San Antonio Board of Adjustment approves multiple variances, narrows landscape buffer after mixed public response

The San Antonio Board of Adjustment on Sept. 30 approved a series of variances and a special exception for individual properties across the city, continued three cases to October, and adopted a narrowed landscape‑buffer compromise for a proposed used‑car lot on Hawthorne Street after opposition from the city council office and neighborhood groups.

The board unanimously approved several residential variances to allow development on substandard lots and to permit modifications such as carports and reduced setbacks. Commissioners repeatedly said they weighed neighborhood character and safety concerns against applicants’ difficulties posed by small lots or changes in zoning rules.

Why it matters: The board’s decisions allow several new or rebuilt single‑family homes to proceed, resolve retroactive construction questions in a few cases, and permit a commercial redevelopment with fewer planting requirements than standard code requires. Those actions change what can be built on the affected lots and — in the Hawthorne case — set a precedent for how narrow commercial parcels adjacent to IH‑35 may be planted or screened.

Key decisions and context

- Forest Avenue (BOA‑25‑10300152): The board granted a half‑story variance to allow three new single‑family homes to be built as three stories under the applicant’s plans. Applicant Anthony Almaraz told the board staff had earlier told him his site plan submission complied under the prior code and that a 2023 UDC amendment altered the half‑story definition. Chair Oriens and a majority of commissioners accepted that the change in code created a unique hardship…