Members of the Marshall County Board of Zoning Appeals met last week to consider three requests for variances.
Stephanie and Eric Barnes at 15941 14th Road requested a Variance of Use to allow a temporary second residence to care for elderly parents. During the meeting, the Barnes said they moved to the remote location in September and need to place a double wide on the property for her parents.
One neighbor, Rob Busam shares an easement with the Barnes and has concern of moving the large structure down to easement and the additional traffic that will be using the easement.
The BZA approved the variance with the stipulations that an agreement for maintenance of the easement is signed by the parties involved, a septic and well permit are granted and that the home can only remain on the property for 10 years for Frank and Jean Owen. If the secondary residence is needed for a longer period the Barnes will need to appear before the County BZA for an extension.
The second request was a variance of development standard was from Joy and Chad Hensley. They wanted to reduce the side-yard setback from the required 15 feet to 5 feet in order to split off the existing home and one acre lot from the barn and farm ground. The remaining 2 acres of land will be combined with the 72 acres of John Wolf. The County BZA approved the request.
The final variance was for a variation of development standards pertaining to the width to depth ratio of three proposed lots on three separate parcels on 4B Road in German Township.
Ty Adley, County Plan Director said the Plan Commission conditionally approved the request subject to the Board of Zoning Appeals decision relating to the width to depth ratio of the lots.
Levi Yoder explained that their parents have passed on and the siblings are dividing up the 160 acres with the intentions of selling off three individual residential building lots.
During the public hearing two of the siblings spoke in favor of the variance request and the County BZA approved the variance.
