BZA vote untangles hair salon zoning

Applause greeted a Wayne County Board of Zoning Appeals decision May 9 that allows a hair salon to continue operation.

The BZA unanimously granted Amanda Seal a variance of use to continue operating her salon in a building outside her Union Pike home on property zoned agricultural. Seal began the salon more than four years ago, not realizing it violated zoning regulations. Without a variance, she would be required to have the salon inside her home.

Seal said her home has stairs that make it less accessible for customers than the outside building. Ten customers and friends told BZA members that the salon is small, quiet and comfortable, and they asked the BZA to grant the variance. 

Seal’s home sits at the end of a long driveway and is surrounded by farmland. Another home sits about halfway along the driveway, and those residents also supported Seal’s variance request. Brandy Erazo said she walks to Seal’s salon.

“I think it’s a blessing to have a salon in the neighborhood,” Erazo said.

Hernan Erazo said there’s minimal traffic and no noise from the salon.

“We don’t see any issues with her having her business there,” he said.

Fence dispute

BZA members modified a decision by the county’s hearing officer, Steve Higinbotham, about a fence between two Strader Road properties.

Higinbotham, the county’s director of facilities and development, hears some requests, including for variances of development standards, rather than the issue going before the BZA. An appeal, however, brought the issue to the full BZA.

The applicable development standards permit a 6-foot-high fence along rear yards, but only a 4-foot fence along front yards. Kevin and Tameka Burns, whose home sits farther from the road than neighboring homes, requested permission to install a 6-foot privacy fence that extended along their front yard to a large bush. Higinbotham’s decision permitted a 6-foot fence only to the front plane of Mark Miller’s neighboring home.

Miller appealed, claiming the fence would block his view of the road and of arriving school buses, creating a safety issue. The Burnses disputed the fence would compromise safety.

BZA members voted to modify Higinbotham’s decision by permitting the 6-foot fence only to the rear plane of Miller’s home, a difference of about 30 feet.

Mobile home permitted

Beverly Bowling received a variance of use to put a temporary third home on her parents’ Fouts Road property and a special exemption to make that a mobile home.

Bowling said she now lives with her parents to care for them, but a temporary mobile home would give her space of her own. BZA members unanimously approved both requests.