Board of Adjustment Agenda and Packet 2024 07 17

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SUMMARY: The applicant requests approval of a variance from the Old Town Overlay side -to -street setbacks to allow construction of a second -story addition over an existing garage. BACKGROUND: The Board of Adjustment (BOA) reviewed and approved this request in September 2023. The applicant applied for a permit application after the 6-month approval window for variances. If no permit is applied for within 6 months of a variance approval, the request must go back through the BOA for approval. The owner of the subject property applied for a building permit for a second -story garage addition in January 2023. The City denied the permit because the proposal expanded an existing non -conformity by adding a second story to an existing garage with a 3.1-foot setback, plus a deck encroachment that resulted in an overall 1.5-foot setback from the property line. The Louisville Municipal Code (LMC) Section 17.36 that governs Nonconforming Uses precludes expansion on nonconforming structures with the following language: ...A nonconforming structure or use may be continued and maintained in reasonable repair but shall not be structurally altered, extended, or expanded. The subject property is located on a corner lot abutting an alley in the Murphy Place subdivision, platted in 1907. The Old Town Overlay and the Residential Medium Density Zone District (R-M) govern zoning for the property. The primary structure, which is not part of the variance request, was built circa 1932. The age of the garage is difficult to determine. There was a 16x12 wood -and -dirt detached garage on the property as far back as 1960, according to the 1960 Assessor's Card. The building permit record shows a garage added or expanded in 1967 with hand -drawn site plans (not to scale) that show a 20x20 garage in the southeast corner of the lot. The survey submitted for the 2023 building permit application shows a 24.3x22.2-foot garage in the southeast corner of the lot. Given this information, despite the slight difference in size, it is likely that the current garage was built in the 1960s or before. 2