Board limits Hough/Huff development variances; allows trenched utilities but denies road widenings, continues new-road request

The Monroe County Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday split its decisions on a set of contested variances for multiple parcels owned or controlled by the Huff revocable trusts along South Shadyside Drive and the Cholmondeley peninsula near Lake Monroe.

After multi-hour presentations, testimony from planning staff, legal argument by the petitioner’s counsel, and nearly a dozen public comments both in favor and opposed, the board granted only limited relief for several variance requests: it approved utility installation and silt-fence location encroachments narrowly tied to existing access drives, with conditions requiring utilities and silt fence be placed on specified sides of the road and located in a single trench, timely notice to staff before trenching and silt-fence installation, and staff inspections after completion. The board denied requests that would widen or relocate roadways through steep, environmentally constrained slopes and denied variances that would permit the oversized accessory dwelling unit (DADU) and the owner-occupancy waiver staff identified as inconsistent with the accessory-dwelling standards.

The cases the board addressed together included VAR-25-46 (Main Gate parcel, Eco Area 1, >12% slope encroachment), VAR-25-47 A–D (Main Vacation Home and DADU parcel: slope encroachments,…