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BZA denies request to waive off‑street parking at proposed Saxton Avenue home
Summary
The board denied a petition to reduce required off‑street parking from two spaces to none at a steep Saxton Avenue lot, concluding the applicant had not shown a legal hardship.
The Board of Zoning Appeals denied a variance request that would have allowed a proposed single‑family dwelling at 1923 Saxton Avenue to provide zero off‑street parking instead of the two spaces required by the zoning code. The denial was based on a finding of lack of legal hardship.
Noah Hudson, a surveyor representing the applicant, told the board the lot is steep, within a hillside protection zone and contains sanitary sewer infrastructure that would complicate on‑site grading. He said constructing a driveway would require substantial retaining walls and fill and could make the project financially impractical. “The lot is extremely steep, making it unsafe and impractical to construct a driveway,” Hudson said.
Board members examined aerial images and site contours and heard from a nearby resident, Elias Nieto, who said previous houses on the street lacked driveways. One board member said some properties on the block do not have driveways, but several others do, and the board expressed concern that the applicant had not shown a hardship beyond economic considerations. One member noted the existence of a shown retaining wall and parking stalls on the applicant’s site plan and said the retaining work would make a driveway feasible if the owner chose to build it.
A motion to deny the variance on grounds of lack of hardship was made and seconded; after discussion the board voted to deny BZA2553. The chair announced the motion carried and the variance was denied.
The board discussed postponing to gather additional topographic evidence or on‑site spot elevations but disposed of the denial motion before pursuing a postponement. The applicant may pursue a new application with additional engineering and topographic documentation if they wish to revisit the issue.
