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By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The Board of Zoning Appeals struggled with the definition of hardship last Wednesday before granting one variance to zoning regulations and persuading a second applicant to carry over his variance request until a meeting later this month.
“If we grant a variance, it has to alleviate a clearly demonstrable hardship,” explained BZA member Gregory Monahan. “Is there any evidence that you haven’t brought forward yet?” he asked Kinsey Wharton, who was seeking a sideyard variance to build a carport onto his residence on Route 648 nearAmiss ville.
“A carport is a convenience...If you don’t have a carport, you will continue to live there as you have for the last 14 years,” Mr. Monahan said. “We have to work with this law, interpret it, make sense out of it,” he continued, holding up Rappahannock’s zoning ordinance. “It’s not what we want to do or don’t want to u do.”
The three BZA members present for Wednesday’s session — Mr. Monahan, acting chairman Sharon Luke and James Swindler - agreed that Mr. Wharton’s unusually narrow lot gave rise to the difficulty in meeting the 50 foot side setback. His house already intrudes on the setback distance; the carport would be even closer to the adjoining property line, no matter where it is attached to Mr. Whorton’s dwelling. In addition,
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