Planning Commission approves resurvey of Highland Road lot

The Planning Commission approved a lot resurvey at 912 Highland Road to create two parcels during a special called June 21 meeting.

Owner Jason Kessler originally presented the request on June 5, but the item was held over due to conflicting information about whether the divided lots met the minimum widths required by the city's Neighborhood Preservation District (NPD) zoning ordinances. New construction in NPD zoning must be on lots that are at least 85 percent of the average lot width of surrounding homes.

Building, Engineering and Zoning Department employee Greg Cobb said part of the confusion about minimum width was due to accidental rounding of the average. Cobb said the department remeasured the surrounding lots more exactly, and the resurvey request meets that 85 percent threshold. 

Kessler's resurvey does not require any other variances to conform to NPD zoning, and he has not created a preliminary development plan for the property.

Three residents of the surrounding neighborhood spoke in opposition to the request, citing concern about crowded lots, on-street parking and stormwater runoff when soil is covered by homes and driveways. Kessler said each home will have the required two spaces for off-street parking, and said one home will be around 2,700 square feet but the second home, which his family will occupy, does not have a determined size yet.

NPD zoning requires no more than 50 percent of a lot's square footage can be covered by structures.

Kessler said since his family will be living in one of the planned houses, he has additional incentive to work with neighbors and not create runoff issues.

One resident, Mary Ellen Snell, asked the Planning Commission to consider changing zoning ordinances so that new construction must meet 100 percent of their neighbors' average lot width, rather than 85 percent. She also requested to include driveways in the calculation of whether a development covers 50 percent of a lot, since driveways are rarely permeable to water and impact runoff.

Planning Commission member Jeff Foster reminded attending residents that the commission is bound by state law to approve any resurvey request that meets all applicable zoning codes. The commission voted unanimously to approve Kessler's request.

The commission also looked at a request from City Council Ward 1 Representative Andy Gwaltney to add a minimum 55-foot lot width requirement, in addition to the 85 percent requirement, for any future resurveys or new developments. However, Cobb said he and city attorney Mike Kendrick felt the addition of an "arbitrary" minimum width would undermine the point of NPD zoning.

Cobb said the NPD zone was created in 1986 as a way to enforce overall uniformity of properties in Edgewood. The zoning originally required lots to meet 100 percent of the average widths of surrounding lots, but Cobb said the Board of Zoning Adjustments revised it down to 85 percent due to the number of applicants requesting variances.

Cobb said he favored the idea of returning to the 100 percent rule instead of a fixed width minimum. The commission decided to carry over discussion until their July meeting in order to consider the proposed amendments more fully.