ASPEN – —The Aspen City Council on Monday unanimously denied a developer’s request for a height variance on a recently built house that doesn’t conform to city zoning regulations.
The house at 861 Ute Ave., owned by Laguna Sierra LLC, rises to 26 feet, 2 inches in one spot and 28 feet, 3 inches in another when measured from the sunken patio in the backyard. Zoning rules for the property call for a limit of 25 feet above grade.
Builder John Olson argued that he didn’t build the structure too tall. He said that during construction the grade changed because of the sunken patio. He also took issue with Community Development Director Chris Bendon’s assessment of the events that led to the problem as well as a Monday story in The Aspen Times that quoted city documents in previewing the discussion.
“It’s not a ‘height limit’ variance,” Olson said. “It’s more of an ‘exposed area of the building’ variance. … I had a very bad day about this, as you guys can imagine, because I don’t build stuff that’s too tall.”
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