Good evening, everyone.

Tonight is uh the zoning board of adjustments for Thursday, January fifteenth, twenty twenty-six.

Um I am Michael McEwen, Vice Chair, uh Shanna Adams, Garrett Craig, and Lexi Murphy are here.

Uh we have the staff, Joela Thomas, Aiden Denih, Becky Roll, and uh planning director, Julia Crane.

Uh one item for tonight, uh, as you can see, we only have four of the board members.

Uh, and so you have the option of deferring till the next uh board meeting uh for your decision or sticking tonight and having the four uh decisions uh for board members make the decision, it has to be a unanimous decision for uh the vote to go in or against for or against you.

Um so if there's anybody that would like to defer uh presenting let us know.

Tonight.

Respectfully, thank you.

You better since uh appeal twenty-five oh two has deferred to the next meeting.

We'll move on to the next item, uh, which is appeal twenty-five oh three.

Uh this is uh ready as Frost is appealing the zoning officer's determination, uh denying a variance application to construct in addition to the south side of an existing legal non-conforming structure in a C two zone.

Uh the property is I don't have an address, but two thousand located at two thousand Roberts Street.

Um is the applicant present?

Awesome.

And uh first we will have staff give the presentation.

Yes.

Thank you, Aiden.

All right, so this is appeal twenty-five-three for two thousand two thousand Roberts Avenue.

This is an appeal of the zoning officer's decision.

The applicant ready S.

Frost.

Oh, sorry, I'll wait till we're okay.

Um the appeal, the applicant is appealing the zone zoning officer's decision, denying a variance to build an addition on the south side of his residence, varying from conditions outlined in seventeen forty-eight thirty uses of land for and fourteen forty-eight forty buildings or structures of the Butte Silverbow Municipal Code.

174830 uses of land states no such nonconforming structure or non-conforming use shall be enlarged or increased nor extended to occupy a greater area of land than was occupied at the effective date of adoption or amendment of the ordinance codified in this title.

174840 buildings or structures states no such structure may be enlarged or altered in any way which increases its nonconformity unless an enlargement or structural alteration makes the building more conforming or is required by law, but any structure or portion portion thereof may be altered to decrease its nonconformity.

The residential dwelling unit resides in a C2 community commercial zoning district, making it a legal non-conforming use.

According to the submitted residential building permits and supporting site plan, staff interpreted the addition would be approximately 400 square feet and be built within a 12-foot front yard setback and a two-foot south side yard setback.

The current impervious structures result in an approximately 50% lock coverage.

Was the start of building the addition.

You can just kind of see a front for you as well as the side yard setback to the neighbor's house.

So in order to be in compliance with the possibility of a variance, he did take down the start of that construction project.

Staff findings.54 Board of Adjustments of the Butte Silver Bow Municipal Code define the powers of the board as follows.

To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is no error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by the enforcing officer in the enforcement of this chapter of this title, to hear and decide special exceptions to the terms of this title upon which such board is required to pass under such ordinance to authorize upon appeal in specific cases such variants from the terms of this title and will not be contrary to the public interest, where, owning to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the provisions of the title will result in necessary hardship, and so that the spirit of this title shall be observed and substantial justice done.

In exercising the above mentioned powers, such board may, in conformity with the provisions of this title, reverse or affirm wholly or partly, or modify the order requirement, decision, or determination appealed from and may make such order requirement decision or determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer for whom the appeal is taken.

And that is the conclusion of this presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aiden.

Board have any questions of staff.

No.

And uh the applicant wants to step forward to the mic and give their presentation.

Howdy, ready for us, 2000 Roberts Avenue.

Um did you all receive my uh my copy of my updated um uh um the uh the site plan, my updated site plan.

Um when I turned in my application for the appeal, I did send in a new site plan um, which I was hoping could address some of the concerns brought up by the uh the city.

And I uh apologize that I didn't realize those were going to be concerns when I first turned in my application.

Um feel like there's not a lot of guidance for citizens in this town.

That said, um with the the code violations brought up by the uh the city um the temporary structure that I erected, I did notify the city about when I was turning in my original plans.

It was I don't as a carpenter, I don't see how that would I put up, which was to abate water um intrusion into uh a controlled space inside my home with active electrical connections, which has been a fun time uh abating that could be misconstrued as actually framed um wood framed walls and the erection of trusses or other such load-bearing members.

Um I mean those were just scabbed together two by fours with plastic over it.

It's it's a temporary structure, but I did remove it and uh I also think the act of construction as defined in Montana Code is very ambiguous.

Um I uh also sent in an updated cover letter.

Um variance denial annotated 7625502, specifies the process and eligibility criteria for variance, qualify for variance, value variants must be con variance applications must be considered and approved with conditions before application or in conjunction with application for a zoning permit.

Variance may not be sought for an active project initiated prior to zoning board of adjustments for approval furthermore, MCA, 762502 40 of variants may not be granted if detrimental to public health and safety and general welfare, nature of encroachment.

I mean that's that, but pertaining to 7625-502, act of construction is not definitively defined in Montana Code or IBC code to properly exclude the stockpiling of materials, um which is in reference to the claim that I had residential trust components signifying that I was actively starting construction.

As a carpenter, I regularly find myself in possession of surplus building materials that I stockpile on my property and give to friends for use on their projects.

There's certainly no way to prove that the trusses in the public right-of-way are intended for the proposed construction project.

Uh I've sought a variance for the only erected structure, has been a temporary tent for mitigation of the water infiltration into the basement.

I have demoed the tent even though it was viewed and approved by BSB building inspector Rusty prior to any permit application filings.

Um that was on August 13th, 2025.

Came over and visited the property and inspected it after receiving a complaint about that same tent.