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Madison County BZA approves setback variance for 95 India Lane (Case V7251)
Summary
The Madison County Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance allowing a property owner at 95 India Lane to site a new garage/workshop closer to the lane than county setback rules allow after the owner described an unrecorded right-of-way and limited buildable options.
The Madison County Board of Zoning Appeals on an undisclosed voice vote approved a variance requested by Kevin Wagner for property at 95 India Lane (Case V7251), allowing a reduction from the ordinance setback measured from the recorded right-of-way.
Wagner told the board he bought the property in 2020 and later demolished a derelict barn. After hiring Axis Land Surveying he discovered the old barn and proposed building site encroached near a right-of-way shown on older plats. Wagner said attorney Sllayton’s research found a 1996 right-of-way extension was not recorded by deed and that the only recorded deed access dated to 1921. Wagner said he asked neighbors to sign a corrective easement but that one neighbor declined "pending legal advice," which stalled the deed correction effort.
Wagner described plans for a permanent 1,728-square-foot garage and workshop with a seasonal 575-square-foot covered garden area and said alternative locations on the lot posed steep slopes or would be too far from the house to function as an accessory structure. He said the site he proposed would place the structure about 26 feet from the nearest lane centerline in use (versus the 60-foot centerline setback shown in the ordinance) and about 32 feet from his property boundary.
A staff member explained an order-of-operations issue: because the old structure was demolished before a concurrent demolition-and-rebuild permitting approach or a timely variance, the prior structure could not be preserved and expanded under permitting rules, contributing to the need for a variance now. Alan also said required neighbor notice had been sent and that staff had received encouraging but informal comments and no negative public testimony tonight.
Board member Miss Long moved to approve the variance "as presented," the motion was seconded, and the chair announced, "So the variance is approved as submitted." The transcript records a voice vote in which no opposition was called; the recorded vote tally was not specified in the transcript.
The approval resolves Wagner’s immediate request to site the proposed garage/workshop closer to the lane than the ordinance setback requires. The board did not record any conditions or a detailed implementation timeline during the hearing.
