to it. This would open the door for alternatives that do not go outside of their definition. If you proposed something that fits the definitionm it would have to be accepted or it would be much more easily appealed.

I agree with adding a "people" gate so that those who park in the driveway have access to the yard. If you put the gate on the back side of the fence (the piece that is parallel to the road and joins the corner of the porch) you can use it also to access garbage/recycling. But do you really even need to keep the fence? I know these are common in older sections of older northern cities where the houses are close to the road. But do you, personally, need the fence? I would think it would be important if you had your childen or your pets out there. Or maybe if your yard would be a shortcut if not fenced off. But it might be much more inviting if you just did away with it entirely.

I might toss in the gravel after they are planted just to give it a little firmer base and raise the water table a bit. I think i have settled on a 4 plant mix for now on both sides of the driveway. All of these are said to pretty much grow anywhere and dont mind wet feet for weeks at a time or when it dries out. And will display something all 4 seasons in some way. 1. Center Location - Switch Grass (panicum vergatum) 5' tall and 2' wide (3 per side) 2. Next closer row - Henry's Garnet Sweetspire (Itea Verginica) 3' tall and 3' wide (3 per side) 3. Next closer row or mixed with Little Henry #2 - OakLeaf Hydranga - 4' tall 3' wide (2 per side) 4. Around the border on both sides - Carex Evercolor Eversheen (carel oshimensis) - (10 per side) I think with that combo things should look good and work well being no maintainance and will do well in that environment. After the plants get going you can just forget them and they will manage themselves from what i have been told and read.. Correct me if i am wrong please.. Thanks :)