License and Variance Board Meeting - A. MAX BACON CITY HALL - COUNCIL CHAMBERS — Minutes
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September 10, 2025 10:00 AM City of Smyrna License and Variance Board Meeting 2800 King Street SE Council Chambers Page 2 of 4 The applicant is proposing to renovate the majority of the existing 1,839-square-foot house and more than double the size of the home with a second-floor addition, new two- car attached garage, and new front and back porch. The home will be accessed from the existing driveway off Collier Drive, which will be greatly reconfigured as part of the project. Since the home is being doubled, the majority of the walls are being moved, and the roof is being completely replaced, the home is considered new and must conform to the City’s current codes per Section 1102 of the Zoning Code. The subject property is 19,735 square feet, while the R-20 zoning district requires a minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet. Since the subject property is an existing lot of record, originally platted in 1950, the hardship is not self-created. Additionally, the existing one-story home is 1,839 square feet, which is below the minimum house size of the R-20 zoning district of 2,100 square feet. With the new construction, the home will be roughly 7,000 square feet, bringing the property into compliance with the R-20 zoning district floor area requirement. The existing home, originally built in 1952, is currently encroaching into the 12-foot eastern side setback by 2 feet. Since the applicant is keeping the existing footprint of the home to reduce land disturbance, any expansion in line with the existing home would require a setback variance. Since the encroachment previously existed on the property, the hardship is not self-created. As part of the renovation on the property, the applicant will be removing the carport from the front of the home, which is currently the only covered parking area, and completely reconfigure the existing circular drive. The reconfiguration of the driveway will involve removing 1,532 square feet of concrete and changing the circular driveway to a typical straight driveway, which will both limit the impervious surface area on the site and to provide a larger usable front yard area. The driveway will then be extended by 1,225 square feet to reach the new side-entry two-car garage on the western rear of the home. In order to create the necessary turning radius to access the side-entry garage, the applicant is proposing a 2.4-foot reduction to the driveway setback. The applicant has minimized the variance request as much as possible by reducing the driveway to a one car driveway adjacent to the house and then extending it out towards the middle of the lot as it comes down towards Collier Drive. Thus, there is only a small 25-foot section of new driveway that is within the 5-foot driveway setback. Note that at the time of this report, Community Development received a call and letter in opposition to the request. However, after a site visit from the City Engineer to the adjacent northern property, they found that the variance requests should not negatively impact the adjacent property due to the slope, which slopes south, away from their property. The variances requested are the minimum variances needed to build a new single-family home on the subject property. The subject property is unique in that it has less square footage than what the R-20 zoning district requires. The hardship is not self-created as the property is an existing lot of record, originally platted in 1950. Community Development does not believe building a new single-family home on the subject property will negatively impact the surrounding properties as there is an existing home on the subject property. The applicant is requesting to deviate from the City’s minimum lot area requirement, side setback, and driveway setback requirements established for the R-20 zoning district. According to Section 1403 of the Zoning Ordinance, variances must be reviewed under the following standards: (1) Whether there are unique and special or extraordinary circumstances applying to the property; (2) Whether any alleged hardship is self-created by any person having an interest in the property; (3) Whether strict application of the