Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

VA-00-06-009 — Constantine Panos

Request: Variance in R-1AA zone to erect a two-story addition (bedroom and living room) to single family residence 27 ft. from rear (east) property line in lieu of 35 ft.

Decision: Approved

Hearing: The property is located within the Rose Isle subdivision. The applicant is proposing an addition at the rear of his home which would consist of over 1,000 square feet. Approximately 1/3 of the addition would encroach into the rear yard setback. More than one-half of the addition is two (2) stories. Staff expressed concern about the two-story section, noting that the only variance approvals in the neighborhood have been for mostly small additions that were ground level. The applicant stated the improvements consisted mainly of bedroom space (second story) and family room space (ground level). He stated he worked with his architect in an attempt to reduce the amount of encroachment, but was only able to pull it back one foot, due to constraints with the existing interior construction. The Board noted this subdivision is an older established neighborhood in an urbanized area, where many property owners are attempting to modernize their homes under existing circumstances. Taking this into consideration and the fact that the applicant's neighbors supported the request, the BZA approved the request with the one foot reduction (28 foot setback from the rear property line).