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Board of Appeals denies Dorchester County variance for Sachs porch in critical-area buffer
Summary
The Dorchester County Board of Appeals denied a variance request from Teresa and Jody Sachs to place a 16-by-16 screened porch partially inside the 100-foot tidewater buffer at 4214 Griffin/Griffith Neck Road, concluding the application failed to meet critical-area variance standards; applicants offered to remove two sheds and a buffer-planting plan but the board found the hardship claim insufficient.
The Dorchester County Board of Appeals voted to deny a variance requested by Teresa and Jody Sachs for a 16-by-16 screened porch proposed at 4214 Griffin/Griffith Neck Road.
Staff told the board the application sought a 14-foot variance to produce an 86-foot setback from mean high water and would add an estimated 256 square feet of lot coverage overall, with roughly 128 square feet within the 100-foot tidewater buffer. Critical-area staff said the property sits in the resource-conservation area and that state law and county code (cited in the staff presentation as code '27 1 12') create a presumption that activities in the buffer do not conform to the critical-area program and…
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