Board continues request to raise home height at Cloud Crossing; neighbors object to view and scale

The Prescott City Board of Adjustments on March 20 voted 4–2 to continue consideration of a variance request to increase the maximum allowed height for a proposed single-family home at 691 Cloud Crossing Circle from 35 feet to 46 feet.

Kaylee Nunez, Community Planner, presented the application and told the board the lot sits on steep terrain with roughly a 55-foot drop across the parcel and an average slope of about 30 percent. Using the city’s measurement from natural grade to the highest vertical point, staff calculated the proposed structure would reach 46 feet; Nunez noted that the subdivision plat predated the city hillside development standards and that the owner’s architect and the Ranch subdivision architectural review committee had favored design elements intended to improve street presence, including two cupolas.

Architect Tom Terry said the cupolas (about 6 feet tall each) and dormers were added to address roofline presence from the street; he said the design team had already lowered the house as much as possible and that removing the taller cupola would reduce the needed variance from roughly 11 feet to about 5 feet (staff estimated a flat-roof measurement without cupolas at about 41 feet 6 inches, and the architect estimated about 40 feet in one measurement). Terry said the owner owns adjacent lower lots and that the lot’s steep topography and required driveway pitch (18% per fire/driveway requirements) limit how far the house can be moved down the slope.

A neighbor who owns the lot immediately below the subject parcel told the board he would directly face the new house from his living room and objected that the proposed height and cupolas would block his view. Other neighbors had submitted two written opposition emails, and Nunez said those were included in the packet.

Board discussion focused on design alternatives, neighborhood impacts, and procedural options. Members noted the unique topography of the remaining lots in the Ranch subdivision and that additional similar variance requests were likely as builders tackle steeper parcels. Staff offered three procedural options: approve as requested, approve with a reduced height, or continue the item to allow the applicant to revise designs and re-notice neighbors. Several board members favored a continuance to allow the owner and architect to propose a design that better conforms to the code or reduces the visible height from neighboring properties.

The board voted to continue the matter without a specific return date, 4–2. Staff said that if the applicant returns with a revised plan, the city would re-advertise and allow neighbors another opportunity to comment. The continuance preserves the applicant’s ability to redesign and seek approval at a future hearing; the board did not grant the 46-foot variance at the March 20 meeting.