The Board of Zoning Appeals is meeting 12/18/2023 at 7PM.
They will be reviewing and voting on three variance requests.
The first request is from a residential property owner on Badger Avenue who currently has a 4-foot-tall fence along the front property line and would like to maintain the fence at that height. The City Zoning Ordinance limits front yard fences to no more than 3 feet in height. When the homeowner bought the property, there was already a 6-foot fence installed along the property line which the current owner cut down to 4 feet in height. The property owner runs a licensed daycare in her home and state statute requires her to have a 4-foot-tall fence in order to maintain her license. If she cannot keep the fence, she will lose her license and not be able to pay her bills or keep her home.
Per the staff report, “If the variance is not approved, the applicant could not use the property for a day care, which is a permitted use in the R1B zoning district. It appears the applicant meets the review criteria for a hardship.”
The second variance request is from a property owner on Clara Street who would like to construct a detached garage 4 feet from the house. The City Zoning Ordinance requires accessory buildings to be at least 5 feet from the house. Per the property owner, their contractor applied for a building permit to rebuild their garage. That application included the plans for the structure. The permit was approved and staff did not mention that the plans did not conform to city code. After the structure was roughed in, the city conducted an on-site inspection, and it was only at this point that city staff informed the owner that the garage was 1 foot too close to the garage.
Inspections Supervisor Kurt Craanan indicates in his staff memo regarding the variance request that the plans submitted to the city during the permitting process indicated that there was going to be a distance of 43 feet between the garage and the may building. “The site plan that was submitted was handwritten and not to scale. The plan shows the garage close to the house, but no indication of the distance from the principal building.” Additionally, a rough-in inspection was called in by the contractor, at which point the issue was noticed, but no stake out inspection was called in by the contractor although that is normal procedure.
The third variance request is from a residential property owner on Seymour Street. The owner would like to erect 6-foot-tall fence 13 feet from the front property line. The City Zoning Ordinance limits the height of fences to 3 feet when they are within 20 feet of the front yard property line. The property is on an interior lot with front yards in both the front and the back. Putting the fence 20 feet back from the property line would result in “a substantial loss of green space.” City staff does not believe the requirements for a variance have been met.
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1139601&GUID=1640BAC8-6BCC-4A7F-AABD-43DCB9DFCD1B
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