Planning work session questions blanket-variance eligibility and possible deferral for Divine Circle variance

Chair opened the work session and asked staff to preview the first case, VAR 2524 for Divine Circle. Drew said staff met with the applicant and discussed the Linwood Park blanket variance and alternatives to variances, but had not received any new materials and understood the applicant might request another deferral.

Drew said the blanket variance applies only to lots that existed in 1967 and that if the applicant expands or replats lots they would create “new lots” and lose the blanket variance. “The blanket variance applies to the lots that existed in 1967, not new lots,” Drew said.

Committee members asked whether the applicant could reconfigure lots to avoid variances or move the road centerline to maximize an existing blanket variance. The Chair noted engineers plan the road “on that curve to accommodate … emergency vehicles,” and asked whether that constraint forced the road away from the right-of-way center. A committee member said, “If they wanted to not seek variances for the 3 lots, they could just build as is on them and not seek variances.”

Commissioners pressed staff for information from Public Works about the minimum lot size needed for the stormwater/detention facility. Drew said staff had not received documentation showing any changes and therefore could not revise its recommendation. “We haven’t received anything to review,” Drew said. When asked about how much of a listed lot’s area lies within stream buffers, staff said the stream and buffers cover 8,307 square feet, about 22.8% of the lot.

The Chair described an approach staff has used when a case lacks new material: reopening the public hearing briefly to allow comment if there is anything new, but otherwise asking the applicant to request a deferral so the public hearing occurs when the board can consider the substance. Commissioners noted that city code limits the board’s ability to initiate deferrals to 60 days and that only an applicant-initiated request might allow additional delay.

No formal motion or vote was recorded on VAR 2524 during the work session. The item was carried forward for the regular meeting schedule and commissioners asked staff to request any outstanding Public Works data and to watch for an applicant deferral request.