A variance request to allow construction of townhomes along Florida Road received unanimous approval from the city Board of Appeals on Wednesday.
Architect and developer Rick Feeney has planned three townhomes, totaling six units, for a 1 acre lot in the 1300 block of Florida Road, just east of J. Bo’s Pizza & Rib Co. The variance resolves two conflicting city codes at play, and it allows Feeney to build in back of his lot rather than the front, closest to the road. City hillside building standards, which require building up against the hillside to hold it in place, trump multi-family building standards, which require units to be constructed along the street.
“He (the applicant) is going to push the buildings into the slope and have parking adjacent to Florida Road,” planning manager Nicol Killian told the board. “We do have code sections on hillside regulations to build into the hillside, but multi-family standards require putting the units on the street. The two sections conflict. The city would prefer to have buildings tucked into the hillside.”
Feeney said the board’s concessions enable him to build an additional unit, as well as make use of an existing storm drain in the lot’s southwestern corner. “Housing prices are getting out of hand,” Feeney said, which is why he’s shooting for the middle of the market with pricing at about $350,000.
The applicant is in the process of annexing the property and expects to begin construction in summer 2016. Feeney said he plans to build units as they sell, with the hopes of eventually constructing condominiums in the southeastern portion of the lot. That is contingent upon whether state lawmakers reform construction defects legislation that has hindered condo development throughout Colorado.
jpace@durangoherald.com
