ZBA okays variances for porch and deck
James Welch has the go-ahead for variances necessary to adding a porch to his house and moving air conditioners from their present location to another location on his property.
The Zoning Board of Appeals made short work in approving variances for Heights resident James Welch to make changes to his property at 2 Sylvan Place.
Acting at a regular meeting on Wednesday, March 22, ZBA members approved five variances to enable Mr. Welch to add air conditioners and build a new porch and deck on his house. He needed front yard and side yard variances as well as permission to expand the percentage of lot coverage allowed by code.
Neither an immediate neighbor nor the Heights Property Owners Corporation voiced any concern about the application at an earlier hearing at which Sam Case of Sherman Engineering explained that the air conditioners were the same as those that have been installed on the property, but needed to be moved to a different location on the property.
The lot that is 11,546 square feet would allow for 28.86 percent coverage, but Mr. Welch needed to be allowed to extend that lot coverage to between 29.37 percent and 30.45 percent.
The project also needed a special permit because properties in the heights are generally already nonconforming to code as Mr. Welch’s property is. The permit is necessary to make any further changes to a nonconforming structure.
