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Board approves variance to allow patio and regularize home encroachment at Saint Devin Crossing
Summary
The Johns Creek Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance allowing a stone paver patio and to regularize existing house/deck encroachments into the city's 75-foot stream buffer at 295 Saint Devin Cross, subject to planting mitigation and inspection requirements.
The Johns Creek Board of Zoning Appeals on July approved a variance (VDash250003) permitting a 48-foot encroachment into the city's 75-foot stream buffer at 295 Saint Devin Cross to construct an outdoor stone paver patio and to bring an existing house and deck into compliance. Tyler Baron, Planner 3 in the community development department, told the board the parcel in the Devon Hall neighborhood is about 2.97 acres and that the requested change would add 660 square feet of net new impervious surface and 938 square feet of new disturbance while the total impervious area in the buffer would be 2,485 square feet.
Baron recited applicable city code (Chapter 109, stream buffer protection, including a 50-foot undisturbed buffer plus a 25-foot impervious setback) and said staff recommended approval with conditions including limiting the encroachment to 48 linear feet, submitting a vegetative mitigation plan consistent with the materials received by community development on 05/21/2025, and passing city inspection before a certificate of completion is issued. "The proposed development shall not exceed the following encroachments as shown in the as-built survey received by community development on 05/21/2025," Baron said, citing the required dimensions and mitigation measures.
Applicants Tony and Lisa McNary told the board the backyard is largely unusable due to trees and slope and that they want an enlarged patio to use their property. "We're both outdoor enthusiasts and would love to sit outside and just enjoy our backyard," the applicants said. Board members asked technical questions about planting placement, runoff, backfill and an existing sewer easement; staff and the applicants responded that mitigation plantings were sized to offset calculated runoff, that Fulton County had approved pavers within the sewer easement, and that some planned plantings would sit outside the undisturbed buffer to avoid further disturbance. A motion to approve with staff recommendations passed by voice vote.
