Board approves narrow-flag‑lot variance to allow duplex infill on Magnolia Avenue

The City of Daytona Beach Board of Adjustment on Sept. 18 voted 6-0 to approve a variance reducing the minimum flag-lot width for a narrow extension from 20 feet to 15.5 feet at a parcel on Magnolia Avenue, allowing the applicant to combine three lots and construct a duplex.
Elliot Meadows, representing the contractor applicant, said he purchased three small lots (previously sold by Habitat for Humanity) to combine into one parcel suitable for a duplex. He told the board the redevelopment district requires a 16-foot width for the flag portion and the existing combined lots measure 15.5 feet at the right-of-way, so the variance sought six inches of relief.
Meadows described the proposal as a rental duplex with two sides of approximately 1,600 square feet each, four bedrooms and two baths per side, built on a stem wall above the flood plain. He said the project is one of several affordable-housing infill projects his firm is building locally and estimated completion by next summer.
Board members discussed access and the existing informal dirt drive that currently provides access to a house behind the parcels; Meadows said the project will include a new 16-foot driveway adjacent to the right-of-way and that a utility pole in front might need to be moved. He said the existing house behind the parcels would retain its access and not be landlocked.
The board approved the variance as proposed. The approval allows the flag section to be formed when the three parcels are combined and permits construction of the duplex as presented; the board did not add conditions beyond the variance approval recorded at the meeting.