Ellicott City homeowners seek two setback variances to enclose pool and add third garage bay

A petition by Antoinette Dove and Brian Cadigan seeking two zoning variances at 11350 Cotswold Spring Farm Road in Ellicott City was heard Aug. 27 by a Howard County hearing examiner. The applicants requested a 10.93-foot reduction of the 50-foot front-yard setback to permit a third garage bay and a 26.08-foot variance from the 30-foot rear/accessory setback to allow enclosure of an existing outdoor pool.

The variances are intended to (1) expand the detached front garage to create a three-car garage, reducing the front setback from 50 feet to about 39.07 feet, and (2) enclose the existing outdoor pool and attach that enclosure to the primary residence via a breezeway shorter than 15 feet, which would make the pool enclosure part of the principal structure for zoning calculations.

Civil engineer Sam Alomar, president of Mildiver Bolander Associates, testified for the petitioners and described site constraints he said led to the request. He told the hearing examiner the roughly 1-acre lot contains a septic easement that occupies much of the left side of the parcel, a well in the front yard and steep…