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Board approves cottage lot standards for 600 Woodlawn to allow single‑family infill
Summary
The Columbia Board of Adjustment approved optional cottage development standards for 600 Woodlawn (Case 236‑2025), setting front, side and rear setbacks so a single‑family house can be rebuilt on a narrow, previously developed lot; the vote was 5‑0.
The Columbia Board of Adjustment on an August hearing approved optional cottage development standards for 600 Woodlawn Avenue, allowing CCV Properties 3 LLC to rebuild a single‑family house on a constrained legal lot (Case 236‑2025).
Board members voted 5‑0 to approve reduced dimensional standards that set the Woodlawn front setback at 20 feet, the interior (north) side setback at 6 feet, the exterior (Hickman Avenue) side setback at 10 feet and a 10‑foot rear yard. The motion passed with Norgard, Hammond, Minshew, Rogers and Sharp voting yes.
The approval lets the applicant use the Unified Development Code’s cottage optional development standards (Section 29‑6.4(j)) to accommodate a house on a narrow parcel that historically held a dwelling. Staff and the applicant told the board the lot originally carried a single‑family house and is currently vacant; the application materials described the parcel as having had a structure removed about 2006–2007.
Pat Zenner, planning staff, said the parcel is a “relatively constrained parcel” under current setback rules and that applying cottage standards would produce development similar to the neighborhood. Zenner explained the 20‑foot front setback is consistent with the median setback on Woodlawn and that the 10‑foot exterior side setback will accommodate an existing retaining wall along the Hickman frontage. Zenner also summarized the approval criteria under the UDC that the board must find: consistency with the comprehensive plan, adequate off‑street parking, and no increased traffic or public‑safety risk.
Wes Bolton, the project engineer with Allstate Consultants, told the board the applicant accepts staff’s recommended tweaks to the cottage standard and plans off‑street parking accessed from Hickman Avenue. “We fully accept staff’s recommendations of the 20 foot and the 10 foot on the south, thinking that that’s going to fit well with the neighborhood,” Bolton said.
Board discussion touched on parking, sidewalks and lot legal status. Staff noted that as a preexisting legal lot the project does not trigger new right‑of‑way dedication or sidewalk construction beyond what already exists; off‑street parking still must meet the two‑spaces‑per‑dwelling requirement for single‑ and two‑family houses in Columbia.
The board included the planning staff report, relevant subsections of Chapter 29 of the Unified Development Code, and the public‑notice materials into the record before voting. The motion as read into the record specified the front, side and rear yard dimensions that the board approved.
With the board’s approval of the cottage standards, the applicant may proceed to finalize building permits and any required ministerial steps to reconstruct a single‑family home consistent with the approved setbacks. The action does not rezone the parcel and does not alter other code requirements that apply to new construction.
