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Board approves critical‑area variance for large deck at Leeson Cove with mitigation conditions
Summary
The Board of Appeals approved a critical‑area variance allowing a redesigned 684‑square‑foot deck and stairs at 183 Leeson Cove Drive, finding the homeowners showed safety and health‑department constraints and required mitigation and planting as conditions.
The Calvert County Board of Appeals voted June 4 to grant a critical‑area variance so a homeowner can replace and modify an existing waterfront deck at 183 Leeson Cove Drive. The board required mitigation measures, including specified plantings, and noted coordination with state referrals would be necessary.
Connor “CJ” McKenzie, who testified on behalf of property owner Maryann McGowan, described the existing deck as dangerously deteriorated and said the health department would not permit a straight "replace‑in‑kind" solution because of septic and well setbacks. "It's either we don't get a deck that allows us to exit our house and it makes our home illegal or we get a variance, and we're allowed to build a deck," McKenzie told the board.
Contractor George Hope of Long Fence explained design changes intended to avoid new impacts to the septic and well location and said the proposed deck will be freestanding with footers placed at the locations of the old supports. Staff and board members probed alternatives repeatedly, asking whether stairs or landings could be reconfigured to avoid the critical buffer; the applicant and contractor said those options were limited by topography, well and septic placement, and health‑department requirements.
After a lengthy review under COMAR and local variance standards (practical difficulty, public interest, minimum adjustment, and water‑quality safeguards), the board found the applicants had justified relief and approved the variance with mitigation and permitting conditions. The decision requires the applicant to complete mitigation planting (3:1 ratio where removal occurs), obtain necessary county permits and inspections, and ensure the project meets any additional conditions from the Critical Area Commission and the health department.
