The Mount Vernon city council voted 4-1 to remand a decision for an exterior garage back to the board of adjustment to reconsider.
Mount Vernon city council member Eric Roudabush provided the dissenting opinion.
At Oct. 19’s meeting of the board of adjustment, the committee approved a variance request for the Havill property at 716 Eighth Street N.W.
The Havills were requesting a variance to not have to follow setback adjustments for their detached garage.
Normal setbacks for a detached garage would be 30 feet from the rear yard and five feet from their side yard. The setbacks with the proposed plan they presented for their detached garage amounted to 12 feet from the rear lot line and less than two feet from the east side lot line.
Associate planner Laura Eckles explained at that meeting it would be acceptable to place the proposed new structure in their front yard and be able to meet the current zoning code requirements. This would not increase their non-conformity, but get them closer to a conforming structure by decreasing front yard setbacks.
The Havills noted they did not want to go that route, stating concerns for that placement could impact resale and use of their property.
The committee held extensive discussion on the requirements for a variance, covering the reason of demonstrable and exceptional hardship as distinguished. The committee voted to approve the variance request with a majority vote of 2-1.
Mount Vernon city administrator Chris Nosbisch said from the city’s perspective, this is an egregious variance, as it doesn’t meet any of the setbacks for an exterior garage and there are additional locations an exterior garage could be placed on their property that would allow them to not be in as great of a variance.
If the commission is to allow this variance, Nosbisch said that the council should be looking at changing the zoning code.
Roudabush’s no vote was due to the commission coming to a decision to approve this variance and not wanting to send this back to a commission to reevaluate.
“The Havills did what we asked them to do and went through this process,” Roudabush said. “Now we’re saying no, and taking this approval away from the Havills.”
The number of homes that have been grandfathered in under non compliance to the set back requirements was also something Roudabush noted as showing the variances already exist, as was the lack of complaints from neighbors for the proposed project.
For Nosbisch, the issue is allowing non-conformity without changing the city’s ordinances, as that would put the city at odds with not following its own setbacks and ordinances knowingly.