Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Variance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Homeowners ask Howard County to allow 1,280 sq ft replacement of tree-damaged outbuilding
Summary
At an Oct. 21 Howard County zoning hearing, homeowners Amanda Hoppola and Gary Chalk sought a variance to exceed the 1,200 sq ft accessory-structure limit so they can replace a tree-damaged barn with a 1,280 sq ft pole barn; the health department issued a waiver and a building-permit application is concurrent with the variance request.
At a Howard County zoning hearing on Oct. 21, 2024, homeowners Amanda Hoppola and Gary Chalk asked officials for a variance to exceed the county's 1,200-square-foot maximum cumulative lot coverage for accessory structures so they can replace a damaged outbuilding with a 1,280-square-foot pole barn.
Michelle Vallone, an attorney with the Law Offices of Miller, Miller & Camby, represented the petitioners and introduced testimony and photographic exhibits documenting the barn's condition and the property's agricultural use. "It got struck by a tree," said Gary Chalk, the property's co-owner, describing damage in November 2023 that he said left the existing structure unsafe and unable to be used by his family.
Chalk and his co-owner, Amanda Hoppola, said the outbuilding is used for gardening, storage and small repairs, and that the family grows food for their household. Hoppola told the panel that the one-acre lot is small for Howard County and that adjacent parcels are conserved, limiting options to expand their ownership. "Most of the food that we buy is contaminated with heavy metals, arsenic, lead," Hoppola said, arguing that having space to grow their own produce is important to their children's health.
Counsel offered a set of petitioners' exhibits (marked 1A–1E and 2a–2c) including photos of current garden areas and the damaged structure; the presiding official accepted the exhibits into the record. Vallone also drew attention to a letter of support from a neighbor, which the chair said could not be accepted as testimony unless the neighbor appeared to testify in person under zoning-by-petition procedures.
Chalk described the proposed replacement as a pole barn built on-site rather than a prefabricated unit and said the most affordable rectangular configuration closest to the prior footprint would measure 40 by 32 feet (1,280 sq ft). Counsel argued the requested variance is the minimum necessary relief, that the hardship is not self-imposed because the barn predated the petitioners' ownership, and that the project fits the agricultural character of the surrounding parcels.
The petitioners reported that they applied for a building permit in August 2024 and that the permit application is running concurrently with the variance request. Chalk said the Bureau of Environmental Health inspected the well and septic area and issued a waiver allowing the current building permit; he provided a water test and explained that any additional work would require a percolation (perk) test per the health department's conditions.
The hearing concluded after counsel's closing remarks; no vote or final decision was recorded in the session, and the presiding official said a written decision will be forthcoming.
