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August 30, 2007
Lot Coverage Question: Help from the Community? Comments (24)
Feedback from a first time poster today:
I read your site all the time - people there seem to have a lot of info on zoning issues. What's the deal with the 25% lot coverage for single family residences? I'm trying to add a 475 sq ft addition onto my 1650 sq ft house. The lot is over 11,000 sq ft. My addition apparently comes to 25.5% lot coverage with my driveway and carport. The woman in the zoning office was the absolute least helpful, most willfully obtuse person I've ever met, to the point of jaw-dropping rudeness. I was naively shocked that someone like this is allowed to work in any government position. But my question is, how can Steve Bukont, who builds all over my neighborhood, get away with his lot coverage numbers? I've looked online at some of the plats where his houses are, and I come up with anywhere from 28 - 32 % coverage, just on the ones I've looked at. I agree that zoning laws should protect neighborhoods from improper construction. But the result here is that my neighborhood is being "protected" from my addition, but my neighborhood is NOT protected from the Bukont houses (which are okay looking, probably increase my property value, etc, but still...). How can this go both ways? What kind of variance does Bukont get? How can the rest of us get one, too? I'm furious that I can't expand my kitchen and family room because it would make my house "too big" (on a good-sized lot), but I'm surrounded by 4,000+ sq ft houses on similar sized lots. I would have posted this as a comment on your site, but I couldn't find a recent pertinent thread.
May 14, 2007
Project Rejected by Planning Commission Comments (5)
From the Sun Gazette:
"AyrHill Homes' proposal to build 22 condominiums in southeast Vienna received a setback on May 9, when the Vienna Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the project's denial. Commission members said the proposal would generate too much traffic and was too high-density to be compatible with the neighborhood...While some neighbors said the proposal should be held to the town's strict 25-percent maximum for lot coverage in residential areas, this proposal is eligible for transitional zoning, which elsewhere in Vienna has resulted in lot coverages of 60 to 70 percent, Strobel said. The condominium proposal would need only 50-percent coverage, she said...The Vienna Town Council now will set a public hearing to consider the case. The project faces an additional hurdle because at least 20 percent of surrounding residents signed petitions protesting the condominiums. Under town code, the proposal now needs a super-majority - at least six of seven Town Council members - in order to pass."
September 05, 2006
McMansion v. McTeardown Comments (16)
Across Vienna it is a battle. In one corner we have the McMansions. In the other corner we have the McTeardowns. Who will win?
