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The Danville Planning Commission is set Tuesday to consider allowing a property owner on the west side of town to keep the carport they built without permits – and install solar panels on top in the future – over the objection of neighbors who cry foul.
Town staff recommend the commission deny the neighbors’ appeal and grant the variance request from the owner of the residential property on Clipper Hill Road in the hills between downtown Danville and the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site.
“Because of special circumstances applicable to this specific property, strict application of the applicable zoning regulations would deprive the subject property of rights enjoyed by others in the general vicinity and/or located in the same zoning district,” assistant town planner Jessica Lam wrote in a staff report to the commission.
“The variance is in substantial conformance with the intent and purpose of the zoning district in which the subject property is located,” Lam added.
The 730-square-foot carport first came on the town’s radar last summer when the owner applied for permission from the town to install solar panels on the structure. Planning staff subsequently discovered that the carport was built without proper permits, according to Lam.
Town staff later signed off on allowing the carport to remain, by granting a variance to the rules requiring such a structure to be set back 30 feet from the front and side property lines. The structure is only 1 foot, 8 inches from the front yard edge and 13 feet, 4 inches from the side yard edge, according to Lam.
Neighbor Mary Hoopes, with support from three other neighbors, filed an appeal after being informed of the staff-level approval. Her eight-point challenge includes calling out the town for approving a prior yard setback variance in January 2018 to accommodate extensive remodeling of the main house that is still not complete to this day.
“This carport seems like a situation where ‘you don’t ask for permission and you only ask for forgiveness’,” Hoopes wrote in her letter to the town.
“To the best of my knowledge, none of the neighbors want to hurt the property owner or contractor in any way,” she continued. “None of us have any hard feelings but we have watched this house for over 13 years: start and stop, start and stop, start and stop. We have put up with A LOT!”
“BUT, it appears that the city has ignored all issues brought up by the neighbors and blessed the property owner and contractor with anything they asked for. We are asking you to stop that and let the neighbors have a reasonable say in the matter … rushing through a variance that no one living at the top of the street wants seems unwise and unfair,” Hoopes added.
The appeal hearing is set as the main item on the agenda for the Planning Commission’s regular meeting, scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 10) in the Town Meeting Hall at 201 Front St. Read the full agenda here.
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