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Board of Zoning Appeals approves side-setback variance for 7714 Mohawk Drive
Summary
The Prairie Village Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance allowing a two-car garage to sit 4 feet 2 inches from the side lot line at 7714 Mohawk Drive, a deviation from the 7-foot side-setback requirement. The approval was unanimous; the applicant said he would invest $300,000–$500,000 to raise and repair the house.
The Prairie Village Board of Zoning Appeals voted unanimously to approve BZA 2024-9, a side-setback variance for 7714 Mohawk Drive that will allow an attached two-car garage to be built closer to the side lot line than the zoning code normally permits.
Staff described the property as an R1A‑zoned, legal nonconforming lot 70 feet wide in a district that typically requires 80‑foot lots. Staff said the proposed garage would be approximately 4 feet 2 inches from the side lot line, while the R1A side setback requirement is 7 feet, creating a requested variance of 2 feet 10 inches. The area of variance extends roughly 32 feet along the lot edge and the project will retain a single‑story profile, staff said.
According to staff, the application met several of the variance criteria. Staff cited the lot’s narrower, preexisting width and the goal of preserving the existing home as factors supporting uniqueness. Staff also reported the proposal meets the cumulative setback requirement for a 70‑foot lot and that the building separation to the adjacent structure would be about 12 feet (the ordinance’s building separation metric is 14 feet in the cited analysis). Staff recommended standard conditions limiting the approval to the plans shown and requiring the variance be recorded with the county so it runs with the property; staff noted this lot does not have a side easement that had applied in a past similar case.
Applicant Devin Coffey, who identified himself as the owner at 7714 Mohawk Drive, said he supported the staff report and has sought to preserve the existing house rather than pursue a teardown. Coffey told the board he had submitted four to five neighbor support letters for adjacent property owners and described ongoing flooding issues at the low‑lying lot. "We're gonna probably spend north of 300 to $500,000 on fixing this up and raising the house up," Coffey said. He said he had already installed a retaining wall and did not object to the recording requirement or to minor plan revisions requested by staff.
The chair opened the public hearing; no members of the public spoke. An unidentified board member moved to approve BZA 2024-9; the motion was seconded and passed by unanimous vote. Afterward the chair offered brief congratulations to the applicant.
The variance approval includes the standard conditions identified by staff: compliance only with the approved plans, the need to reapply for any expanded work, and a required recording with the register of deeds so the variance runs with the property. No individual vote tallies were read into the record; the chair announced the vote was unanimous.
Next steps: the applicant may finalize minor plan revisions required by staff and, if so, must ensure the approved plan set is recorded per staff instructions.
