DeLand planning board approves variance after homeowner enclosed garage without permit

The DeLand Planning Board voted unanimously Jan. 8 to approve Variance 24-233, allowing the single-family residence at 1335 Aquarius Avenue to waive the two required interior parking spaces after the owner enclosed an existing garage without a building permit.

Planner Emily Kunkel, City of DeLand staff, told the board the request was to “reduce the single family interior parking requirement from 2 spaces to 0 due to enclosing the existing garage into living space.” Kunkel said the property is a 1.27-acre lot that originally had no garage when built in 1958, was annexed into the City of DeLand in 1988 and later had a 24-by-36 garage added in 2008. According to staff, the owner enclosed that garage in 2024 without the required permits, triggering a code-enforcement notice and an application for an after-the-fact building permit on Sept. 5, 2024.

The board heard staff explain that the city’s Land Development Regulations and Ordinance 2019-10 require single-family residences to provide four parking spaces — two interior and two exterior — but the interior requirement can be waived only in the city’s core gateway district; this property is not in that district. Staff told the board the existing paved driveway could accommodate the four exterior parking spaces required by the code if the interior spaces were not available, and therefore granting the variance would avoid requiring driveway expansion.

Board members asked whether the 2008 garage addition had been properly permitted; Kunkel replied the 2008 construction had a permit but the recent enclosure did not, which prompted the code-enforcement action and the after-the-fact permit application. Board members also confirmed that granting the variance was a prerequisite for resolving the building-permit status for the conversion.

A motion to approve the variance was made and seconded (movers not recorded in the transcript). The roll-call votes recorded in the meeting transcript were: Henry Thiry — yes; Tom Liscott — yes; Troy Baumgartner — yes; Harper Hill — yes; and Jeremy Owens — yes. The board’s action approved the variance as presented. Staff noted the Planning Board could have approved the request with conditions, denied it, or approved it as submitted; the board approved it as submitted.

The approval permits staff to continue processing the after-the-fact building permit for the garage conversion under the terms discussed at the meeting. The board did not place additional conditions on the variance during the hearing, and no public speakers opposed the request during the meeting.

Minutes and ancillary items: earlier in the session the board corrected the Dec. 11 meeting minutes to reflect a recorded “no” vote on a prior item that had been transcribed as unanimous. The meeting then moved on to other routine business and was adjourned.