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Developer asks Paudling County to shorten front setback on two lots to fit larger home
Summary
Wacker LLC requested two identical variances to reduce the front building setback from 30 feet to 25 feet for Lots 11 and 12 in a new 32-lot subdivision on Jones Ridge Drive, citing a 40-foot sewer easement that prevents a 44x44-foot model and deck from fitting. No vote on the variances is recorded in the transcript.
Speaker 2, the applicant representative for Wacker LLC, told the Paulding County hearing body that the company is seeking two identical variances to reduce the required front building setback from 30 feet to 25 feet so a deeper house and rear deck will fit on Lots 11 and 12 in a new subdivision on Jones Ridge Drive.
The applications — listed in the meeting as 2020-58V (Lot 11, 175 Jones Ridge Drive) and 2020-59V (Lot 12, 197 Jones Ridge Drive) — were introduced by Speaker 3. Speaker 2 said the builder wants to place a 44-foot-wide by 44-foot-deep two-story house with a deck on each lot; the model is about 2,180 square feet with an under-house two-car garage. "It's their number 1 seller," Speaker 2 said, explaining the request is driven by market demand and product fit.
Speaker 2 told the panel the subdivision is a new, 32-lot development Smith Douglas purchased in part, and these two lots remained unsold because the preferred house would not fit the existing buildable envelope. He said the constraint is a nearby transmission sewer line for which the city placed a 40-foot easement for a 16-inch line rather than the smaller easement typically used. That enlarged easement reduces the distance between the adopted 30-foot front setback and the rear easement to roughly 46 feet, leaving insufficient room for the 44-by-44 house plus a deck.
Asked whether the subdivision is new, Speaker 3 received confirmation this is a new development and that only these two lots need variances. Speaker 2 said this is an isolated request limited to these two parcels: "This is the only 2 lots in the subdivision that Smith Douglas did not purchase," he said. He added that, in his view, denying the request could result in a different builder developing the two lots, which he suggested would be less desirable for continuity in the subdivision.
On technical grounds, Speaker 2 said the sewer easement parallels both lots and therefore both need the same five-foot front-setback reduction. He argued the houses being shifted forward "shouldn't be where you can even notice it" from the street because one house will sit on each side of the easement with no house between them.
The transcript records the applications being presented and discussed but does not record a formal motion on either variance or a vote on the variances during the excerpt provided. The meeting earlier approved the previous meeting minutes by voice vote, but no outcome on applications 2020-58V or 2020-59V is recorded in the provided transcript.
Next steps: the transcript ends with presentations and clarifying questions; the transcript does not record a final decision, vote, or formal board action on the two variance applications.
