BZA allows covered patio at Stip Road home with Eco Area 2 variance

The Monroe County Board of Zoning Appeals approved VAR-25-11, an Eco Area 2 variance to Chapter 823 for a 0.58-acre parcel at 3564 East Stip Road (filed as Beetle/Beto Bloomington Investments), allowing a homeowner to cover an existing concrete patio. The approval was unanimous, 4-0.

Planning staff said the lot is smaller than the Eco Area 2 standards require (lot is 0.58 acres vs. the Eco Area 2 requirement for one acre of contiguous buildable area and a maximum residential density of one unit per 2.5 acres). The petitioner applied for a permit to cover an existing concrete patio; staff described this as a small footprint change that requires a variance because it alters roofline and constitutes an expansion for permitting purposes under the county development ordinance. Staff recommended approval, describing the requested relief as the minimum necessary to issue an improvement-location permit for the proposed covered patio.

David Killian, the petitioner, told the board the existing concrete patio would be covered rather than torn out and that the work is modest in scale. No public opposition was recorded. The board found the request met the standards for design-standard approval and voted to approve VAR-25-11; Margaret Clements, Guy Loughman, Jeff Morris and Pamela Davidson voted yes.

With approval, the parcel is considered conforming for the purpose of the single-family addition permitted by this action; the variance runs with the land, as with other design-standard variances in Eco Area 2.