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Record of Proceedings

Powell BZA Meeting August 6, 2026: Variance Approval for Pool at 4696 Hunters Bend Ct

City Council & Boards — Thursday, August 6, 2026

BodyPowell, Ohio

SessionCity Council & Boards

DateThursday, August 6, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 11:59

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0:11

Really we should have uh here in the minutes.

0:16

Yes, I assume that that was from last one.

0:18

Yep.

0:24

Ready to go?

0:24

Ready to go.

0:26

Awesome.

0:26

All right.

0:27

So call to order.

0:29

Can you please take uh take roll?

0:31

Uh De Palma.

0:33

Revneck is absent.

0:35

Jonathan Freeman.

0:36

Yes.

0:36

Randy Duncan.

0:37

Here.

0:37

Brian Brickner is also absent.

0:42

All right.

0:43

Um we issued the minutes from the January 8th meeting and uh need a motion to approve uh said minutes.

0:50

That's the move.

0:52

Second.

0:53

We have a motion in a second.

0:55

Yep.

0:59

You call a roll, sorry.

1:01

I just want to make sure you're ready for me.

1:02

I'm not quite as I'm not quite as elegant as Jim as well.

1:05

Exactly.

1:07

That's been a while.

1:08

Our last meeting was January.

1:10

They choose the fill agenda.

1:11

Yeah.

1:12

Randy Duncan.

1:13

Yes.

1:16

Yeah.

1:17

And Jonathan Freeman.

1:18

Yes.

1:19

All right.

1:20

At this point, I'd like to open up the meeting to uh visitors for items not on the agenda.

1:25

Got a packed house.

1:30

All right.

1:32

So we can move on to the new case.

1:36

We have a variance request to 2026-18 V located 4696 Hunters Bend Court.

1:47

Against Gabrielle and Emily Norris, locations 4696 Hunter's Bend Court in a planned residence district.

1:55

And am I going out down the wrong path here?

1:57

I can't remember.06 B2 to allow a swimming pool within nine feet of a drainage easement and to the extent five feet into a tree preservation zone for a residents located in the southeast corner of Huntersbend Court and Bachman Drive.

2:17

Thank you for the introduction.

2:18

Good evening.

2:19

I have a few graphics that um illustrate some of the looks that are being made as part of this case tonight.

2:28

And um it is two variances.

2:31

So the way that I have described it in the staff report, and uh will in this presentation also kind of get into the two different subjects that we are dealing with here at the moment.

2:43

Um so this is an aerial view of the residence we are talking about.

2:47

It is at an intersection, so it has two front setbacks.

2:52

Yeah, you can see that um Hunters Pend Court and Bachman Drive is to the north.

3:00

And as I stated, um, here is a um a view of the plat for this particular property, and in the green line is the tree preservation zone that has been platted for this particular property.

3:15

It is uh 50 feet, and the plat neither neither the plat nor the zoning code have actually any kind of um regulations for what can and cannot be in a tree preservation zone.

3:31

Typically the plat would state that, but in this particular instance it does not.

3:35

And then in the orange is um showing the um the drainage easement that is on the property.

3:43

As you recall, we've had quite a few requests for swimming pools to be closer than the required 12 feet um toward easements.

3:54

Um in this particular instance, the applicant is requesting to be nine feet from the easement.

3:59

I had a chance to review this with the city engineer, and he has no concerns about um the location of the pool as it is proposed.

4:09

And with that being said, also um in our new zoning code, which was um approved by city council on Tuesday night and is waiting for referendum period um to get um completely adopted in September.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Engineering And Infrastructure█████████████████████████████████████████████52%

Procedural██████████████████████████████████████████48%

Summary of Proceedings

Powell Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting - August 6, 2026

The Powell Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) met on Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 6:30 PM in Council Chambers at 47 Hall Street. The board approved minutes from the previous meeting (January 8, 2026) and unanimously granted a variance request for a swimming pool at 4696 Hunters Bend Court. The meeting lasted approximately 25 minutes.

Consent Calendar

Approval of Meeting Minutes (January 8, 2026): Moved by a member, seconded, and approved unanimously via roll call (De Palma yes, Freeman yes, Duncan yes; Revneck and Brickner absent).

Public Comments & Testimony

Applicant Testimony (Emily Norris, property owner): Ms. Norris stated that she and her husband have owned the property for eight years and have desired a pool for five years, but no pool company would work with them due to the variance requirements. She explained that they have added many trees and preserved the natural area, and that they mistakenly believed the tree preservation zone only covered the wooded area. They are eager to proceed with a pool contractor the following week.
No public comments were made for items not on the agenda.

Discussion Items

Variance Request 2026-18V – 4696 Hunters Bend Court: Staff Planner Kara presented the case, which involved two requests: (1) a variance to Code Section 1147.06(b)(2) to allow a swimming pool within 9 feet of a drainage easement rather than the required 12 feet, and (2) permission for pool decking to extend 5 feet into a platted tree preservation zone. Staff reported that the city engineer had no concerns with the pool’s proximity to the drainage easement. Staff also noted that a new zoning code approved by City Council on August 4, 2026 (pending a referendum period through September) would eliminate the 12-foot easement setback rule for pools, but the tree preservation zone requirement is based on the plat and would remain. Aerial photos showed no trees where the pool decking would encroach. Staff recommended approval, citing that 6 of 7 variance standards were met.
Board Deliberation: Board members expressed satisfaction with the staff report. One member noted the setback issue would soon be moot under the new code. All agreed there were no tree impacts and that the request met standards.

Key Outcomes

Variance Granted (Unanimous): Motion to approve the variance to Section 1147.06(b)(2) allowing a swimming pool within 9 feet of a drainage easement and pool decking extending 5 feet into the tree preservation zone at 4696 Hunters Bend Court. The motion passed 3-0 (De Palma yes, Freeman yes, Duncan yes; Revneck and Brickner absent).
Next Meeting: The board noted that no applications were received for the September meeting (deadline was August 6). The next scheduled meeting is October 1, 2026.

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