Board approves variance to allow 125 apartments at 100 E. Mason St.; council sign-off still required

The Zoning and Planning Board of Appeals on March 17 approved a variance request to allow Spark Development to pursue 125 apartment units at 100 East Mason Street, a downtown D1 lot, 21 units more than the zoning code’s calculation. The board’s vote followed staff and applicant presentations and a unanimous plan commission recommendation pending council action.

City planning staff told the board the D1 lot is about 2.396 acres and that the zoning code (section 44-620, Table 44-6) requires 1,000 square feet of land per multifamily unit in the D1 district, which yields an allowance of roughly 104 units. Applicant Derek Leibhauser of Spark Development said the project concept mirrors an earlier plan introduced by the Miller family and that a trail alignment and previously executed land swap reduced the parcel area available for the developer’s unit-count…