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Board grants one-year, limited variance to allow existing gravel parking at 750 S. Kentucky Ave.
Summary
The Board granted Hammer Property Group a one-year variance limited to the existing gravel parking area at 750 South Kentucky Avenue after a lengthy discussion about past variances, vacancy, neighborhood impacts and the financial burden of paving; the measure passed 5–1 with conditions limiting the variance to existing gravel and to a one-year term.
Nicholas Herman, representing Hammer Property Group, asked the Board of Zoning Appeals to grant a permanent variance allowing an existing gravel parking area at 750 South Kentucky Avenue to remain unpaved. Staff and board members reviewed the site’s history of prior temporary variances and noted the parcel has been vacant for months; petitioners said the site’s economics have made paving infeasible.
Board members and staff debated the long-term consequences of allowing gravel in a residential neighborhood and whether a permanent variance would hamper future tenants or increase dust and traffic problems. Several members proposed, and the petitioner accepted, a compromise: a time-limited (one-year) variance restricted to the existing gravel footprint, with the understanding that any expansion of parking or change in use that increases parking demand would require paving or a new variance.
The board voted 5–1 to approve the one-year variance limited to the existing gravel area. The board noted the owner should disclose the gravel condition to prospective tenants, and staff flagged that any future increases to parking would be reviewed and likely require paving or a return to the board.
