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Analysis of Hardship Criteria: <br />A specific response to each hardship criterion is included below: <br />1. The property in question cannot be put to a reasonable use if used under conditions <br />allowed by the official controls. <br />Given that the existing garage is non-conforming, any change to the structure would <br />not be allowed by official controls. Furthermore, the unique topology of our lot severely <br />limits the practicality of any conforming arrangement of the detached structure , so it <br />would not be reasonable to reconstruct this garage in a conforming location. <br />We are proposing the following changes: a rotation of the garage to align it with <br />our house and move the garage doors off the street , shifting of the structure by 26” to <br />the east and 12” to the north to reduce the encroachment into the front and side -yard <br />setbacks, a small expansion of the eaves to match the look of our house, and a <br />change from a 10/12 roof pitch to a 6/12 roof pitch (to match the house) with a ~1 ft. <br />increase in the peak height of the building. The current garage footprint is not aligned <br />with our house and the roof pitch does not match and thus, will significantly detract <br />from the site’s aesthetics if it were to be reconstructed as is. The eaves of the current <br />structure are quite small (2 in. on east/west, 7 in. on north/south), which currently <br />results in improper drainage of rainwater off the roof down the walls of the buildi ng, <br />and also do not match the aesthetic of our house. Regarding the height of the building, <br />we are adding approximately 1 foot to the peak height of the building to accommodate <br />room for storage in the attic. With the extra foot, the average height in the storage area <br />(see drawing) would be ~5’ 3” as compared to an average height of ~4’ 5”, which <br />would make this area much more functional in terms of access to the storage space. <br />2. The plight of the landowner is due to circumstances unique to the proper ty not created by <br />the landowner. <br />Our situation is the result of three factors: location and condition of the existing <br />detached garage, the relative location of the house to the detached structure, and t he <br />steep incline (26 ft.) of our lot from the west to east property lines. We had no role in <br />creating any of these circumstances. <br /> 3. The deviation from the Ordinance with any attached conditions will still be in keeping wi th <br />the spirit and intent of the Ordinance. <br />We believe the proposed variance preserves the spirit and intent of the Ordinance. We <br />are proposing relatively modest changes to the existing garage structure that will result <br />in a substantially more functional garage that allows for reasonable use of our property <br />for us and any future owners. The end product will be an aesthetically pleasing garage <br />with high-quality construction that blends in with and raises the ch aracter of our <br />neighborhood with little to no negative impact on our own or our neighbo rs’ property.