By Bob Vlach
Woodford Sun Staff
The Board of Adjustments (BOA) unanimously approved a conditional use permit (CUP) on Monday after applicant Cameron Miller said he would use sex offender screening computer software to prevent individuals listed on state and national sex offender registries from renting his proposed short-term rental (STR) at 421 Elkton Place in Midway.
In March, the BOA took no action on Miller’s application for a CUP after a neighbor voiced concerns about him operating a short-term rental “steps away from the public park.”
Neighbor Mark Perkins told the BOA that the public park was 168 feet away from the property proposed for an STR, and noted that state law prohibits registered sex offenders from residing within 1,000 feet of a school, playground and daycare facility.
No provision exists in the zoning ordinance regulating STRs that directly addresses the concern raised during the hearing about sex offenders renting STRs for up to 30 days; although state law does require general language with an approval that protects the public health, safety and welfare, BOA members were told.
Miller submitted eight conditions to operate a STR in the three-bedroom home, including a maximum occupancy of six people, quiet hours (from 9 p.m. to 7 p.m.) and off-street parking for up to three vehicles in a driveway and garage.
A condition was added that the primary renter of the short-term rental must be at least 25 years old. Also, Miller must maintain records of using the sex offender screening system.
BOA Chair Tim Turney and member Bart Shockley were absent, so Vice Chair David Prewitt chaired the meeting.
In-home daycare
The BOA approved a conditional-use permit that allows Sarah Maynard to operate an in-home daycare at 1059 Lakewood Circle. Maynard told the BOA that she will have her two children and a maximum of four other children in her daycare.
Maynard said her family has lived in the community for seven years, and after having her second child, Spencer, in July, she and her husband came to the realization that there “is not affordable childcare for multiples. We have two children under two, and Spencer has a congenital heart disease and in-home daycares do not want to take him, and other daycares are too expensive for his care, which is why I am seeking to do this.
“… We need daycares where parents are comfortable sending their kids with high risk,” she said, while also noting that she is CPR and first aid certified and her husband is a nurse.
Because two or more of the unrelated children in the daycare may be siblings, the number of vehicles dropping off kids in the mornings and picking up in the afternoons could be fewer than four, Maynard told the BOA.
None of Maynard’s neighbors spoke during the hearing on her request, but people who identified themselves as being residents of a neighboring rural residential development voiced their opposition to approving the request because more businesses may also locate in this residential area, a daycare will increase traffic, and the additional traffic will cause more wear and tear on a private road maintained by residents.
Conditions of approval included operating hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., a limit of four children in addition to Maynard’s children, and that a privacy fence must be erected within a year.
McCowans Ferry variance
The BOA approved a 60-foot setback variance so applicants Jeremy and Megan Hendricks can construct a house on what was described by Planning Director Steve Hunter as “the best building site” on 15.107 acres at 740 Flint Ridge Road.
The house is being built on what was rezoned and subdivided into two rural residential lots, which are required to have a 150-foot setback from adjacent agricultural zoning. If the property had not been rezoned and had remained agricultural, the applicants would have been able to build 50- foot off of the rear property line, Hunter told the BOA.