Planning commission approves Tract 350 variance request

Toll Brothers bettered their record in front of the planning commission to 2-1 last month when the developer got approval for a variance request related to the width of lots in Tract 350.

A pair of previous requests related to setbacks (the distance between a house and the street) as well as street widths saw the setback request denied and the street request approved.

Nakeisha Lyon, city planner with the community development department, laid out the request on Aug. 20.

“So item No. 2o before you tonight is a variance request to reduce the minimum required lot widths that are applicable to two R110-zoned lots within a proposed 122-lot single-family subdivision known as Boulder 350,” she told the commission.

Tract 350 wraps around a large portion of Boulder Creek Golf Course and it is notable for two reasons. First, it is both the first significant housing development in Boulder City in several years and the only large development currently being planned on a golf course in Southern Nevada. (The last large development known as Storybook was the first big tract built in Boulder City in 30 years.)

The second reason the development is important is that proceeds from the sale of the land are slated to make up a very large portion of the budget for the proposed replacement for the city’s aging public pool.

Boulder City zoning laws require interior (i.e., non-corner) housing lots to be a minimum of 80 feet wide. Corner lots are required to be at least 85 feet wide. The variance request for two lots asked for a 71-foot width on a corner lot and a 70-foot width on an interior lot.

“At the June meeting, Toll Brothers, who is the applicant, requested a variance for reductions in the minimum front setback requirements that are applicable to the lots, which this commission did deny,” Lyon said. “So the developer has redesigned the housing plans accordingly to conform to the required 20-foot front setback requirement.”

Lyon noted later that, while the topography of the land presents some challenges, it would be possible for the developer to conform to current zoning by adjusting some other lots, calling the request more “design-centered” and based on developer preferences.

Isaac Summers, representing Toll Brothers, made the case for the developer.

“We started with the intent of the site plan which was to follow the existing zoning,” he said. “Once we achieved that, we started whittling away at the various lot widths and lot sizes trying to stay as compliant as possible to that. And unfortunately, we’re left over with these two lots that are very difficult to move things without then creating other considerations. You know you kind of got a full box. You pop something in, something else pops out. That’s kind of where we’re at here.”

After confirming with both Lyon and the developer that the variance was applicable to only two lots and not the entire subdivision, the commission voted unanimously to approve the request.