Board of Adjustment approves variances for Liberty home to accommodate septic and stream corridor

The Weber County Board of Adjustment voted to approve variances that allow a proposed house and driveway at 4116 East 4100 North in the Forest Valley 3 zone to encroach into required stream‑corridor and side‑yard setbacks.

The board approved a 15‑foot variance for the building from the 50‑foot stream‑corridor setback, a 25‑foot variance to the 50‑foot stream‑corridor setback for the driveway, and a 10‑foot variance to the 20‑foot side‑yard setback to the east. The motion was seconded and passed by voice vote; the board recorded three affirmative votes and no opposition.

County planning staff presented the request as a response to a stream corridor that cuts through a buildable portion of a 1.4‑acre, Forest Valley 3 parcel. Staff said the applicant had attempted to relocate and reconfigure the proposed home to reduce encroachment and that engineering recommended placing the building closer to the front setback rather than into the stream buffer.

The county engineer told the board he had observed high‑water events in the drainage channel several years ago and described work completed downstream through a neighboring property that removed elevation jumps and obstacles in the channel. "I'm very confident in the changes the applicant has made to accommodate the flows," the county engineer said, while cautioning that no guarantee exists against all unusual weather events.

The applicant confirmed the house size and site constraints during public testimony. He told the board the planned living area totals 5,400 square feet, plus roughly a 400‑square‑foot garage, and said the county health department required the septic leach field location, which constrained the driveway alignment and produced a side‑entry garage configuration. The applicant agreed on the record to the revised variance amounts the board included in its motion.

Board members and staff discussed the county engineer's recommendation to orient a garage to the front to reduce driveway encroachment; the applicant said the health department's septic requirements prevented putting the driveway over the leach field. Staff also noted a typographical error in the staff report that had misstated home area; staff corrected that on the record.

The board's motion stated that literal enforcement of the code would cause unreasonable hardship because the stream corridor bisects the parcel, and that the requested variances met the five statutory criteria for variances. No additional conditions were recorded in the motion beyond the variance dimensions approved by the board.

The board moved on to the next agenda item after the vote; no appeal or stay was recorded in the meeting minutes.

For the record, the parcel is described in the staff presentation as within the Forest Valley 3 zone at the stated Liberty address; county staff and the applicant discussed the adjacent AB‑3 zone, septic design constraints and recent channel work on a neighboring property that reduced a historic elevation jump in the drainage channel.