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[0:37] So, first thing under the agenda, there's no whole business. We've got a new business to
[0:45] approve the meeting. I think we're in the first meeting.
[0:51] Has anyone got any problems with minutes as they're presenting the act?
[1:03] Second, on the table.
[1:06] They approve.
[1:26] Mr. Harris.
[1:27] Yes.
[1:27] Okay.
[1:28] And I see no other entities to have a say.
[1:31] So, you know, so we'll open the public hearing 5-1, is that correct?
[1:35] Mr. Chairman?
[1:35] Mm-hmm.
[1:36] All right.
[1:40] So, Matt, you're up.
[1:50] No, I'm good evening, Chairman.
[1:51] Members of the Board of Zoning Appeals.
[1:53] Thank you for your time.
[1:55] This evening, as you convene to administer case number 26, a B-A-R--26-0-1, which is an application
[2:07] for variants submitted by Mr. Edward R. Harris, 624 Riverview Drive,
[2:14] Althe Vista, Virginia. From an administrative standpoint, I'll just make a couple brief
[2:19] comments about process and application. I submitted first a memorandum to your
[2:29] desks, noting that as of 5 p.m. this evening, our office had not received, we had only received
[2:40] one comment, and that was from Chairman John Jordan of the Eltervis Deplaning Commission.
[2:46] As a matter of course, all variants, applications are submitted to the Planing Commission, who
[2:51] may choose to be a participant of this hearing, send comments, or be party to it.
[2:59] Mr. Jordan just noted that after his review of the application that he did not have any
[3:06] objection to the variance request. Outside of that, we receive no written or otherwise or
[3:13] no comments written or otherwise in favor of or in opposition to the variance application.
[3:18] So I mentioned that because in our public advertisement, we state that any member of
[3:29] the public may come to our office to examine the record or they may submit via email comments.
[3:36] So we did not receive any of those.
[3:40] Additionally, noting that we have received app of David of publication for the publication
[3:47] of this public hearing, which was published on April 28, 2026, and on May 5, 2026,
[3:58] in accordance with local and state code. To the matter of the variants itself included
[4:10] in your agenda packet starting at page 6 is a report, if you will, from staff, just
[4:21] giving you some background, some related matters as they pertain to the variance and
[4:27] then staff's analysis of the property along with some photos carrying on to page 10 is
[4:37] representation of Mr. Harris' property with the denoted building line. There you see
[4:48] it in the white dashes. And that just goes for to clarify to give you a visual representation
[4:55] of how code our code defines what the building line is. Additionally you'll see our zoning
[5:03] that, showing the zoning of Mr. Harris' property as an R1, and very additionally, you have
[5:10] excerpts from the code of Virginia as well as from our local code of the town of
[5:18] Afghanistan.
[5:20] I have referring from presenting a recommendation on this, in the facts, or presented as such
[5:30] that Mr. Harris' property does lie in an R1 zoning district.
[5:34] Our current code regulates accessory structures being built in front of the building line,
[5:41] the front building line of any property.
[5:45] As you can see, Mr. Harris' property situated at 624 Riverview lies in such a manner that
[5:55] he has an extensive front yard and for all intents and purposes we define the shape of
[6:02] his yard essentially is a flag lot so he has a small adjudging portion of that that
[6:11] falls behind another property.
[6:14] It is in fact in that location on that the flag portion of that if you will and in front
[6:21] the building line that he is seeking alleviation from town code regulations for accessory
[6:31] structures being permitted, not being permitted in the front building line. Aside from that,
[6:38] our observation is the property, obviously the setback of his current house from the road
[6:46] is approximately 400 feet from that.
[6:50] I'm trying to give you a visual representation of that in the picture on page 8.
[6:56] There are other properties on the street that have accessory structures.
[7:03] All those are which are behind the front building line.
[7:07] But there is no property so situated as Mr. Harris's.
[7:13] It is unique to that street.
[7:15] And in fact, I would say it's relatively unique in the entire town, quite frankly, with
[7:22] this large of a lot and set up in this manner where the primary structure is at far off
[7:28] the road.
[7:31] So from the staff perspective, we didn't see, well, that's the facts of that of the situation
[7:42] there.
[7:43] Related to that, again, as you can see on page 6 and 7 of the agenda, I'm giving you
[7:52] the definition which you need to decide if it's being met by the applicant for variants.
[8:00] That's bound in section 15.2, that's 2201, of the Code of Virginia, as well as the authority
[8:09] in the guidelines for which you need to make of the determination.
[8:15] I have said also at your desks there a BZA variance checklist, which essentially is
[8:24] a summary of what you will find in state code or the excerpt of state code, which is
[8:39] To present in this matter, if there's any questions I can answer, I'll be happy to do some.
[8:45] Yes, ma'am.
[8:45] I'd like to ask, there are such rebuilding behind the line, right?
[8:50] I'll read you on the property.
[8:51] There are.
[8:51] That's correct.
[8:52] There are.
[8:53] Because I could look like this picture.
[8:54] There's a couple of buildings behind the line.
