Board of Appeals grants after-the-fact variances for Dares Beach pole barn

The Calvert County Board of Appeals voted unanimously to grant after-the-fact setback and critical area variances for a 28-by-40 pole barn built at 150 Dresser Avenue in Dares Beach.

The applicant, property owner Mark Davis, and his representative, Jeffrey Toole of COA Barrett LLC, told the board that the building was permitted and constructed but was inadvertently sited in the wrong location by the contractor. Toole said inspections had taken place during construction and the placement error was not discovered until the barn was substantially built. “As soon as it was determined there was an issue, all work was stopped,” Toole said.

Toole and the staff report identified roughly 212 square feet of temporary disturbance to steep slopes in the county’s critical area. Toole said the disturbed area is stable and that a planting plan providing the required 7:1 mitigation has been prepared and approved. “They did a very good job with respect to maintaining the site itself. There’s no erosion, whatsoever,” Toole told the board.

Board members asked whether county inspections missed the error. One member noted that multiple inspections occurred before the location issue was identified; Toole and a county staff speaker said it appeared to be a contractor error compounded by the lack of a county-level as-built requirement for accessory structures. “At this stage, mitigation that resulted from this is greater than wasn’t required under the original permit,” a staff planner said.

After closing the record, the board moved through findings required under the zoning ordinance and critical area rules, concluding that (1) special circumstances exist because the lot is small and constrained by three road frontages, (2) granting relief would not injure the public interest given the limited and mitigated disturbance, and (3) relocating the building now would cause greater harm to the critical area than retaining it with mitigation. The board granted the requested general setback variances and the critical area variance.

The board chair said the order will be issued within 45 days and reminded the applicant of the 30-day waiting period that follows issuance of the order. Davis told the board the structure has not been used and has largely sat idle since it was built.

What’s next: The board’s written order will set any required planting or monitoring conditions and the 7:1 mitigation schedule; the hearing record indicates the applicant has already submitted a planting plan for approval.