Planning board approves variance to keep shipping container at 4588 Huron Drive

The Rio Rancho Planning and Zoning Board voted to approve a variance allowing an 8-by-40-foot shipping container to remain at 4588 Huron Drive.

Staff planner Sean LaBarbara told the board the request would allow a rear setback of 9 feet 6 inches for the container on the property legally described as Unit 17, Block 40, Lot 30A. Under the city's R-4 residential standards cited by staff, rear setbacks are 25 feet and side setbacks are 10 feet; the requested variance would create a 15-foot-6-inch encroachment in the rear and a one-foot encroachment on the left side. LaBarbara said staff recommended denial with findings and conditions.

Applicant Patrick Crawford told the board he believed he had followed permitting guidance during construction, that he had permitted the retaining wall and placed the container within those walls, and that he obtained a certificate of occupancy for the house. "I had thought that I had followed the guidance to be in compliance when I was building the house," Crawford said. He described attempts to reach staff after receiving a noncompliance notice and said he was out of town when related letters were issued.

During board questioning, members pressed Crawford for a timeline of inspections and whether the certificate of occupancy had been issued with the container in place. Crawford confirmed he had received the certificate of occupancy. One commissioner noted the retaining wall was taller than the container and said the container was not visible from the street; another asked about the sequence of retaining-wall inspections, house construction and issuance of the noncompliance notice.

After brief discussion the board made a motion to approve the variance. The motion passed on a roll-call vote.

The approval allows the container to remain subject to the conditions the board adopted as part of the variance, and the board concluded the public hearing on the item.