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Board of Adjustments rejects variance to extend downspout to curb at 2108 E. Fifth St.
Summary
The City of Washington Board of Adjustments denied a request from the owner of 2108 East Fifth Street to extend a gutter downspout into the city curb and gutter, citing a recent stormwater code requiring downspouts to daylight at least 5 feet inside the property line to comply with the city's MS4 permit.
The City of Washington Board of Adjustments on April 14 denied a variance request that would have allowed a property owner at 2108 East Fifth Street to extend a private gutter downspout into the city curb and gutter.
City engineer Charles Sankovic told the board that a 2024 update to the city's stormwater code requires gutter downspouts to “daylight at least 5 feet back of the property line,” disallowing new direct connections to the curb and gutter in order to promote on-site infiltration and meet the city's MS4 permit obligations. “You can't take 'em to the curb and gutter anymore,” Sankovic said.
The request — listed on the agenda as file number 25-0403 — drew public comment from the property owner, Michael Turner, who said standard alternatives recommended by staff would not work at his house. “Splash pad doesn't really work very well because it doesn't project the water far enough,” Turner said, adding that pop-up emitters can clog and that grading at his site makes daylighting a pipe impractical. Turner said he purchased the property in 2020 and asked whether any grandfathering applied; staff answered that the building permit was issued after the code change and therefore the current requirements apply.
Board members discussed alternatives described by staff — small splash pads, pop-up emitters, rain barrels ($50–$100 used or $50–$100 new, per staff estimate), and rain gardens — and enforcement concerns if exceptions were made. A board member noted that allowing one residential connection could create precedent problems for compliance across established neighborhoods and new subdivisions. Sankovic said the code change and the city's MS4 obligations are intended to reduce the number of direct street connections citywide.
The board read a draft resolution that would have granted the variance and directed the city engineer to allow the curb connection. Members recorded four opposing votes during the roll call on the resolution; the chair declared the resolution failed. The resolution text identified the property as in an R1A single-family residential zoning district and cited City Code section 420.065(D) (gutter downspout disconnect) and the applicant's request to extend a personal gutter downspout into the city right-of-way.
No board direction to staff to prepare alternate relief or a conditional approval was recorded; the staff recommendation stated simply to follow the code. With the resolution defeated, no change to the city's enforcement of the downspout disconnect requirement was adopted.
The board adjourned at the conclusion of the item. The property owner and staff were the principal speakers during the discussion; no subsequent appeals or follow-up motions were recorded in the meeting minutes provided.
