Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

VA-02-03-034 — D. R. Horton Homes

Request: Variance in P-D (Planned Development) zone to allow porch area of single family residence to remain 18.3 ft. from front property line in lieu of 20 ft.

Decision: Denied

Hearing: The public hearing on application #7 was held together with #8 (also D.R. Horton). Both are in the same neighborhood and street, and both requests are similar. Staff noted this is the applicant D.R. Horton's 3rd and 4th "after-the-fact" Variance requests. Horton had two other variance requests approved by the BZA in 2000, which was the result of an error on the job. The applicant stated the porch encroachments are very minimal. He said the error was made on the encroachment because their surveying company had indicated to them the improvements would fit within the setback areas. The BZA discussed the issue at length. Concern was raised about public perception that "it's ok if you make a mistake because the BZA will grant you a Variance". The BZA pointed out the applicant is a professional in the construction business, and that four mistakes like this should not have happened. The District #5 representative noted that mistakes do happen by builders, but the BZA has not typically granted a Variance based on a builder's mistake more than one time to that builder. The BZA unanimously denied the requests for both #7 and #8, noting that these were self-imposed hardships and therefore did not meet the Variance criteria established by law. There was no public opposition present.