08-29-1991 Public Hearing and Regular Meeting ZBOA

Browse Search

Page 2 Section 11-606 empowers the Board of Adjustment to grant variances when it finds that all of the following conditions have been met: 1. That the granting of the variance will not be contrary to the best public interest. 2. That literal enforcement of the Ordinance will result in unnecessary hardship because of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, shape, topography or other extraordinary or exceptional physical situations unique to the specific piece of property in question. "Unnecessary hardship" shall mean physical hardship relating to the property itself as distinguished from a hardship relating to convenience, financial considerations or caprice, and the h~rdship must not result from the applicant or property owner's own actions; and 3. That by granting the variance, the spirit of the Ordinance will be observed. Of these three conditions the second requires the most discussion. It is the contention of the applicants that shared driveways (for the noted lots) are necessary for efficient off- street parking and the necessity arises as a result of the configuration and nature of the property on which the subdivision is being developed (See Exhibit A). The tract is rather narrow with a sharp offset near the east end of the property. Due to this narrowness, the lots are laid out in a diagonal and in some cases asymmetrical fashion. Also, due to the narrowness of the tract, the width of Colony Drive, (the private road which will run through the subdivision) is the mlnlmum necessary for safe passage of normal traffic and the City's emergency vehicles. For this reason, the applicants feel that limiting the total number of driveway entrances on Colony Drive is necessary to improve both the safety and aesthetic appearance of the neighborhood. They feel that requiring individual driveways for each lot would therefore constitute a hardship that would be directly caused by design constraints imposed by property configuration.