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DPZA ETAILED ROPOSALAND ONING NALYSIS 1 The applicant has removed the former structures from the property, built in 1955, with the intent 2 of rebuildinga two-story home on the property. The existing foundation would be used, but the 3 home would be expanded somewhat to the northwest and incorporate an attached garage in place 4 of the former detached garage.The site plan and written narrative detailing the proposal are 5 included with this report as Attachment C. 6 City Code §1004.08requires a principal structure to be set back 30 feet from the front property 7 line, adjacent to Cohansey Boulevard, 30 feet from the “reverse corner” side property line, along 8 Irene Street, 30 feet from the northern, rear property line, and five feet from the western, side 9 property line.The primary purpose for minimum setback distances from street rights-of-way is to 10 ensure some uniformity in how homes are arranged along the streets. Side yard setback 11 requirements are small by comparison, and are intended to maintain a minimum amount of 12 separation between structures on neighboring properties, anticipating that households generally 13 prefer to utilize the larger spaces in the front and year yards.The relatively large rearyard 14 setback, then, is meant to guarantee greater space and privacy in rear yards; this large, private 15 space is typically achieved by virtue of the fact that one rear yard usually abuts therear yard of a 16 adjoining property, which is subject to its own large setback requirement.This same section of 17 the zoning code also encourages front porches by allowing them to extend into the required front 18 yard, but it still requires a minimum setback of 22 feet from the front property line. Porches are 19 facilitated in this way because of the way they create additional opportunities for social 20 encounters between people sitting on their porches and their neighbors passing by on the 21 sidewalks or streets. 22 Because the former home was built before the adoption of the original zoning code in 1959, the 23 substandard 21-foot setback from the front property line is a legal, nonconforming condition. As 24 such, City Code §1002.04 (Nonconforming Use) would allow the substandard setback to 25 continue as a new home in the same location, and would even allowexpansion of the home so 26 long as the proposed expansion does not increase the size of the structure where it encroaches 27 into the required setback. But the proposal to adda second story to the house, including the part 28 of the structure that stands within the required front yard setback, would void the “grandfather” 29 status of the legal, nonconforming setback, and the proposal would require approval through the 30 variance process. 31 The proposed new homewould include a 6-foot front porch; based on the orientation of the front 32 (i.e., the southwest side) of the house relative to the front property line, the corner closest to the 33 road would project to a point about 15½ feet from the front property line. The former house did 34 have a large deck on the southeast side of the house, which stood even closer to the front 35 property line than the proposed porch. Decks don’t have roofs like porches do, however, and 36 their required setbacks are only 10 feet from property lines adjacent to streets, so the presence of 37 the former deck cannot be directly compared to the proposed porch. 38 Finally, while the former detached garage was in a location that conformed to the required 39 setbacks forsuchaccessory structures, the proposed attached garage is part of the principal 40 structure, which would encroach into the required rear yard setback. This, too, would require 41 approval through the variance process. 42 PF16-017_RVBA_20160713 Page 2of 4