Planning Commission backs special exception for home at 122320 Sixth Street amid neighbor concern

The Newport News Planning Commission voted 9–0 to recommend Special Exception SE2025-0005, allowing Ella Homes LLC to construct a two-story single-family detached dwelling on a nonconforming lot at 122320 Sixth Street. The case will be transmitted to the Board of Zoning Appeals for final action; the transcript records the BZA hearing will occur in April 2025.

City planner Eli Zarka told commissioners the property contains about 0.086 acres and is in an R-4 single-family zoning district. Staff reported the proposed house would be two stories with a front porch and exterior materials similar to neighboring homes. Zarka summarized required criteria under the zoning ordinance for improving a nonconforming lot, and said staff recommended approval with nine conditions, including submission of elevations and a brick veneer requirement on the first-floor facade.

During the public hearing, neighbor Wayne Hamburg (recorded in the transcript as Wayne Hamburg/Hembrick/Henrick in different places) spoke in opposition. Hamburg said the lots had long been fenced together, that the new house would sit very close to his property, and that construction would impede use of his yard and access for his landscaping equipment. He told the commission that moving his outdoor heat pump would cost about $8,000 and that the close proximity would make it difficult to get vehicles and equipment in and out. “To be stacked that close on top of each other, we were there. … that yard space is definitely valuable to us,” Hamburg said.

Steve Hardy, who identified himself as representing Ella Homes, said his client purchased the parcel at a city auction and that title was clear. “We bought it at the city auction, clear title, everything,” Hardy said. Commissioners asked staff and speakers a series of questions about existing fence lines, parcel history and measurements; staff noted the lots were platted separately even where a fence had been erected across both lots.

Zoning details presented to the commission included a proposed 10-foot setback to the covered front porch, 15 feet to the main structure where it projects into the front yard setback, side-yard setbacks of 5.1 feet (meeting the 5-foot minimum), and an attached one-car garage recessed 18 feet from the front of the structure. Staff described the lot as approximately 37.5 feet wide in the presentation.

After discussion the commission accepted staff’s recommendation and recorded a unanimous roll-call vote in favor. The planning commission’s recommendation and staff report will be forwarded to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a hearing in April 2025.