[8:57] Yes, they are correct.
[8:58] Our observation, those are either pre-built or built smaller structures on site, certainly
[9:08] nothing to the scale that is being proposed in this application.
[9:13] The existing structures are only free froming or they are already set on concrete bays
[9:21] or amountations.
[9:21] Sure.
[9:22] Our observation is showing that they are leveled with blocks of some kind to make up for
[9:28] that topographical challenge that he has there that kind of starts really at the front
[9:36] building line of his property inflows files down the rest of that 300 so feet to the
[9:42] back property line where it's just a slow grade down to that.
[9:48] And this may be a question from Mr. Harris and not you, but is the accessory buildings
[9:53] that are currently on the property were they there when the property was purchased or were
[9:58] they added later?
[9:59] Sure.
[9:59] I'll defer that answer to Mr. Harris.
[10:22] Good afternoon. I would first present that my biggest mistake is not doing this 20 years
[10:29] ago. We got a lot of things to say about that.
[10:37] Two old have a midlife crisis so I don't know where this came from. I decided I wanted
[10:44] this building you asked about the pre-existing stuff. I've added a sheet to the side if you can
[10:53] tell.
[10:57] Well it's several sheets. I've added one. A good building. You know, good sheets.
[11:04] I don't 29. He put one up for me and I thought it was going to be better to foot off a grand when
[11:11] he started and I was wrong. It's like the entrance is like waist high to me. So I had
[11:19] to build up around for that. And this is in one
[11:28] of the pictures shows the shed on
[11:35] page
[11:36] 9 at the bottom. You can see the shed. And there's a lot. I don't have to me at all with
[11:46] the Frazier Farm. This goes down to the creek that does the Frazier Farm. I go almost
[11:54] to the creek at the back and it slows off so bad. One of my reasons for picking this spot
[12:03] up, I watched too many homesteaded shows for a while. I feel like this is part of my homestead.
[12:09] If I put it anywhere else, I have a septic tank, I'm not hooked to the tank, the septic tank
[12:17] and the drain field run to the right, well, if you're facing from a street or run from
[12:25] the left to the house and it goes,
[12:29] when the fellow built the house, see how to make the
[12:31] drain field larger than what would have been normal because it didn't perk with, and so
[12:38] I can't put anything over there, we're very messing that up.
[12:42] Now that is actually on the side of your...
[12:44] Right, that's to the left side of the home.
[12:48] Yeah, from the straight on the left.
[12:50] Yeah.
[12:51] And then, wife say, the driveway in the house was pre-existing when I moved there.
[13:02] Well, you don't need the history of the property around me, but anyway, that was
[13:08] There's one that there is it's convenient and it's what I consider part of my home state
[13:16] even though I own all five lights.
[13:19] Keeps everything I own to give them.
[13:22] If whoever takes over after I'm not here, it'd be easier for them to divide up.
[13:28] Supposedly that's supposed to be two half lights in the front and two whole lights in the
[13:34] back.
[13:34] and I don't know how that's divided. That's what somebody told me when I bought the place.
[13:42] But it was already subdivided.
[13:47] I'm the one that messed the street up. My address is 220 fold and the lady that works for
[13:59] the dance. Her dad lives like two houses up on the other side and he's like 220 too.
[14:06] So we supposed to be, you know, wise, we'd be across the street from each other by my house being on the backs out of the line.
[14:15] It messed a number and system, I say, messed a number and system up so I don't know how it's divided out to be honest.
[14:23] For as I'm concerned, if I like us as man and I'm in the middle of it and I'm happy, I'm not anti-social, it just looks like I am.
[14:31] I
[14:35] don't know, you got to think questions, I'm big.
[14:42] Yeah, I've got one, is that one of the, one of the things that...
[14:47] Sorry, I got to pick up.
[14:51] The things are very clear in the audience, is that you don't think things.
[14:54] I want to come up to you to be able to show proof that it comes out.
[15:02] I'm not having that building there. So can you talk a little bit about how the building is going to be used for? And why not having it would be an intermountable hardship for you? Well, my purpose, I wanted to garage.
[15:24] I don't, I don't want to answer that question. I just, if something I've always wanted, my son said at your age,
[15:33] do something you want to do and sort of something you, um, practical. I should maybe practicals
[15:39] are wrong word. I think the garage would be practical for me. I could do work on my own
[15:44] stuff. I have something convenient with concrete on the floor where I could work on stuff
[15:49] where every time I use a jack, I go in the ground more than it picks up what I want. Um,
[15:59] if
[16:00] If I may, I have trouble with the hardship post.
[16:03] Sure, if I may be presented in a question in a different way,
[16:08] I'll let you agree or not, I'm not agreeable.
[16:10] Is why that location was selected on the property for
[16:17] that proposed, the site that he selected for.
[16:20] Okay, so maybe rephrasing that question, why did you select
[16:25] that location in front of the building line for this
[16:33] Well, it's the closest thing I have to a level spot.
