Addison board approves variance to allow aircraft hangar to encroach on side-yard setback

The Board of Zoning Adjustments voted unanimously to grant a variance that will allow a proposed 27,000-square-foot aircraft hangar at 15500 Wright Brothers Drive to encroach 22 feet into the townrequired 25-foot side-yard setback, leaving a three-foot buffer to the property line.

Leslie Knight, director of Development and Neighborhood Services, presented the staff report and recommended approval, saying the property is vacant and adjacent to the Addison Airport. "So the resulting setback of this encroachment is 3 feet," Knight said while showing plan graphics that depict the required 25-foot setback (blue), the proposed building edge (red) and the shaded encroachment area.

Knight told the board the site would include a hangar with some office space, an apron, vehicle parking, landscaping and a dumpster enclosure. She said the applicant has been granted an access permit by the airport so the hangar would eventually have direct airfield access after construction is complete and permits are issued. Knight also said the application was submitted June 30, 2025, and that staff provided notice to property owners within 200 feet (nine recipients) with no responses.

Staff argued the variance meets the required criteria because Wiley Post Road along the property functions as a rarely used, overbuilt segment that terminates at the airfield and does not serve typical frontage traffic. Knight said the roadsegment has 30 feet of pavement within a 60-foot right-of-way and "it is constructed in a manner that could hold up to 1,500 vehicle trips per day" but that actual utilization is far lower. Based on those conditions and surrounding development patterns near the airport, staff concluded that strict enforcement of the 25-foot side-yard requirement would be unnecessarily restrictive for this property and recommended approval.

The applicant, Michael Rasa, who identified himself as the property owner and an association president of existing hangar owners, told the board he had assembled a full set of construction drawings and would not be able to build the structure without the variance. "Without this setback, we won't be able to build it," Rasa said, describing the design and permitting work his team completed.

Rasa also said prior advice from consultants and a local attorney led him to expect that Wiley Post might be abandoned, which influenced acquisition and design decisions; he described that background to explain why the variance request arose late in development. The staff report, however, noted the street remains a town right-of-way and that any utility conflicts will be resolved in engineering review during permitting.

A board member asked whether the variance would encroach on any gas easement; Knight said the engineering review required for preliminary utility and drainage would check for conflicts. When asked whether sidewalks would be required, Knight said sidewalks can be in public right-of-way or private property and typically require a public access easement, but the town's master transportation and trails plans do not call for a sidewalk on this segment, so none is required under current code.

After a brief public hearing in which no members of the public spoke, a motion to grant the variance was made and seconded. Five voting members voted to approve the variance; the board recorded the decision as unanimous. The board and staff noted that permits remain to be issued and that the hangar would not have operational airport access until the project is complete and receives required permits and a certificate of occupancy.

The Board of Zoning Adjustments recorded the action as BZA 25-01 and congratulated the applicant. Staff said the project will proceed through the town's standard permitting and engineering review processes before construction begins.