Zoning officials wait for property owner’s response
Last week, Susan R. Firestone of Perryopolis was granted additional time by the Fayette County Zoning Hearing Board to apply for a variance to possibly remedy a situation involving a garage and manufactured home she built near her Cemetery Road home. However, on Monday, Tammy Shell, the executive director of the Fayette County Office of Planning, Zoning and Community Development, said the deadline for the variance application has come and gone and Firestone did not follow the directive of the county Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB).
As per the conditions set forth by the ZHB, Firestone had until Friday, Sept. 26 to apply for a variance. Shell said that as of 3 p.m. Monday afternoon, no such request had been filed. Shell said the hearing was postponed so Firestone could apply for the variance and that had not occurred.
“We haven’t heard anything,” Shell said.
When contacted Monday afternoon, Firestone’s attorney, Nicholas E. Timperio, said the variance was not filed last Friday because another attorney became involved and some additional issues arose.
But Timperio added that the variance request will be filed as soon as possible.
Firestone had agreed to apply for the variance to deal with a setback issue on a right-of-way to the Mount Washington Cemetery.
Although the right-of-way is on her property, the garage is less than 25 feet away from the right-of-way and a variance is required.
Although she received a permit to construct a residential garage and addition, Firestone was given a cease and desist order by zoning technician Buddy Eicher, who said the installation of a manufactured unit on top of the garage was not in line with what the permit was intended for.
Firestone is seeking a reversal of the cease and desist order, contending she did nothing wrong.
Firestone planned to move her elderly parents up from Florida and into the manufactured unit, which is connected to her home by a breezeway.
She said she didn’t get an additional tap for the sewerage system since the unit is connected to her home.
The ZHB postponed the hearing on possibly reversing the cease and desist order until December.
In the interim, a hearing will be scheduled on the variance request as soon as the paperwork is filed.