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BACKGROUND: <br />The applicant is seeking a variance to add a second story to an existing detached garage. <br />The garage currently sits 2'6" from the street side lot line. Because the property is 75 feet <br />wide, the required street side yard setback for both principal and accessory structures is <br />15 feet, per section 17.12.050(H) of the Louisville Municipal Code (LMC). The existing <br />garage is considered legal non - conforming and is allowed to remain. The proposed <br />second story addition would encroach 6'11" into the required setback, resulting in a <br />setback of 8'1", and therefore requires a variance. The proposed use of the addition is a <br />prep kitchen and work space. <br />Hutchinson Street <br />There is no building permit on record for the existing garage. However, existing records <br />indicate the garage has been in place since at least 1974. Therefore the garage has been <br />in its current location for at least 40 years. <br />The "Best Practices" of Old Town recommend retaining aging structures and adding to <br />them so the 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 garage while <br />adding a second story. <br />By adding to the top of the garage, the owner is using the existing impervious area and <br />retaining the pervious area (yard to the north of the garage) to continue the historic <br />drainage pattern of the property. <br />2 <br />