Morganton board denies variance request to place building 64 feet from street

The City of Morganton Board of Land Use Adjustment voted to deny a variance request from BDF Properties LLC that would have allowed a downtown building to be sited 64 feet from the street, well beyond the Central Business District (CBD) requirement of a 0–5 foot frontage setback.

Thomas Ure, chair of the City of Morganton Board of Land Use Adjustment, opened the quasi-judicial hearing and read the statutory standard the board must apply, citing North Carolina General Statutes section 160D-705 on variances. He told the room the board must find four elements before granting a variance, including an unnecessary hardship peculiar to the property and that the hardship was not self-created. "When unnecessary hardships would result from carrying out the strict letter of a zoning regulation or ordinance, the board of adjustment shall vary any of the provisions of the zoning regulation upon a showing of all of the following," Ure read from the statute.

Wendy Smith, director of development and design services for the City of Morganton, presented the city…