[16:41] When I first moved out, we had one of the policemen in town said, I didn't even know that
[16:46] house was back there.
[16:48] So, that's half off of the street.
[16:50] Well, it slopes up, and then, when a fellow put the house, he put it on the back side of the
[16:56] and it slopes down to the creek, and it gets worse.
[17:03] It's rounded, it's still not on a level spot,
[17:06] but it just rounds off, if you follow what I mean.
[17:10] It's a gradual from the street up to the high spot.
[17:15] And then you got the high spots rounded naturally,
[17:17] but then after the high spot, it just drops off dramatically going.
[17:22] It's not as bad as the cliff on the side of,
[17:25] phrase of form, but it's not
[17:30] conclusive to, you know, if you, if you
[17:33] built a house, you would have a
[17:35] walk-yard basement. You know, if
[17:37] going down a hill, you'd have a
[17:39] walk-yard basement and then you'd
[17:41] have to climb steps to get to your
[17:43] first floor from the back side of
[17:45] that. Or if it can put the street
[17:47] up a creek, you could have a
[17:50] front side, but you, then you'd have
[17:53] like a, you'd still have, your first
[17:55] would be, I would consider on the ground going down that way.
[18:01] If
[18:07] you get to be able to complete it on what heavy equipment do you foresee that you
[18:11] will be using it in the bill?
[18:14] Alcompressors?
[18:16] Well, just shops, they'd be like, small Alcompressors to most, not good enough for welders to say I'd
[18:25] want a welder there.
[18:28] It would just be like doing my own service work on my car and truck.
[18:35] I don't have any big vehicles.
[18:38] I do have a farm tract on the place.
[18:40] I'd like to get that inside.
[18:45] I feel like 11 a day a day and I didn't get it inside when he brought it to me and he's
[18:50] gone.
[18:51] I'm not taking care of it like I should.
[18:54] And that's the main thing is to get my staff and I want to keep in something.
[19:02] So what would happen if you approved and you started using some heavy equipment there?
[19:10] I see you got a house, the one of your neighbors or a little brother, with a structure for
[19:15] me.
[19:16] Let's just say in the future whatever he is that you use and make stop making too much noise for the name and enable stop complaining.
[19:25] What kind of recourse will we have to rectify that?
[19:31] Well, I can't see me making that much noise, but to give you a fair answer, I would think I would handle it with him before they came to you about.
[19:47] And
[19:53] the reason I brought that up is because technically, the structure should be in the back
[19:57] where it wouldn't be a problem, so much to get in there and not only grow, if I may,
[20:08] on the other side of those trees on page 9,
[20:13] that house is in front of me, and I can foresee
[20:18] in the future, somebody asking her why she put her garage that far away from her house.
[20:26] If I go on the other side of those trees at the top where the Toyota pickup is, those
[20:31] trees are basically on the line between me and the property in front of me.
[20:38] And see if I had that house, I wouldn't be here, I would need a variance.
[20:47] And me and my wife was going to build a house in front next year when the money got right.
[20:53] Well, life happened and stuff happened and now my old, I can't say what I was going to say.
[20:59] Anyway, I don't need a big house, you know.
[21:03] And so I don't want to mess up a front yard for the next paint you found.
[21:11] and that was my prayer. I consider that a lot over there as part of my what I call home state and I just want to keep everything together.
[21:22] So it mess up less area for the next generation, I guess.
[21:30] So
[21:33] it's basically, if I can reword what I've heard is that you want to use this as a personal
[21:42] preference.
[21:43] If you've never had it there then something on the hill behind the house.
[21:47] All right.
[21:51] All right.
[21:55] Well, if you have more for us, then I appreciate your time.
[22:01] Thank you.
[22:19] If you want to ask if there's anyone here in opposition or is anyone here in opposition
[22:26] a favor to go ahead? No, that's okay.
[22:31] Follow the room in that sheet that I showed you.
[22:47] Sorry, that's what the table was looking for.
[22:50] Are there any current here who will support for variance?
[22:55] make it known.
[23:03] Any presentations for posing variants?
[23:09] Then I want to close this
[23:12] here at 5.3, we're
[23:18] coming through the four members and I guess by show of
[23:25] Yehrenegh whether you agree with the variants or disagree so that's the
[23:29] question.
[23:30] I was.
[23:32] You approved variance?
[23:36] I did not approve.
[23:39] I do not approve.
[23:40] I do not approve.
[23:42] I do not approve.
[23:42] So we've got three to one.
[23:46] What was the vote against?
[23:48] She approved.
[23:49] I approved.
[23:49] Not.
[23:50] Not.
[23:50] Not.
[23:51] Okay.
[23:53] All right.
[23:54] So the majority of the variance is not approved.
[24:08] Any matter?
[24:09] Moving on.
[24:10] Yeah, I don't have anything great, I don't matter some staff, any matters from the board members, I think what we need to talk about.
[24:24] Well then all being said, I appreciate everyone's attendance, I appreciate your tenure and patience.
[24:31] And if that will close this up, meeting out at 5.24.
[24:37] Thank you.