BELLA VISTA -- The Bella Vista Planning Commission approved all three of its agenda items by unanimous votes during its regular session held Monday evening at the District Court Building.
The first item was a zoning variance request on the accessory structure setback for a proposed accessory building located at 24 Nairn Lane. The applicants, Bruce Kerr and Tom Silva, were requesting a variance to accommodate a proposed 44-by-25-foot shop on the adjacent lot.
Code allows shops in the residential zone to achieve a gross floor area of 1,200 square feet on adjacent lots as long as they are behind the primary's front plane.
Nairn Lane is a dead-end cul-de-sac labeled as a residential area.
In its report, planning staff found that the unique shape of the two lots, septic placement, along with natural topography provided a hardship for development.
The second zoning variance request on the agenda was on the septic setback requirement from a pier or column foundation for a proposed deck located at 7 Brittany Lane.
The request was made by applicant Cathy Bernthal, who was asking to vary the required 5 feet of separation required between a septic system and a pier or column foundation.
Bernthal was also proposing to replace the existing 14-by-12-foot covered deck with a new 14-by-12-foot covered deck utilizing the original footprint.
According the the planning staff's report, the home was constructed in 2004, prior to city establishment, and the deck is considered a legal nonconforming structure, which can be altered or repaired.
However, according to the report the replacement of a nonconforming structure requires the proposed improvement to be constructed in conformance with current codes and the deck does not have the ability to meet the septic setback within the original footprint area.
The third and final item was an ordinance amending the development code to modify the applicability standards for large-scale developments under Section 107- 159.
In the open discussion portion of the meeting the commission voted to change the time of its regular session on Dec. 12 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The commission also voted to cancel its work session scheduled for Dec. 29.