A misunderstanding led a Hagerstown-area business to violate terms of its zoning variance, but that’s no longer a problem.
The Wayne County Board of Zoning Appeals amended its 2023 variance of use to bring Elam Lapp’s shed-building business into compliance. The board met July 9.
Lapp said he believed the 2023 variance permitted him to construct shed kits and fully assembled sheds; however, it only permitted the kits. He’s been building assembled sheds at 3811 Treaty Line Road, which is in a rural industrial zoning district. The county learned Lapp’s business was not in compliance when a neighbor complained to the planning and zoning office about truck traffic picking up sheds at Lapp’s business.
While receiving permission to build the completed sheds, Lapp also was permitted to begin business at 6 a.m. rather than 8 a.m., to have five employees rather than three and to move his outside storage to the west side of his building.
In a second petition, the board denied Isaac Lapp’s requests to add a storage warehouse and 10 additional employees for his furniture-building business at 5440 N. U.S. 35 in Richmond.
Lapp received a variance of use in 2021 for the business and said he planned to expand it on the agriculturally zoned property. Lapp requested an 80-foot-by-144-foot warehouse and a maximum 25 employees rather than 15. He said he currently employs 12.
The board’s denial reflects its penchant to limit the size of manufacturing operations on agriculturally zoned land.
A version of this article appeared in the July 15 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
