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Board approves front-yard setback variance on US Highway 61 for homeowner’s garage
Summary
Jefferson County’s Board of Adjustment approved a variance reducing front-yard setback from 70 to 42 feet at 3565 US Highway 61 after the applicant presented neighbor approval letters, drone-measured site data and argued topography and waterways limited alternative locations.
The Jefferson County Board of Adjustment voted to grant a front-yard setback variance for a detached garage at 3565 US Highway 61, reducing the required setback from 70 feet to 42 feet.
County planning staff recommended denial, citing the Unified Development Order's purpose and the higher front-yard setback for properties on state highways; staff noted the UDO seeks to control development along higher-speed corridors and observed several nearby nonconforming structures that could reflect grandfathering or prior variances.
Applicant Adam Lush, sworn for testimony, presented signed approval letters from neighbors, drone-based measurements of parcel setbacks and a proposed 36-by-60-foot garage. Lush told the board he had not completed due diligence before buying the property and said, "I take full responsibility of not doing my due diligence... I didn't do my due diligence whenever I purchased." He explained his family and business (agricultural drone operations) require covered storage and said topography, a drain field and a stream on the rear of the lot limit building options.
Board members questioned safety implications given the site’s frontage on Highway 61, MoDOT right-of-way metrics, and the precedent effect of approving encroachments along the corridor. Several members noted that multiple nearby buildings sit closer to the road and that the applicant’s site would still be farther from the centerline of the highway than some examples gathered by the applicant. One board member said the applicant "went above and beyond" in outreach and documentation, and another said neighbor approval and the applicant’s constraints made them inclined to approve.
After deliberation a board member moved to approve BOA25008; the motion passed and the variance was granted. The board did not list conditions on the record beyond the approval. The county had admitted into evidence the applicant's letters and the staff report as part of the record.
The decision reduces the front setback for the specified detached garage; no building permits are recorded as issued in the transcript and the board noted MoDOT’s right-of-way and long-term highway widening as theoretical considerations for future development.
