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, each with a two-unit building and separate one-unit building, and two lots, each with two separate single-unit buildings with reduced development standards in the R-4, Residential District.
FIFTH BY NORTHWEST AREA COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: Approval.
CITY DEPARTMENTS' RECOMMENDATION: Approval. The site consists of two lots developed with single-unit dwellings and two undeveloped lots, all zoned in the R-4, Residential District. The applicant proposes to retain the existing single-unit dwellings and construct single-unit carriage houses behind the existing single-unit dwellings and then to construct two new two-unit buildings on the two undeveloped lots, each with a new one-unit carriage house in the rear. 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, minimum side yard, maximum side yard, rear yard, exception for single or two family dwelling, maneuvering, aisles, and stacked parking spaces. 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 density and design considerations. The applicant has scaled back his original proposal and the density and front building line are more in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood and the Fifth by Northwest Neighborhood Plan (2009), Staff can rec...
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