Auburn zoning board approves variance to place carport forward of home to avoid floodplain

The Auburn Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance on a unanimous vote to allow a detached carport to be constructed forward of the front plane of the principal structure at 741 Kentwood Drive so the carport can be located outside the flood plain.

The board approved BZ2025003, which would permit a carport to sit about 38.7 feet in front of the house’s front building line, a change staff said would place the carport outside the expanded flood plain. Patricia Smith, acting vice chair, announced the board was taking up the variance as new business and read the appeals information for zoning decisions under the city’s zoning ordinance.

Planning staff told the board the closest point of the principal structure to the front property line is about 110.4 feet and that the proposed carport would be about 71.7 feet from the front property line; the difference produces the roughly 38.7-foot projection beyond the front plane. Under the city’s accessory-structure rules, accessory structures for residential uses generally must be placed at least 10 feet behind the front building line; staff reported the requested variance would effectively allow the carport to be placed so it would sit outside the flood plain while accommodating those rules.

The applicant and board discussed the flood plain constraints. Planning staff noted the property lies in an area where the city’s January 2025 flood-plain map update expanded the mapped flood plain toward the front of the parcel, and that the application originally relied on a 2024 survey. Inspection Services Director John Hoare explained why siting the carport outside the flood plain was the practical option: “They were gonna have to backfill into the flood plain to level the slab out. To level out the slab for the carport they would have to backfill into the floodplain which would then displace that water that needs to go there somewhere else,” Hoare said, describing how grading for a concrete slab could move floodwater impacts downstream.

Staff also told the board that, under guidance from the National Flood Insurance Program, a simple post-and-roof carport without two enclosing walls can be constructed in a flood plain, but the grading and slab work the applicant proposed would require filling that the department concluded would increase downstream flood impacts. The applicant’s representative told the board they were acting on behalf of the property owner and had no other communications from neighbors to report.

Board members spoke in favor of the variance on the grounds of limited practical alternatives caused by the expanded flood plain. During voice discussion a member said the proposal was a minimal structure and that backfilling to build within the flood plain could worsen conditions. A motion to approve the variance carried with all voting members concurring.

Votes at a glance

Approve variance BZ2025003 — Allow carport to be located approximately 38.7 feet forward of the principal structure so the carport can be built outside the mapped flood plain; motion outcome: approved (5–0).

What happens next

The board did not attach additional conditions beyond those in the staff recommendation. The variance takes effect as a board decision; appeals may be filed to the circuit court under the City of Auburn zoning ordinance within the time allowed by the ordinance, Patricia Smith said. The applicant and staff may proceed with building-permit steps consistent with the city’s flood-plain and building requirements.