HomeMy WebLinkAboutCover Letter 110122Matt Farris/Farris Custom Homes Inc.
Owners: Lee & Molly Owens
10/15/22
Application for zoning variance @ 4922 Stonewall Rd. Little Rock, AR
Good morning,
We are applying for a variance to the rear lot setback line- asking to allow the rear
single story, semi-detached structure to be built up to 17' from the North/rear property
line- an 8' variance.
Justifications for variance application are as follows -
The first 25' of the lot isn't usable/considered part of the 25' front building setback
because of a city utility easement from a culvert redirection that was paid for by the
previous owner of the lot. With the 25' front lot line building setback added, this results
in the first 50' of the lot being unable to be used for construction.
In the rear of the lot, in addition to the 25' rear building setback line, there is a 20' utility
easement solely for the usage of Entergy. There are no other utilities inside the
easement and its entire purpose is for the overhead power line/poles that take electrical
power to the 3 properties at the "end of the run"- one of which is our property.
In working with Entergy, we have elected to pay for them to decommission/remove the
last power pole in that run which sits center of the lot along the North property line. We
have paid them for their services to do so and also provided & installed the necessary
underground conduit runs required to bring all those electrical runs below ground per
their specifications.
In addition to our property, there are 2 properties who have their power coming from this
line- 4907 and 4911 Country Club Blvd. 4907 Country Club's power has already been
put underground at a previous time and will require no modification. The overhead line
for 4911 Country Club will be put underground during this procedure at no cost to the
homeowner. All necessary permits etc. will be pulled/ meter base swapped etc. This
arrangement has been agreed to by the owners of 4911 Country Club and that written
approval can be provided upon request.
By electing to pay for all this underground work to be done and removing the physical
pole, we have rendered the need for a 20' easement unnecessary. What Entergy
requires going forward is 5' on either side of the new buried line, which we will have on
the North side of the large retaining wall in the rear of the lot where the buried lines will
live. This is the opinion of Entergy and we can provide this opinion in writing if
necessary.
Since the utility easement is no longer an issue- we're applying to extend our semi-
detached structure 3' into what was the utility easement. Director of Planning &
Development Jamie Collins thought this was a reasonable request now that the
easement isn't being used.
Other site conditions to consider would be that the lot to the North that we'd be 8' closer
to is separated in elevation by 15'- with our lot being cut DOWNfrom them. Resulting in
our single story semi detached structure being completely "below grade" from their view
and with no adjoining properties.
Also in regards to surrounding properties, the neighboring property at 4900 Stonewall
Rd. which is situated to the East of our property was allowed to be built right up to/
integrated into their rear retaining wall. Which makes their "encroachment" towards the
North property line in question an additional 8'+ PASTwhat we're proposing here.
With all these considerations in mind, we feel the variance request is reasonable and
doesn't impact any neighboring properties or building statutes in any way.
Thanks for your consideration,
Matt Farris