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Board rejects carport placement but approves driveway variance at 4217 Detroit Road
Summary
Board denied a variance allowing a carport built in front of a house at 4217 Detroit Road but approved a separate variance for driveway width; the carport was ordered removed after neighbors and members raised site-plan and neighbor impacts.
The Board of Zoning Appeals on March 20 denied one variance request and approved another for property owners Warner and Debbie Muth at 4217 Detroit Road.
The applicants asked the board to legalize a carport and expanded driveway that were built contrary to an originally permitted site plan. They sought relief for an accessory structure located in front of the principal residential structure (from 24 feet to 31 feet front‑yard requirement) and separately for the driveway width.
Warner and Debbie Muth told the board they had built the carport to protect a 19‑foot camper and that contractor Hobgood constructed the structure; they said they did not realize a site‑plan modification was required and that they planned landscaping to screen the structure. Neighbors, including John Seibert on behalf of an elderly adjacent resident, protested the carport, saying it is very tall and visible from the neighbor's front porch. Seibert said the carport is "about a 20 foot tall structure. It's taller than anything that's on that side of the road." A board member noted the structure sits very close to a neighbor's porch and that the homeowner remains responsible even if the contractor made an error.
The board voted separately on the two requests. It approved the driveway variance (to permit the driveway measurement noted in the record) by a 5–0 vote. On the accessory‑structure setback (the carport), the motion to approve failed, with the vote recorded as 1 in favor and 4 opposed. The board directed the applicants to coordinate with staff; staff said a removal timetable letter would be issued and that the applicants could request extra time if needed.
The board's minutes and the Area Plan Commission file will document the denial and any compliance timetable.
