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Board approves front addition and reduced driveway variance at 24 Juno Road
Summary
The Design Review Board approved plans to convert a garage and add 728 square feet at 24 Juno Road and granted a variance for a reduced driveway length to accommodate two parking spaces on a small lot.
Emily Brown, the designer for the homeowners at 24 Juno Road, presented the board with a proposal to convert an existing 406-square-foot garage and add 728 square feet to the front of the home, turning a two-bedroom, one-bath house into a four-bedroom, three-bath residence.
Brown said the project preserves the recently installed backyard patio and pergola—an $80,000 investment by the homeowners—by expanding toward the front of the lot. The design remains single-story and uses fiber-cement siding with black aluminum-frame windows and stained wood doors. The project complies with zoning except for the driveway length: Brown said the town’s interpretation requires an 18-foot driveway for two spaces, but that the town also owns a roughly 10-foot strip of right-of-way in front of properties that cannot be counted toward driveway length. That effectively requires a driveway of about 28 feet from the building face to the curb to meet the standard, which is impractical for small lots in the neighborhood. Brown told the board she identified at least nine nearby homes with shortened driveways or one-car garages.
No public speakers opposed the project. Board members who reviewed the site praised the design and agreed the lot configuration and historic subdivision patterns make the required driveway measurement impractical. One staff member explained the irregular public-right-of-way strip was created when the lots were developed before town incorporation and does not function as public access, so it cannot be counted toward private driveway length.
The board voted to adopt staff’s draft resolution, granted the driveway-length variance, and found the project categorically exempt from CEQA. Members praised the design for preserving backyard open space and complementing neighborhood architecture.
