Lack of quorum delays variance request

A city of Medford property owner will have to wait at least a few more weeks to find out if he can get a variance for a planned driveway.

On Monday evening, only two of the seven members of the city’s zoning board of appeals attended a meeting where a public hearing and possible action on the request was scheduled to take place.

City property owner Andrew Lehman is requesting a variance to allow a second driveway on his property located at 735 Venoske Rd. The lot is zoned for single family residential use which generally limits owners to one driveway entrance of a specified size. Lehman requested a variance to add a second driveway to the property to access it off of Hawk Lane to go to a planned garage.

According to the variance request, the existing driveway cannot be extended through the yard because the main drainage from other properties in the cul de sac drain through his property going from the southwest corner to the northeast corner and into a catch basin. Extending the existing driveway would interfere with this water flow and cause flooding issues. He also noted in the request that the water and sewer lines for the property come off of Hawk Lane connecting to the house further preventing extending his existing driveway.

No neighbors were present at the scheduled time of the public hearing to voice any concerns for the proposed variance.

The zoning board of appeals meets as needed to review variance requests. Monday’s scheduled meeting was the first one to be held since 2020. Committee members present Monday included Greg Knight and chairman Dennis Huotari.

Mayor Mike Wellner, who attended the meeting as a citizen, called on zoning administrator Bob Christensen to confirm with each committee member prior to the date that they would be attending the rescheduled meeting.

With a lack of a quorum, no action was able to be taken.