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Applicants seek 21-foot variance for Trinity Mountain Estates lot to avoid building in environmental corridor
Summary
Scott Lowell and developer Sal DiMaselli asked Walworth County to allow a house to be built about 26 feet forward of the ordinance building line so the home avoids a steep, environmentally sensitive slope; the Town of Geneva recommended approval and the county hearing was closed for later action.
Scott Lowell, a contractor for the applicants, asked the Walworth County Board of Adjustment on May 14, 2025, to grant a variance from Walworth County zoning sections 74-52 and 74-63(2) so a residence can be built with a lot width of approximately 174 feet instead of the 200-foot minimum required for C-2 zoned lots.
The request would move the house forward onto the lot so the structure sits in line with neighboring homes and avoids a steep slope and an environmental corridor behind the recorded building line. “If we are not granted a variance, the home would have to go back … it would require caissons of 36 feet in height or a tremendous amount of fill,” Lowell said, describing construction and tree‑removal impacts if the house were built at the ordinance line.
The nut of the applicants’ argument is that the lot’s topography and dense trees create a unique property limitation and that moving the building forward preserves the streetscape and avoids significant disturbance. Sal DiMaselli, the original developer and president of the association, told the board the preliminary plat recorded placement rectangles showing the same building location and said the requested siting “stays with the harmony of the build that we are presenting.”
Staff presented written correspondence in the record: a letter from the Town of Geneva, dated May 13, 2025, reporting a plan commission recommendation and a town board motion to recommend county approval of a 21-foot variance for the parcel. The town board action, transcribed by county staff, was recorded as approved 4-0.
County staff told the board it would check whether the 200-foot minimum was in place at the time the subdivision preliminary plat was approved and provide that information to the board the next morning. The hearing was closed with no final county decision recorded on the record.
The matter affects at least two lots in the Trinity Mountain Estates plat; the applicant said the adjacent lot has the same width issue. No members of the public spoke in opposition at the hearing. The county record includes the town’s letters and the developer’s written materials submitted as exhibits.
Next steps: county staff said they would provide a historical ordinance check to the board the following day; the Board of Adjustment did not vote on the variance during this session.
