Goshen zoning board continues hearing on variance for two floodplain lots at Glenwood/Gumwood Drive

The Goshen Zoning Board of Appeals on the evening reopened public hearings for two lots at the end of Glenwood Drive and voted to continue the hearings to May 6 to allow the board time to review additional legal arguments and photographs submitted by the applicant's counsel.

The applications, submitted by a builder working under the name Hardest Estates LLC (listed in the hearing materials), seek relief from a provision in town code—identified in the public discussion as section 9725(c)—that requires both new buildings and the roadway serving them to be above the flood elevation or demonstrated by engineering to be safe for first responders. Counsel for the applicant, Charlie Bezidl, told the board the request is limited to the roadway requirement so the applicant can then obtain planning-board site-plan approval and a building permit to raise two houses above the flood elevation.

The variance petition affects two…