Board denies variance request of housing units
By LARRY HILLIARD Ledger Staff Writer larry@gaffneyledger.com

In an area that soon may be starved for housing options, a developer told an appeals board Thursday that he requested a variance to keep the home prices in a proposed development at an affordable level.

But the three-member Cherokee County Board of Appeals didn't buy the argument and denied the variance request to reduce the minimum lot size for patio homes from 7,000-square foot to 6,000- square foot.

The appeals board denied the request because it was reluctant to overturn the existing land use ordinance.

CDS Development wants to build a development that includes 179 patio homes and 155 apartment units on a 60-acre lot owned by Henry and Michelle Jolly on Pacolet Highway.

CDS Development official Chris Sinz told the appeals board he proposed the 6,000-square foot lot size for the patio homes to keep the price range affordable and to avoid the expenses that crossing a waterway on the property would create.

But Cherokee County Chief Building Official Chuck Bobo said the developer's monetary incentive isn't grounds for granting a variance.

"Economics is not a reason to do (the variance)," Bobo said.

Appalachian Council of Governments planner Chip Bentley, who recommended the appeals board deny the variances in a memorandum, said the developer failed to meet the requirements for a hardship.

A variance request from the same developer on a site that would include 264 patio homes and 252 apartments was delayed.