Zoning board grants variance to DeBoehl family to build attached garage and bedroom in Sanders Beach

The Pensacola Zoning Board of Adjustments unanimously approved a variance allowing an attached garage and children’s bedroom to encroach from a 30-foot rear-yard setback to 4 feet at 980 South F Street.

Applicants Lee and Jamie DeBoehl told the board that about one-third of the lot lies within a new flood zone and they want to site the new home northward to put children away from the southern shoreline. "A third of the property falls within the new flood zone, and we wanna site the home as far north as possible and put the kids away from the southern shoreline," Lee DeBoehl said.

The applicants presented plans and said the proposal reduces the current nonconformity by converting detached structures and driveway area into attached space and more green area. They also submitted three neighbor support letters and said the change would improve sight lines for an adjacent property owner.

Staff and board members reviewed the plans and coverage calculations and noted that the proposal would slightly pull structures away from an eastern property line. Several members cited the site’s unusual orientation (the house’s ‘‘front’’ faces a side street) and flood-zone constraints as special circumstances supporting a variance under the Land Development Code.

A motion to approve the variance was made and seconded, and the board voted unanimously to grant ZBA2025-025. The board and staff said the decision incorporated the applicants’ submitted materials and encouraged continued coordination with staff during permitting.