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Decatur Board of Adjustments approves three setback special exceptions for Hatcher Street properties
Summary
The Board of Adjustments approved three city-initiated special-exception requests tied to a replat of four Hatcher Street lots, granting reduced front- and side-yard setbacks for existing residential structures by voice vote; staff reported no public objections and noted one board member recusal on the subsequent item.
The Decatur Board of Adjustments on an otherwise brief agenda approved three special-exception setback requests for properties on South Hatcher Street after receiving staff reports and brief public discussion.
Lisa Hannan, Planning Director, entered the staff reports for the three cases into the record "by reference in their entirety for all of 3 of these cases," and said the exceptions were prompted by a city-initiated replat. For BOA25-00071701 (Hatcher Street) she described the numeric deviations: the zoning code requires a 25-foot front-yard setback and the applicant requested a 13.3-foot front encroachment; the required side-yard setback is 7 feet and the requested encroachment is 3.4 feet. Hannan said 17 property owners were notified and "we did not receive any responses to my knowledge."
The board opened and closed the public hearing on that case with no recorded public commenters. A committee member moved to approve the special exception and, after a second, the motion passed on a voice vote; the transcript records members saying "aye" but does not provide a roll-call tally.
On BOA25-0008, for 1703 South Hatcher, Hannan said the request sought a 7.1-foot front-yard encroachment and a 2.9-foot encroachment for an accessory structure at the rear; she reported 15 property owners were notified with no responses. During the hearing a participant described the rear metal building as a portable structure with no foundation that "you could take apart" and "move it if you had to," and said it "probably [has been there] 15 years." Hannan confirmed the board was not requiring removal of the structure as a condition of approval. The board approved BOA25-0008 by voice vote after a motion and second; the record again shows no numerical tally.
Before the next agenda item the transcript identifies "Samir Mohammed" as the property owner for the upcoming case and records a board member stating they would recuse themself from discussion and action on that agenda item; the transcript does not unambiguously connect the recusal to a specific named speaker turn.
Hannan then presented BOA25-0009 for 1705 South Hatcher, describing an encroachment of 11.3 feet into the required 25-foot front setback affecting a covered front porch; she said 18 property owners were notified and no responses had been received to her knowledge. The board moved, seconded and approved that special exception by voice vote.
All three special-exception requests were described in the staff reports as cases where no "hardship finding is required" for the type of relief sought and were characterized by staff as city-initiated cleanups after the replat. The board scheduled one application for potential consideration at its next meeting on December 15 (noted as future business in the transcript) and adjourned at about 03:41.
The transcript record used for this report reads a minutes reference as "July 2125 Board of Adjustment minutes" — the year and exact date are unclear in the record and are reported here as read in the transcript.
Votes at a glance: BOA25-00071701 — approved (voice vote; roll-call tally not recorded); BOA25-0008 — approved (voice vote; roll-call tally not recorded); BOA25-0009 — approved (voice vote; roll-call tally not recorded).
