3rd Madison ridge top variance project application to go before Board of Adjustment

MARSHALL - As Madison County wrestles with regulation of its ridge tops after the Planning Board recommended to scrap the county's 50-foot setback requirement for building on ridge tops 3,000 feet and higher, the county Board of Adjustment has already approved two variances to the 50-foot setback since the Planning Board's December recommendation to scrap it.

On May 28, an application for a third variance will go before the Madison County Board of Adjustment, and the project is the second in the Seven Glens community, on the border of Buncombe and Madison Counties.

The Madison County Planning Board approved a residential permit application to Terri Moser for the project located at 32 Hickory Ridge Drive.

Board attorney John Noor said the project came before the Planning Board first rather than to the Board of Adjustment because Moser planned to build within the protected area as laid out in the Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance, which holds a 50-foot setback requirement for building on mountain ridges 3,000 feet and higher.

"Under your Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance, if someone's going to be building within the protected area, the way the ordinance is drafted today, arguably they have to come to you for approval to build within the protected area, which means every time someone wants to do that, they're going to come to (Development Services Director) Brad Guth, they're going to submit an application and you're going to hear it," Noor said.

"That's what we're hearing tonight. In order for you to grant that permit, they have to meet each of the standards listed in the ordinance. However, if someone were to meet with you and say. 'OK, I can meet A, B, C, D and E, but F I can't meet, but I want to go ask for a variance from the Board of Adjustment to not comply, the Board of Adjustment is empowered to give exceptions to rules under their own standards. That's what's come before you tonight."

In the next steps, the Madison County Board of Adjustment will vote in its May 28 meeting whether to grant the variance.

In the Planning Board meeting, Matthew Bair, the construction leader at Brown Haven Homes, and attorney Brian Gulden with VanWinkle Law Firm, appeared before the board to discuss the project.

In a proposal of the project, Gulden and Bair said the applicant's proposed building site is "the best possible place" for the project due to the existing septic system on site.

"This is the best possible place for the house when you have regards to the existing well that's on the property, and it's the furthest spot away from the protected in regards to the septic as well," Bair said.

According to Bair, the lot size is 1.36 acres. The plat lists the proposed house at 5,072 square feet.

According to Gulden, Bair and the applicant, Moser, will be requesting a variance of 25 feet in the May 28 Board of Adjustment meeting.

Moser's application for a variance will be the third project to go before the Madison County Board of Adjustment requesting a variance to the 50-foot setback as laid out in the Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance.

The first two projects, including a separate Seven Glens project at 82 Walnut Ridge, were approved.

When asked by a separate Seven Glens resident who attended the May 21 Planning Board meeting whether the applicant had already begun building for the project, Board Chair Jered Silver said he did not know.

But Silver stressed an urgency in getting the county's ridge top regulation finalized, as the Madison County Board of Commissioners sent back the Planning Board's recommendations.

Another factor contributing to the issue, as pointed out by Gulden, is the Seven Glens development was approved prior to the county's formation of the Mountain Ridge Protection Ordinance in 2010.

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Additionally in the Planning Board's May 21 meeting, the board formed a ridge top subcommittee comprised of five of the Planning Board members.

The subcommittee was scheduled to hold its first special meeting May 24 at noon.

"The Board of Commissioners has kicked this back to us to make some recommendations and get back with them, which has ended up being exactly what the board didn't want when we recommended to the commissioners in December," Silver said.

"We asked that it wasn't drawn out, and it's been drawn out. We've heard a lot about this from the community over the last five months."

The Madison County Board of Adjustment will meet May 28 at 6:30 p.m. at 1335 N. Main St. in Marshall.

Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for three years. He earned a first-place award in beat news reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: 3rd Madison ridge top variance ask to go before Board of Adjustment