Board of Zoning Appeals grants variance to allow deck at Holbein Drive home

The Dublin Board of Zoning Appeals on the evening of the meeting approved a nonuse area variance for 6809 Holbein Drive to allow a deck to encroach 10 feet into the 30-foot rear-yard setback, granting the applicants a 20-foot rear-yard setback in place of the required 30 feet.

The variance was requested for the Zobel residence, presented by Zac Hounsell, Planner II for the City of Dublin, and argued at the podium by the applicant, Mark Zobel. Planning staff recommended approval after reviewing the variance criteria and determining the request met the required standards for a nonuse area variance.

Staff told the board the site is in the PLR (Planned Low Density Residential) district in the Post Preserve neighborhood and described lot and building constraints: the lot was described in the staff presentation as having frontage on Holbein Drive and Royal Plum Drive, a grade change of roughly 10 feet from Holbein Drive to the rear, and one of the larger lots in Section 3 (staff cited rear width of about 149 feet and depth about 120 feet). Staff said the house has a main-level egress door and a basement walkout and that the existing egress stair already encroaches into the rear yard. Planner Hounsell summarized the request as a deck roughly 13 feet deep and 15 feet wide and said staff found all required variance criteria had been met, including that the situation affects only a relatively small number of lots in that section and that the encroachment would not impair the intent of the development standards.

Mark Zobel, the applicant, said the proposed deck would “enable us to better enjoy our residents more personally and improve the aesthetics of the neighbourhood as well as the value of our home,” and noted there is open space behind the lot and precedent from a neighboring property that previously received a deck. Zobel also said the original builder did not disclose a setback variance at the time of purchase.

During deliberations board members asked staff to clarify whether the condition was recurrent across the neighborhood and whether the encroachment would affect adjacent properties. Hounsell said one nearby property had a 2014 variance (case 14-055V) that allowed a 6-foot encroachment into the 30-foot rear-yard setback for a roughly 10-by-20-foot deck, but that most other decks in the area met the permitted standards. He reiterated that because the problem appeared limited to a handful of lots, the variance process was an appropriate remedy instead of a code amendment.

Board members, citing staff findings and the open space behind the property, agreed the criteria were met and moved to approve the variance. The roll call recorded in the meeting transcript shows Mister Linville, Mister Murphy, Mister Anderson and Miss Delsondra voting yes. The board’s motion approved “a nonuse area variance to the Post Preserve development standards to allow a deck to encroach 10 feet into the 30-foot setback.”

There were no public comments on the case. After the vote the chair declared the variance granted.

The approval permits the applicant to construct the proposed deck as described in the application materials; any future work that differs from the approved plans or additional variances (for example, for the basement walkout) would require separate applications or approvals.