By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
True Value had one final hurdle to clear before being able to construct a drive-through building.
That hurdle was cleared on Tuesday afternoon when the Bucyrus Board of Zoning Appeals approved the variance needed to allow True Value to construct a drive-through barn which would help customers get materials.
The variance needed to construct the barn dealt with the distance required in the city’s zoning laws. Currently, the zoning code requires a building next to a residential area to be 30 feet from the property line. True Value’s request to construct their building would place the structure 10 feet off of the northern property line.
The building, which is to be constructed in the north parking lot of True Value, is expected to be about 80 feet long by 35 feet wide with the walls reaching 15 feet and the peak of the roof topping out at 23 feet high. It would be used as a drive-thru building that would act as a storage facility for basic lumber and other building materials.
True Value Manager Ben Campbell explained to the BZA that it would allow for easier access to lumber, concrete, and other building materials and allow the company to move the service shop from South Sandusky Ave. to Oakwood Ave. Campbell also mentioned that the building would be used as seasonal storage.
The lone dissenter of the move was Dale Smith, the most approximate neighbor to the building.
“I originally thought it was the south property line,” Smith said. “A building 35 feet by 85 feet would take up the southern day sunlight, because it would take up the light. What would happen to the lawn? What would happen with the property value of my house? Why would I want to stay?”
Zoning Administrator John Rostash noted that the building, only being 23 feet high at its highest peak, would still be smaller than some of the neighborhood houses.
“It is not as tall as some of the houses in the neighborhood,” Rostash said. “This set back meets the same as a Residential 1 zone, this is a Residential 3 which has four feet.”
Related content: Platting Committee gives go-ahead to True Value