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Planning board denies variance for Madison metal shop addition at 222 SW 4th
Summary
The Board of Adjustment denied a variance request from Jeff Highland to build a 60-by-60-foot addition with a 5-foot setback at 222 SW 4th St.; commissioners cited multiple prior variances on the property and questioned whether the hardship standard was met.
The City of Madison Board of Adjustment voted 4–3 on March 10 to deny a variance that would have allowed a 60-by-60-foot addition to a light-manufacturing building at 222 Southwest Fourth Street.
Staff told the board the property owner, Jeff Highland, had applied for a variance to permit a 5-foot setback for the new addition. Engineering staff said the lot is in a light-manufacturing zone, that the proposed addition would leave estimated lot coverage of roughly 48% (well under the 75% allowance), and that required public notices and signage were completed.
Highland told the board he needs the space to relocate saws and provide clear space to move long steel bars with a forklift. "I want a 60 by 60 because my bars are 20–25 foot long," he said, describing the operational constraint.
Commissioners focused their discussion on the property's history of approvals. One commissioner noted that this would be the fourth variance granted for building encroachments on the parcel and warned of a potential "snowball effect" if successive variances are approved. Another commissioner said the board benefits from a more comprehensive, long-range look at how the property and corridor might develop before allowing additional encroachments.
The board also discussed practical site issues raised during the hearing: an 80-foot right-of-way on Blanch Avenue, an existing culvert and concrete slab that appear to encroach in places, potential future sidewalks that could lie close to a building built to a 5-foot setback, and the existence of flood-buyout lots south of Fourth Street that limit development there.
After deliberation, the board called a roll and denied the variance. The decision means Highland must either redesign to meet the standard setbacks or return with a revised request. The applicant and staff were advised that any future changes that require a setback variance would need to come back before the board.
