The Washington Court House Board of Zoning Appeals met in regular session on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 5:30 p.m.
The first two applications from the Fayette Metro Housing were withdrawn for the time being, so the next application was from Tony Penwell for construction of a storage building at 2305 Robinson Road, without a paved service area.
Penwell asked for approval for a storage building on his lot after he received two bids for paving the driveway next to his main building for access to the rear of his property. He also said that if approved, he would ask that the paving take place in the spring due to weather conditions of winter. Building Official Rod Bryant said that the building permit could be written to give the one-year-rule, meaning the paving and/or construction would have to be completed in one year from the date of issuance.
Based upon these conditions, the board gave Penwell the approval on the variance he requested to build his 60 feet by 152 feet storage building.
The next application was from JLB1 Properties, and Kyle Reed spoke on behalf of his employer regarding a 75 foot curb-cut request for the 940/942/944 Gregg St. construction. The request was to allow for ample ingress and egress for parking spaces for the tenants of the buildings under construction. The board reviewed the sketch submitted and noted that the building was within the set-back rule at the rear of the property, but the front of the building was closer to the curb than anticipated and currently has a 25 foot curb-cut. They voted to approve a 50 foot curb-cut instead of the 75 foot requested, so as not to set an unusual precedent. It was noted that if the variance was not granted in some form, residents would be driving over the curb to get to parking spaces because 25 feet is not enough room for accessing the parking.
The last application was from Austin Murdoch at the corner of Leesburg Avenue and Wagner Way to construct a 48 foot high chain link fence to connect to the neighbor's fence at the rear of his lot. He is planning the fence for the safety of his dog and children using the rear of his house which fronts on Leesburg, but the back yard on a corner lot is also considered a frontage lot, according to city building codes. After Murdoch explained his request, the board approved his fence application.