The Board of Zoning Appeals will consider two sets of primary variance requests – all relating to currently standing structures – when it convenes Tuesday for this City committee’s final meeting of the year.

The December 17 meeting will start at 6 p.m. in City Hall’s Council Chambers (2006 Heritage Walk). People can attend in-person or watch online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG1h1QYt6O0.

Commonly referred to as BZA, the Board of Zoning Appeals is a quasi-judicial board consisting of seven individuals appointed by Milton’s Mayor and City Councilmembers. The BZA hears requests for variances from the City Code (like those up for consideration on Tuesday night) plus appeals to City decisions on the Unified Development Code (UDC), stream buffers, and sign permits – all guided by City Code, including Milton’s zoning standards. Board decisions can be appealed to Fulton County Superior Court.  

After a vote on approving the “minutes” (or official written record) from its most recent meeting on November 19, the Board of Zoning Appeals will take up two items that Milton’s Design Review Board conducted courtesy reviews on earlier this month.

One involves 13488 HOLLY ROAD, a nearly 4-acre property in southwestern Milton that can be reached via State Route 140/Arnold Mill Road. There, an applicant is requesting variances to:

• Reduce the required minimum for a rear yard between the existing single-family home and (in this case, east) property line from 50 feet to 47.1 feet

• Allow a decades-old accessory structure to remain in front of an existing single-family home
• Reduce the side-yard minimum (from the south property line) for that accessory structure from 25 feet to 10 feet

The other “Primary Variance” matter pertain to 345 RANCHETTE ROAD, site of a 22.75-acre farm that borders Arnold Mill Road on one side. The owner of that property plans to construct a primary single-family home that’s set back from that state route. 

Among the requests up for consideration on Tuesday are for five existing accessory structures that – if and when that home is built – to technically be in front of that new home (which is not allowed, per City Code, without a variance). The other two variance requests from this same applicant relate to existing accessory structures, specifically for:

• Reducing the 25-foot minimum side yard setback for such a structure to 14.96 feet adjacent to the west property line
• Reducing the 25-foot minimum side yard for an accessory structure to 18.7 feet adjacent to the east property line

The lone other item on Tuesday’s BZA agenda is a review of the committee’s 2025 meeting calendar.