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Middletown board approves variance allowing 9.5-foot driveway at 184 South Main Street
Summary
The Middletown land-use board granted a variance to permit a 9.5-foot driveway and an impervious-coverage adjustment at 184 South Main Street, concluding a public hearing where the applicant said the change reduces a longstanding nonconformity and a tenant raised safety concerns.
The Middletown land-use board voted to grant a variance that allows construction of a 9.5-foot-wide driveway and an associated impervious-coverage variance at 184 South Main Street. The motion, moved and seconded during the meeting, passed on a roll-call vote with Nicholas Figaro, Kelly Grippo, Christine Ripstock and Linda Corino recorded as voting in favor.
Gregory W. McCracken, the applicant's agent and attorney, told the board the two adjacent parcels share a narrow, long-established driveway and that constructing separate 9.5-foot driveways is the only physically feasible way to provide independent ingress and egress. "9.5 feet is about all that we can fit between the two buildings," McCracken said, arguing the proposal would reduce the existing nonconformity and ease conflicts between the owners. He also said the application was amended to include an impervious-coverage variance and proposed a dry well to offset runoff, noting the current calculated impervious coverage is about 82.6 percent and the driveway change would increase coverage by about 4.2 percent.
Staff and the board reviewed the relevant zoning standards for entrance and exit driveways under Section 4.19.0.5, and staff told members they view the proposed two 9.5-foot driveways as a decrease in the site's nonconformity. The board's deliberation focused on what is before them on the filed plans and whether the proposal meets local variance criteria; McCracken cited the Connecticut Supreme Court —Vine— decision to support a legal basis of reducing a nonconformity rather than proving a conventional hardship.
The board recorded its vote by roll call; the motion passed and the variance was approved. The public hearing had been conjoined with application 8.2 (192 South Main) and closed before deliberation and the vote.
