Pitkin County Board of Adjustment approves three variances for 25 Gleneagles Drive

The Pitkin County Board of Adjustment on Dec. 3 approved three variances allowing a proposed single-family residence at 25 Gleneagles Drive to be sited inside the county's major-road setback, to exceed retaining-wall height limits for a driveway, and to permit a landscape berm higher than the zoning code ordinarily allows.

Michael Kramer, a land planner with Land Planning, presented the application on behalf of property owner Ruthie Brown and said the requests respond to unusual topography, an existing private restricted easement and prior site disturbance. "We have three variances," Kramer said, describing (1) an 83-foot reduction to the 100-foot major-road setback adopted in 1976, (2) a roughly 3.5-foot variance to allow stacked-boulder retaining walls for the driveway where slopes are man-made, and (3) a 6-foot variance for a landscape berm intended to mitigate headlights, noise and view impacts from the adjacent Aspen Recreation Center.

The parcel sits in the R-30 zone and is roughly 41,500 square feet, Kramer said; it also carries a growth-management exemption of 5,750 square feet. Kramer showed plans and aerial maps placing the house and attached garage on the least-steep portion of the lot to avoid established oak stands and to comply with ridgeline-review standards. He said access will be from Gleneagles Drive (a county road) because the segment of Broom Creek Road near the lot lies in the City of Aspen's jurisdiction and cannot be used for a driveway.

Tom Kuhn, a member of the public who said he lives on a neighboring property, told the board he did not object after a brief review but noted an earlier major-road setback approval for the parcel had lapsed after one year. "You approved a major road setback variance on this property last year," Kuhn said, adding that the prior approval had no site plan and therefore lapsed. Planning staff member Suzanne Wolf told the board she supported the variance requests. Board members questioned construction details and materials for the retaining wall; landscape architect Jennifer Dielecki Smith said the wall would be "large-scale moss granite boulders set in a very natural way." County engineer Andrew Knapp was cited as the contact for a future right-of-way permit needed to place the upper portion of the retaining wall in the road right-of-way.

Board members who deliberated described the application as meeting the county's practical-difficulty standard for variances. A motion to approve the three variances was made, seconded and carried by voice vote; the board recorded the outcome as approved. The hearing record noted that, because only four members were present, approval required all four to agree. The board's motion and the record did not name individual aye votes beyond the unanimous voice vote.

Next steps cited by the applicant and staff include continued review of a concurrent Pitkin County land-use application (activity envelope and site plan), submittal of building-permit materials, a county right-of-way permit for portions of the retaining wall located in the Gleneagles right-of-way, and compliance with the county's ridgeline review at permit review. Planner Rebecca Dunlap was introduced as the staff planner assigned to the related land-use application. The applicant and design team thanked the board before the meeting adjourned.

Votes at a glance: the board approved the motion to grant the three variances (major-road setback reduction for the residence; retaining-wall height variance for driveway retaining walls; landscape berm height variance) by unanimous voice vote; mover and seconder not specified in the hearing record.