Explanation
Council Variance Application: CV13-010
APPLICANT: Metropolitan Holdings LLC; c/o Jeffrey L. Brown, Atty.; Smith & Hale, LLC; 37 West Broad Street, Suite 725, Columbus, OH 43215.
PROPOSED USE: Two lots with two-unit buildings on each lot and two lots with two single-unit buildings each on the same lot with reduced development standards in the R-4, Residential District.
FIFTH BY NORTHWEST AREA COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: Approval.
CITY DEPARTMENTS' RECOMMENDATION: Disapproval. The site consists of two lots developed with single-unit dwelling and two undeveloped lots, all zoned in the R-4, Residential District. The applicant proposes to retain the existing single-unit dwellings and construct a single-unit carriage house on the rear of each of the already developed lots and then to construct four two-unit buildings on the two undeveloped lots. The applicant was granted a CV in 1999, for the site immediately to the north. That development is less intense and was supported because it was fairly consistent with existing four-unit buildings to the north, closer to Fifth Avenue and there was no area plan in place at the time. A Council variance is necessary because the R-4 District allows up to four units in the same building, but does not permit more than one building containing dwellings on the same lot. Staff views that aspect of this proposal as a technicality. The applicant requests variances to the requirements for frontage on a public street, building lines, minimum side yard, maximum side yard, rear yard, side or rear yard obstruction, exception for single or two family dwelling, maneuvering and parking space. The site is located within the planning area of the Fifth by Northwest Neighborhood Plan (2009), which calls for single- or two-unit dwellings in this area although it stipulates carriage house development may be supported if it abides by the Plan's...
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