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Board approves front-setback variance for Cathy Church to add accessible room
Summary
The BZA granted a variance allowing a 10-by-16-foot addition that encroaches 3 feet into the 15-foot front setback at 318 E. Wylie, finding the house's siting on the lot creates a practical peculiarity and approving alternate findings to allow the accessible addition.
The Board of Zoning Appeals on Sept. 18 approved a front-setback variance for 318 East Wylie to permit a porch/sunroom addition intended to improve accessibility for the petitioner and her handicapped son.
Planner presented staff findings that the property is a typical R3 small-lot parcel and that a compliant addition remained possible; staff recommended denial because no peculiar lot condition preventing a compliant addition was found. The petitioner, Cathy (Kathy) Church, said the proposed 10-by-16-foot addition would create a glassed-in sitting area with sliding doors wide enough for a wheelchair and provide functional circulation that a 7-foot addition could not accommodate without complex reconfiguration and added expense.
Board members asked whether alternative configurations—such as placing doors on a different elevation or building a 7-foot addition—could meet ADA turning-radius needs. Staff acknowledged ADA requirements (60-inch turning radius) could be achieved in some configurations, but the assistant director said the house’s placement close to the street could make an accessible addition infeasible in a compliant footprint.
A board member moved to adopt alternate findings citing the peculiarity of the house’s siting on the lot; the motion to approve V-31-25 (ZR-2025-70085) passed on a roll call vote (Burrell: Yes; Kosinko/Kacinko: Yes; Ballard: Yes). The board attached standard limitations clarifying the variance applies to the submitted design and the approval does not grant waivers to architectural standards not part of the setback variance.
