Draper variance officer signals denial of Boulter Street setback request

DRAPER — The city's Appeals and Variance Officer, Tim Pack, heard a request Tuesday from Troy Dana for relief from the 30-foot front yard setback along a private roadway at 12875 South Boulter St. and issued no decision at the hearing, according to a transcript of the proceeding 12.

The agenda posted by City Recorder Nicole Smedley on Nov. 5 listed one item of business for the Nov. 10 meeting: the Walbeck Lot 1 Variance Request, application 2026-0211-VAR, on property in the RA2 zone, with Community Development Director Jennifer Jastremsky as staff contact 2. The officer approved the minutes of the March 31, 2026 meeting 1.

**The applicant's case**

Dana told the officer that the existing house on the lot is more than 60 years old and needs to be demolished, and that the owners are trying to sell the property for a proposed home 1. He said roughly 45 percent of the lot falls inside setbacks if the 30-foot standard applies on both frontages, leaving little room to build 1. He said the adjoining lot carries a 20-foot setback from the private lane and that he was asking for the same, describing corner lots formed by private lanes as a common condition in the city 1.

**The city's position**

Assistant City Attorney Spencer DuShane argued that the request fails the five criteria the statute sets for a variance, and that the hardship is economic and self-imposed. He characterized the applicant's point that nobody wants to buy the lot as an economic argument, and said the law requires the officer not to find an unreasonable hardship where the hardship is economic 1.

DuShane also disputed the premise that the parcel is a corner lot. He cited DCMC 9-3-040, which excepts a lot that is expressly prohibited, by plat or other recorded instrument, from access to or across an abutting private street, and said the city was proceeding on "the rebuttable presumption that this is a corner lot" because the property line extends across Winter Glen 1.

**The officer's statement**

Pack said he would review the record again. "I'm likely gonna deny it, but I don't want that to discourage you," he told the applicant, and added: "I feel like there's a way for you to obtain a variance here. I just don't have the evidence yet" 1.

He said evidence of a pattern — variances granted, or building permits issued, for similar corner lots that exceed the 30-foot setback — "could be very persuasive," and that he saw no recorded easement in the file 1. DuShane told the applicant that a zoning administrator interpretation could resolve whether the lot is a corner lot, if a recorded document restricting access to Winter Glen is produced 1.

**What happens next**

The hearing ended with no ruling, and the officer said he would look at the record one more time 1. The officer's determination and any written findings would follow on the record of the application; no decision document was posted with the meeting's documents as of early Wednesday 2.