By Michael Howell
Habitat for Humanity’s plan to build four new homes in Hamilton hit a road block last week on Tuesday, June 30, when the Hamilton Zoning Board of Adjustment decided on a 5 to 1 vote to deny the requested conditional use permit that would have allowed the homes to be built on non-conforming lots.
The land owner of the trailer court at Franklin and North 5th Streets, Marlin Buxton III, applied on behalf of Habitat for Humanity to be granted adjustment of setbacks on the corner of Franklin and North 5th streets. The objective was to build four single family homes on this property which consists of four single “old town” lots, 30 feet wide by 140 feet long.
Habitat for Humanity proposed to buy the four lots together if the current owner, Buxton, can get the variance for set back adjustment and the granting of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP).
The city’s Zoning Administrator, Land Hansen, submitted a report to the Board of Adjustment stating he does not recommend that this variance or this CUP should be granted because the city has always followed a practice of requiring 7000 square feet for a single residence in these RS zones in Hamilton. The current neighborhood reflects this picture.
Close to twenty people attended the meeting and resistance to granting the permit was stiff.
Neighbors in the area protested the variance and permit request for a variety of reasons. They quoted the regulations for issuing Conditional Use Permits in RS (single residential) zones which states that a permit is granted if, “the use is not detrimental to the health, safety, comfort or general welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood…”
Protesters pointed out that the skinny long houses that could be built if permitted could consist of walls between houses with only six feet between structures. Roof eaves of each house could be less than three feet set back from the adjacent lot property lines.
“So it is fair to say any fire hazard is greatly increased with roof eaves with less than six feet between one another. They could build a roof eave with less than 3 feet from an adjoining property owner’s fence also. So overall public fire danger is of little concern in this plan that promotes overcrowding,” stated Bob and Cindy Nicholls, who live in the neighborhood.
Nicholls said that he believes Habitat for Humanity is a great program for establishing new homeowners in affordable housing, but he believes allowing it in this case would set a precedent that would allow high density in-filling across the board and destroy the protection that existing homeowners currently enjoy based on the city’s zoning regulations.
Five out of six board members saw it that way and the permit was denied.
Director of Habitat for Humanity in Ravalli County Mike Kibler said that he was surprised by the resistance from the community and did not believe that the zoning ordinance was being interpreted correctly by them or the board members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
“I was kind of shocked,” said Kibler. “I thought they would like to see the trailer park gone and some new homes put in there.” He said in this case placing one house on two lots was just not economically feasible. He said the property owner would have to cut his price in half to make it feasible for their organization.
“But it is what it is. We’ll just keep looking for a place to build,” Kibler said.