ABZA approves 2-foot side-setback variance to legalize existing garage at 9524 White Street, Clarks Hill

The Tippecanoe County Area Board of Zoning Appeals voted 5-0 on June 25, 2025, to grant a variance reducing the southwest side setback from 15 feet to 2 feet for property at 9524 White Street in Clarks Hill, bringing an existing portable garage into conformance.

Area Plan Commission staffer Christine Roehl told the board the lot is zoned R1U and is surrounded by single-family homes. Roehl said APC discovered the structure after a Clarks Hill board member inquired in March about a newly constructed garage; APC staff concluded the lot has no unusual physical constraints and characterized the situation as a self-imposed hardship. Staff recommended denial because the inability to place a detached garage in that specific location did not meet the ordinance’s definition of hardship and therefore failed the ordinance’s tests for a variance.

Petitioner Reid Washington told the board the structure is a prefabricated portable garage that was delivered and set in place on a gravel pad per the manufacturer’s recommendations; he said the contractor did not advise that a building permit was required. Washington said he applied for a permit after the building commission contacted him. Washington said he and his family have cared for the short strip of land adjacent to Union Street for 63 years and that the family pays county taxes on the neighboring trailer lot. Owner Morgan Christine Green told the board she submitted two neighbor support letters that are on file.

Washington said he had discussed with the town board the possibility of vacating the adjacent portion of Union Street so that half the right-of-way would transfer to the petitioners, which would make the existing 1990 garage conforming; the petitioner acknowledged that any vacation would require action by the county commissioners or town board and is not within the ABZA’s authority.

Board members asked whether the portable structure rests on a foundation; Washington said the manufacturer specifies a six‑inch gravel pad and that the building commission inspector had reviewed the drawings and issued a permit contingent on the variance. Staff noted the earlier garage built in 1990 predates the current ordinance and was treated as grandfathered.

The board voted by ballot; five ballots were cast in favor and none against. The chair ordered that the collective findings of the members voting for the majority be recorded as the board’s findings.