The Franklin City Board of Zoning Appeals on July 3 approved a variance allowing a new single-family house at 246 Miles Manor Court to encroach 10 feet into the 25-foot front setback along Winslow Road and to permit an additional six-foot encroachment for a front porch.

The measure matters because the property sits inside both the city’s Historic Preservation Overlay and the Central Franklin overlay; board and staff testimony said strict enforcement of the 25-foot setback would produce a house too narrow to match the block face and could prevent approval by the Historic Zoning Commission.

Staff told the board the 0.21-acre corner lot has two front setbacks (31 feet along Miles Manor Court and 25 feet along Winslow Road) and, with the lot width of roughly 60 feet and a seven-foot side setback requirement, produces a buildable width of about 28 feet. Staff said the applicant has worked with the Design Review Committee and Historic Zoning Commission, attending DRC meetings in June, August and September 2024 and HCC hearings in November 2024, April 2025 and June 2025. The assistant historic preservation planner, Elizabeth Boulay, summarized DRC feedback that a house constrained to a full 25-foot setback on Winslow Road would be “as narrow as it would be required to be” and “not compatible with the neighborhood,” and that the DRC preferred a design with a 15-foot setback at the front and a deeper inset at the rear.

Andrew King of AK Designs, the applicant’s designer, told the board, “this project has been a year long process,” and said the narrower house required by the strict setback would make it “pretty hard to get [HCC] approval to build on this lot.” Staff recommended approval, finding all three variance criteria in the Franklin zoning ordinance were met: an exceptional condition caused by the corner lot with two front setbacks, practical difficulty that would prevent a contextually appropriate design, and no substantial detriment to the public good if the approved HCC design were allowed to proceed.

Board member Smith moved to approve the variance “because the criteria for granting a variance has been met,” with Scales seconding. The vote was unanimous: Scales — approve; Langley — approve; Smith — approve; Flushauer — approve. The motion as adopted authorizes the principal building to encroach 10 feet into the 25-foot front setback on Winslow Road and to allow an additional six-foot encroachment for the front porch at 246 Miles Manor Court.

The record shows the HCC’s approval of the house design (with one condition) preceded the zoning variance request; staff noted DRC recommendations are nonbinding but were influential in HCC deliberations. No member of the public spoke on this item during the public-comment period.

The board’s action allows the applicant to move forward with the HCC-approved design that places the house closer to Winslow Road than the zoning ordinance’s standard front setback.