The Board of Adjustment approved design exceptions for a proposed 48,400-square-foot industrial building at 1040 First Avenue Drive Southwest that reduce the front-yard setback from 35 feet to 25 feet and the parking setback from 25 feet to 15 feet. Development services recommended approval, saying site constraints, fire access requirements and efforts to minimize tree disturbance drove the siting decision.

Dave Hogg of development services described the project as located in a general industrial zone and said the applicant chose the building location to avoid a large wooded area on the west side of the property. Hogg said the property’s grade is about 10 feet higher than the adjacent street and that staff considered the request a design exception rather than a rezoning.

Emily Williamson, a civil engineer with Shive Hattery (Shive-Hattery) and project engineer for IFF, said the location decision adjusts to an earlier right-of-way change: "the property line, I think, goes back in 2014. 10 feet of it was sold the right of way, and so this is pretty much just adjusting the setback to kind of line up with that," she said.

The proposal includes a new parking area of 38 spaces, the applicant said; staff noted the building location reduces tree disturbance and meets fire access constraints. No objectors were present during the hearing. A board member moved to approve case ADMD00321-2025; another member seconded, and the chair called the motion carried.

Staff recommended that the request be treated as a design exception and not a rezoning, and no additional conditions were recorded on the transcript beyond standard permitting and review. The board voted in favor and the action was recorded as granted.