The Wilmington Board of Adjustment met on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Skyline Center, to consider four agenda items: two old business items (one withdrawn, one approved) and two new business items (both approved). All votes were unanimous (5-0). The meeting adjourned at approximately 1:28 p.m.
I'd like to call the February 20th Board of Adjustment Meeting to order. Hearings before the Board of Adjustment are quasi-judicial in nature. Decisions of the board are based on the record of these proceedings. To grant a variance requires a concurrent vote of four fifths of the members of the board. To reverse or modify the determination of an administrative official requires a simple majority. Evidence submitted to the board for review becomes part of the record. Appeals to board decisions or the superior court and are based on the record. Appeals must be filed within 30 days of the date of the filing of the board's order in the planning division. The hearing before the board is conducted in accordance with this rules of procedure. Those who want to testify in a case are sworn as witnesses. The chairperson recognizes those who want to testify or their attorneys for presentation of evidence during the hearing. To ensure that all testimony is properly recorded, please come forward to address the board, state your name and address, and speak clearly. Anyone that's going to speak. Do you swear that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. Thank you. First order of business today is approval of the minutes from January 16. Do we have a motion? I'll make a motion. Do we have a second? Second second. All in favor? Aye. First order of business is 809 North Carr Avenue. The applicant is requested to withdraw this item. We have a motion for the withdrawal. So moved. Second. All in favor. Aye. Second order of business before the board this morning is 208 Tennessee Avenue. Variance of City Code Chapter 18, Section 18-28, side and rear setback requirements for a lot located within the R7 zoning district. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. I'm Grace Lemay, Associate Planner with the City of Wilmington. Today we're discussing 208 Tennessee Avenue. The subject property at 208 Tennessee Ave is zoned R7 and is currently vacant. Within the R7 district, newly created lots must contain at least 7,000 square feet and have a minimum lot width of 50 feet. On or about January 6, 2022, the applicant purchased the subject property along with 214 Tennessee Avenue. According to New Hanover County Tax Records, the property originally consisted of three lots plotted at 25 feet wide. In January of 2024, the applicant recorded an updated plat of the original lot lines for lot nine with the register of deeds for a 25-foot wide lot containing approximately 22,547 square feet. The applicant has proposed to develop the property with a 16-foot-wide single-family dwelling. And pursuant to land development code section 1828, single family dwelling residential standards. The required setbacks in the R7 district are 10 feet in the front, 8.5 feet on the interior sides, and 20 feet in the rear. As the lot is 25 feet narrower than the standard R7 lot width, the applicant has requested to reduce the side interior setbacks to four feet and three and one quarter inches on the left and four feet eight inches and three quarter inches on the right. A variance of four feet two inches and three quarter inches and three feet nine inches and nine and a quarter inch to the standard eight and a eight and a half foot side interior setback. Additionally, the applicant has requested a ten-foot rear setback of variance of ten feet to the standard twenty-foot requirement for this district. The applicant states that the strict enforcement of the ordinance would impose an undue burden and render the use of the property significantly constrained or impractical. This matter was continued from the January 16th meeting in order for the applicant to produce a site plan, which shows the proposed dwelling with the reduced setbacks as requested. And this matter is set for hearing before the board for February 20th, 2025.