License and Variance Board - A. Max Bacon City Hall - Council Chambers — Minutes
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January 14, 2026 10:00 AM City of Smyrna License and Variance Board Meeting 2800 King Street SE Council Chambers Page 5 of 15 The applicant is requesting several variances to construct a detached garage at the rear of 2000 Oakdale Court: allow accessory structure size above 25% of the primary dwelling, allow a second accessory structure, reduce the driveway setback from 5 feet to 3.7 feet, and reduce the western side setback from 10 feet to 3.7 feet. Section 801 of the Zoning Code dictates the 10- foot side setback and driveway setback in R-15 zoning districts whereas Section 501 sets the maximum number of accessory structures and size. The applicant previously received approval from the License and Variance Board in August 2023 to reduce the front setback from 35 feet to 21 feet for a building addition and to allow a 6- foot wooden fence in the front yard on a corner lot (Variance Cases V25-055 and 056). The subject parcel is a 0.25-acre lot located to the southwest of the intersection of Oakdale Court and Oakdale Road. The subject parcel and adjoining parcels to the north and west are zoned R-15 and are occupied by single-family detached homes. The adjacent properties to the east are zoned R-15 and Light Industrial and are occupied by a warehouse and package delivery facility, respectively. The adjacent property to the south is zoned Office Distribution and is currently vacant. The subject property is currently occupied by a 1,472 square feet single-family home with a septic tank directly off the rear of the home and a 120 square foot shed. The applicants renovated the home in 2023, adding an addition to the eastern side of the home. During the renovation, the applicant installed a 6-foot perimeter fence around the side and rear of the property and removed the driveway, which bisected the corner of Oakdale Court and Oakdale Road. A new 17-foot-wide driveway was installed on the western side of the property, 5 feet from the side property line. However, the applicants have quickly outgrown the current driveway due to their classic car collection and personal trailers. The applicant is proposing a detached garage at the rear of the property to accommodate the additional driveway and garage space needed. The applicants are proposing a 500 square foot detached garage in the southwest corner of the property. The detached garage will be accessed off the existing driveway, which will be expanded by 1,349 square feet to reach the new garage space. The existing driveway is currently 5 feet off the western side property line but will expand towards the west by 1.3 feet in order to accommodate the width of the applicants’ personal trailers. The driveway will remain at the required 5-feet setback at the front and will only be expanded behind the wooden privacy fence so there will be no view of the vehicles nor decreased driveway setback from the public right-of-way. Per the applicant, the front driveway will only be used for their personal vehicle. The existing property does not have any covered parking areas, as the original home from 1952 did not account for this need. Since the existing house footprint sits 19 feet from the side setback and 26 feet from the streetside setback, the applicant does not have enough room to erect a standard two-car garage on either side of the existing home without encroaching into the side or streetside setback. Thus, the applicants have chosen to maximize the driveway to store their classic card collection and move the garage to the far rear of the property. Since the driveway will encroach into the side setback, the applicants have requested to place the detached garage in line with the new driveway to ensure functionality and clean access to the garage. Additionally, the septic system and field lines behind the house hinder any expansion or movement of the garage towards the middle of the lot, narrowing down the usable buildable area. The existing one-story home is 1,472 square feet, which means that the proposed garage exceeds the allowable accessory structure size by almost 9% based off the primary