Staff member: setback variance approved to 8.75 feet for R‑1B lot at 144 North Broad Street

A staff member presented an applicant request to reduce the minimum required setback in the R‑1B zoning district for property at 144 North Broad Street and the panel approved the requested variance. The staff presentation explained that the ordinance baseline requires a 25‑foot setback, that block averaging reduced the effective required setback to about 12.5 feet (transcript phrasing: "12 and 0.5 feet"), and that the applicant sought a 30% variance. "Which is what they're asking for, that would get us down to 8.75 feet, from the inside edge of the sidewalk to the furthest projecting part of the structure that's going to be put up," the staff member said.

The staff member told the panel the Development Review Committee considered the request at its April 1 meeting and recommended approval of the reduction to 8.75 feet. The chair polled members (named responses in the record included "Scott" and "Thomas") and the staff member reported a tally of "5 ayes," after which the chair announced, "Motion passes." The staff member said the project will include an open pergola‑style seating area with planters on a newly poured concrete pad on the north side of the building; the structures will be set in from the public sidewalk.

The transcript mentions the local zoning ordinance's setback provisions but does not specify the ordinance section or citation; the staff presentation provided the numerical basis quoted above and noted the DRC recommendation. No mover or seconder for the variance motion is recorded in the transcript; the voting tally reported was five in favor. Further permit or construction steps were not detailed in the transcript.