09-23-2004 Regular Meeting and Public Hearing of the La Porte Zoning Board of Adjustment

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Staff. Report November 23, 2004 Variance Request #V04-010 Requested bv: Requested for: Location: Zoning Ted & Kim Powell, Property Owners Addition and/or Enlargement of a residential garage along the street 1700 Roscoe Street (Block 27; Lots 1,2 & 3, Bay Front Addition, Town of La Porte) Low Density Residential (R-1) Baclgrround: The applicant is requesting additional garage area of (10'x 28') with single car garage door 8' wide by enlarging an, existing garage (25'x 28'). The property is an existing residential home site located in the old part of town by the Galveston Bay. (See Exhibit) The existing car garage with 16' wide door is facing directly onto Roscoe Street. This properly is among the waterfront properties. La Porte's waterfront properties are unique in the sense that most of the rear yards face the street. The old town of La Porte was platted as 25'x125' lots in the 19~' century. The properly in question consists of three of the same sized lots. The house sits on 2 of 3 narrow lots with minimal side yards resulting in the garage being located in the rear yard. Typically, the garages were built close to the street to maximize green spaces. In addition,. the streets are narrow and few blocks long due to the numerous bayous out falling into the Bay. The property is a corner lot, the issue deals with pre-existing, nonconforming structures. The survey identifies that the house is located just six (6) feet off the public right-of--way in lieu of the required ten-foot side yard along Holmes Street. The existing garage directly faces .Roscoe Street is only 2'-5" off the public right-of--way in lieu of the required ten-foot (10') yard setback. As a result, both structures are considered pre- existing, nonconforming structures. .Although both structures are pre-existing, nonconforming, based on the applicant's proposal, only the garage structure is being addressed. Zoning Section 106-262(g) states "an enlargement to a structure can occur if the Board determines that such enlargement will not result in an increase in the degree of nonconformity with the regulations and development standards of the district in which it is located". The applicant proposes to add a 10'x 28' garage addition to the southwest corner of the detached garage. As proposed, the addition would be located at least 2' off the rear property line along Roscoe Street and 25' off the Holmes Street right-of--way (minimum setback is 10'). In addition, an accessory building or carport, garage for single-family dwelling shall occupy not more than 25 percent of a rear yard nor exceed 1,000 square feet of floor area. The applicant's proposal results. in 980 square feet of garage floor area. Staff recognizes that the enlargement of the structure would result in an increase to the degree of nonconformity. .