Durant Board of Adjustment approves variances to split corner parcel into four lots

The Durant Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to grant four variances allowing a parcel at the corner of North 5th and Plum to be subdivided into four separate lots, board members said at the meeting.

Vice Chairman Mike Davis moved the measure and read the motion aloud, saying the request would "subdivide the property currently located at the corner of North 5th And Plum Street in the municipality of Durant so as to permit the subdivision of that parcel into 4 parcels." Davis read approximate dimensions for each lot as provided on the map supplied to the board.

The variance request was presented by staff (identified in the record as Matt), who told the board the parcel currently contains four habitable residences on a single legal parcel. Staff said the property owner sought a loan but was denied because the addresses were not on separately recorded lots, effectively preventing individual financing or sale. "When he went to the bank to get a loan to do this, they denied the loan because the properties the addresses weren't on their own individual lots," the staff member said.

Davis led the board through the four statutory criteria the board must consider for a variance. He said the applicant argued the strict application of the ordinance created an unnecessary hardship because the four homes cannot be independently sold, financed or fully utilized; that the condition is unique to the parcel because it contains four existing residential structures; that granting the variance would not change the physical use or character of the neighborhood; and that the subdivision proposed was the minimum necessary to alleviate the hardship.

Board members discussed lot lines, easements and driveway access. Staff recommended shifting a property line so a driveway sits entirely within Lot 4, noting such a change would require moving the line by "less than 5 foot" to preserve off-street parking. The map in the packet listed approximate frontages for Lots 1
(about 61.4 feet), 2 (about 48.3 feet), 3 (about 38.2 feet) and Lot 4 (reported at 57.5 feet after correction during the reading). Staff and members agreed the specific variance measurements for each lot should be finalized in writing after the board's motion and could be subject to legal review.

After the motion to approve the four separate variances was offered and seconded, the board voted in favor; the motion carried and the board adjourned. The board said it would forward any necessary documentation and the individual variance specifics for recordation and potential legal review.

The meeting record shows the variance was approved on the motion read into the record; the board did not take separate substantive votes on amendments and said the numerical dimensions would be supplied as part of the finalized paperwork.