Louise Alonso (the applicant) asked the Hillsborough County land use hearing officer to allow an existing porch to remain at 8.2 feet from West Elm Street, a reduction from the required setback. "The proposed porch ... will be located at 8.2 feet," the applicant's representative said during the hearing, and the applicant later emphasized, "our presence here is just for the side porch, not the the other issues that have been brought up."

Scott Gonzales, president of the Town and Country Park Civic Association, urged denial and presented county aerial imagery and a written record alleging multiple instances of unpermitted construction on the property, including a detached accessory dwelling built without permits. Gonzales told the hearing officer the civic association "recommend that you deny this variance request," and outlined aerial evidence showing additions and a detached unit appearing in imagery between 2016 and 2022.

Staff had earlier noted a code compliance matter related to setbacks and flagged relevant stop-work orders and citations in county records. The hearing officer clarified that much of Gonzales's account concerned broader compliance questions outside the single-porch variance but kept those objections on the record. Alonso and her representative limited their testimony to the porch request and said other compliance issues were not the subject of this variance hearing.

There was no vote at the hearing. The land use hearing officer said a written decision would be filed within 15 working days and that any appeal would be limited to the record created at the hearing.

What remains unresolved is the broader code-enforcement history the civic association cited; county staff and the hearing officer noted those matters may require separate review through enforcement channels or additional hearings.