Board of Zoning Appeals grants two variances: lot orientation at Hickerson Circle and width adjustment on West Wagener Street

The Tullahoma Board of Zoning Appeals granted two variances during its July 21 meeting, both by unanimous 6–0 votes.

211 Hickerson Circle: Applicant Yiyang Dong (referred to as Yang in the hearing) requested a variance to recognize the existing driveway as the lot frontage and permit the duplex to remain oriented toward that driveway. Planning staff explained the lot technically fronts an unimproved public right‑of‑way that is not built as a road; treating the driveway side as the front of the lot allows the duplex to meet R2 lot‑width requirements. The board voted to grant the variance, allowing the owner to renovate and expand the duplex while maintaining access from the existing driveway.

417 West Wagener Street: Surveyor Andy Best described a situation where a decades‑old single‑wide mobile home at 415/417 Wagener sits across a lot line, leaving an adjacent purchased lot with insufficient width by current ordinance. The owner purchased multiple contiguous lots and the survey discovered the line through the trailer; the applicant submitted a revision plat to move the line so the trailer sits entirely on one lot. Staff said the resulting 35‑foot width for the neighboring lot is consistent with other narrow lots on West Wagener Street; the board granted the variance to avoid undue hardship on the existing occupant and the buyer of the lots.

Both variances were granted with no public opposition at the hearings. Board members cited neighborhood patterns and the practical hardship of removing long‑standing structures when applying the board’s five findings for variances.