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~ .. Lawson, VN-238 . October 18,.1984 Page 4 , There is no record of a~variance :request for the original deck. Except =for the 15 foot side street yard setback there have been few-changes to .the R-1 .Zoning standards over the years. However:, there have been substantial changes to the Uniform Building Code and it is possible that ome provision of the building code~in 1969 a]lowed construction of the -deck at a zero setback. The responsibility of the applicant requesting 'a variance is to demon- strate the unique and unusual circumstances which exist and the undue hardship which would result if the variance was not granted. Unique and unusual circumstances and undue hardship must apply to the land, i.e. shape or size of~the lot. In this case neither the shape of the lot, the size of the lot, or placement of the house on the lot is .unique. The circumstance which is u'niq'ue to this situation is the previously existing. deck. The applicant's request for a variance is in some ways closely related to a non-conforming use permit. Under Section 8-380, repairs and maintenance of a non-conformity, the applicant could have repaired the deck up to 50 percent of the current assessor's market value, or obtained permission from the City Council to replace the deck to more-than 50 percent of its-value via a non-conforming use permit. The standards fora non-conforming use permit are easier to address than .those of a variance. Had the applicant not intended to replace the deck in its entirety a non-conforming use permit could have been applied for~and the non-conforming usestandards met by reducing the extent of the non-conformity, i.e. increasing the setback from 16th Street NW. (Note: The City Attorney has advised me that a non-conforming use permit applies only to uses that were lawful when they commenced.) Although the applicant will certainly suffer hardship in the expense.. and time it would require to rebuild or reduce the size of the deck to conform to the. setback requirements, the applicant's hardship does not apply to the property. -The applicant's property is not unique to other corner lots in the City and it is possible for the applicant to -.construct a deck within the setback requirements. The staff recommenda- tion is to deny.the variance request.