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Board grants rear-yard setback variance at 1033 Eastlake Drive with landscaping condition
Summary
After neighbors raised concerns about conflicting surveys and communication, the Decatur Zoning Board of Appeals granted a rear-yard setback variance for 1033 Eastlake Drive, reducing the required rear setback to 22 feet and conditioning approval on a rear-yard landscape plan approved by staff.
The Zoning Board of Appeals voted Sept. 8 to grant a rear-yard setback variance for 1033 Eastlake Drive, reducing the rear setback from 40 feet to 22 feet and conditioning the approval on a rear-yard landscape plan to be approved by city staff.
Adrian Williams, the applicant's representative from Max Craft Innovations, said the project relied on an earlier survey that incorrectly placed the rear property line roughly 10 feet farther back; when the discrepancy was discovered the owner proceeded with construction in reliance on the permits and plans previously approved. "We built the building at this designed it and built it before we realized that this was the case," Williams told the board, and he emphasized the owner did not intend to encroach.
Neighbors testified at length. Jill Morgan told the board she found the corrected survey and the sequence of plan revisions "disingenuous," saying the matter was foreseeable and that communication with neighbors was inadequate. Austin Stevenson, an adjoining property owner, said he became aware of the issue only in June and expressed concern about lot-coverage questions and a lack of prior notice.
Staff explained the city relies on signed and sealed surveys; an as-built survey supplied after construction changed the recorded rear line, creating the present discrepancy. Several board members noted the hardship of requiring demolition after approvals had been issued and found mitigation (a rear-yard landscape plan and arborist sign-off) could reasonably address neighbor privacy and visual concerns.
Chair Casey Boyce moved to grant the variance conditioned on a rear-yard landscape plan approved by staff. The motion was seconded and carried by voice vote; the transcript records multiple "aye" votes and the chair announced the variance as approved.
Next steps: Applicant to submit a rear-yard landscape plan for staff review; staff will include the mitigation condition in the final permit documentation.
