Board allows reduced front setback for home on Doubleheader Ranch Road due to steep slopes

The Jefferson County Board of Adjustment on June 18 approved a variance allowing a 20‑foot front setback to the east for a proposed single-family home at 8775 Doubleheader Ranch Road, finding the site’s steep slopes and rock outcroppings amount to an exceptional practical difficulty.

Planning staff explained the nearly entire lot is heavily sloped, with bedrock and outcroppings limiting buildable areas. Staff recommended approval, concluding that the requested relief would not harm the public good, would not change land use and was not self-imposed.

Applicant Brandon Anderson, a licensed engineer, said he and his pregnant wife purchased the lot about two years earlier with the intent to build and that multiple prior permit attempts had been stymied by site constraints. Anderson presented survey maps and site photos showing rock outcrops and contours and noted other nearby homes with similar reduced setbacks.

A neighbor asked about potential blasting for foundations and about emergency access; the applicant said blasting would be addressed at building permit stage and that fire‑access and grading would be resolved when the geotechnical and building permits are processed. Staff also noted a public inquiry about blasting, which is a building‑permit issue.

After the board discussed the topography and lack of reasonable alternative locations for a compliant house placement, members voted to approve the variance with the condition that a building permit be obtained within one year.

— Jefferson County Board of Adjustment meeting coverage