Grandview Heights board tables review of shipping‑container garage after concerns about height and massing

The Grandview Heights Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday voted to table aesthetic review of a proposed repurposed shipping‑container garage at 9595 McLean Road so the applicant can revise the design to reduce the structure’s perceived massing and resolve questions about height measurements and required parking dimensions.

The applicants, Daniel J. Malakosak and Kelly L. Malakosak, sought approval under the city’s design guidelines and Planning and Zoning Code (Section 155.07) to replace an existing, deteriorated rear garage with two stacked, repurposed shipping containers plus a partial second container and wood framing for circulation and storage. Planning staff said the proposal would bring total lot coverage to about 30 percent (the code allows 40 percent) and that the proposed garage footprint would be about 551 square feet.

Planning staff noted the code defines garage height as the distance “from grade to the midpoint of the slope of the roof.” Using that measurement on the applicant’s drawings, staff said, the structure measured 13 feet 10 inches at the midpoint. The applicant and members of the board, however, pointed to a taller north elevation that reaches roughly 17 feet 11 inches to 18 feet at its highest wall and said that large, flat elevation — especially at 3 feet…