Planning commission recommends denial of variance to place pool 25 feet inside shoreland setback at 6580 Astor Trail

The City of Victoria Planning Commission voted to recommend denial to the City Council of a variance request that would allow a private pool and patio to extend 25 feet inside the shoreland 100-foot setback at 6580 Astor Trail.

Associate planner Travis Verley told the commission staff recommended denial because the application failed to meet the statutory practical-difficulty criteria required for shoreland variances. Verley said the city and the state DNR treat the 100-foot line as the policy baseline and that practical-difficulty findings require evidence of unique physical circumstances that prevent reasonable use of the property without a variance.

The applicants — identified in the record as Jamie (applicant) and John (Jamie’s husband) — told the commission the lot’s shape, house location and slope constraints left no feasible location for a pool that would meet their stated program and scale. Jamie said the owners learned in September that the…