Our First Variance Meeting....and an excellent revelation!

On Dec 21st, we had our first meeting to pitch our variance request. This meeting was with the Midtown Neighbors' Association Land Use Committee. I had been in contact with the committee chair who was very helpful in guiding me through the process. There was a bit of worry, however, due to him requesting our architectural drawings and plans. I explained we weren't quite there yet and that the variance would materially alter the design so we were delaying the design process until we got a sense of how our variance request would be received. He replied saying the committee had everything they needed to review the application. I wasn't sure which way he was leaning and Beth and I both were feeling a little uneasy about walking into the unknown. It felt like we had a lot riding on this even though request seemed very reasonable.

When we arrived at the meeting there were about 10 people excluding Beth, Stella, and me. All but one were on the committee. There was one spectator and our variance request was the sole item on the agenda. The atmosphere was somewhat casual yet still serious. Everyone was very friendly and listened with open ears. After a two minute explanation of our request, we got two questions; 1. Had we spoken with our neighbors? 2. Which part of the house would be at the 20' setback, the facade or a porch?

We had spoken to our neighbors on the left and the manager of the mart across the street. Our real estate agent contacted the building owner of the apartments on the right. None of the parties had any objection to our request.

Luckily for the second question, we had a few color prints of a home design that we were considering. This helped explain which part of the facade would be setback at 20'.

After a quick vote, the committee unanimously voted to recommend that the variance be granted. The next step would be for them to send the recommendation to the MNA Board of Directors for yet another recommendation that would then be sent to the NPU.

We left the meeting after being there maybe 15 minutes. The three of us were joyfully perplexed at how easy that was. The best news came about an hour later when I got home and checked this blog....Turns out we don't need the variance!!

Thanks to Cara at TAC Studios Architecture who posted a comment on a previous post, our eyes were opened to this paragraph in the zoning code that allows us to have a shorter setback due to the surrounding houses on the block:

Sec. 16-28.007. - Regular lots.

(5)

Yards, Regular Lots:

(c)

Average depth front yard: Where more than 50 percent of the frontage within a block between intersecting streets is developed with structures having a lesser setback than required by the applicable district regulations, the setback requirement for proposed structures may be reduced to the average setback so established by the bureau of buildings but shall not be reduced by less than 50 percent of the required setback so contained within the applicable district regulations.

Woohoo! Thanks Cara! That'll save us a hundred bucks and hours in meetings. Getting the variance started was our last item to cross off on our due diligence list so I gave our realtor a quick call to let him know we are good to go for the purchase of the lot.