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BACKGROUND: <br />The applicant is seeking an “after the fact” variance for a garage addition which has <br />initiated construction. On April 13, 2014 the homeowner began construction of a 400 <br />square foot garage addition that was attached to the east side of an existing single car <br />garage. The applicant did not apply for a building permit prior to construction and was <br />issued a stop work order from the Building Safety Division. Once the building permit was <br />submitted, it was learned the addition (and existing garage) were located within the <br />prescribed 3 foot side yard setback, thereby requiring a variance for the work to continue. <br />GarageandCarport <br />SouthStreet <br />There is no building permit on record for the existing garage. However, there is an <br />improvement location certificate (ILC) for the property, performed in 1975, which shows the <br />garage in place. Therefore the garage has been in its current location for at least 29 <br />years. The structure immediately to the south of the existing garage, and located on the <br />adjacent property, is also a garage. <br />The Best Practices” of Old Town is to retain aging structures and add to them so the <br />character of the district is retained and the aged structure is kept. Old Town is <br />experiencing significant change with more and more “scrapes” of the aging structures as <br />new property owners try to maximize the square footage of their property in Old Town. In <br />this instance the applicant is wishing to retain the historic footprint of the single garage <br />while adding a carport to the front (east side) of the garage. <br />By adding to the front of the garage (east side), the owner is using the existing impervious <br />area (driveway) and retaining the pervious area (yard to the north of the garage) to <br />continue the historic drainage pattern of the property. <br />2 <br />