Monroe County BZA denies Hough New Road variances after staff, neighbors raise erosion and slope concerns

The Monroe County Board of Zoning Appeals voted 3-0 to deny VAR-25-48A and VAR-25-48B, variances that would have allowed creation and widening of a 1.41-mile segment of the proposed “Hough New Road” across steep slopes and riparian areas.

The variances were the subject of an extended presentation by Tammy Bierman, assistant director for the Monroe County Planning Department, and a formal case from the petitioner's attorney, Nicholas Moline. Bierman told the board that staff recommends denial of both variances based on the findings of fact. She summarized staff’s site-visit observations, mapped slope analysis and identified the amount of proposed disturbance: “Petitioner is proposing roadway creation of 72,118 square feet, and then the roadway widening, is 13,102 square feet,” and additional disturbance in Eco Area 2 of “roadway creation of 5,191 square feet and the road widening of 10,641 square feet.”

The nut graf: The board’s decision follows detailed staff analysis that the proposed road would traverse large stretches of slopes restricted by…