Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Elizabeth Chosa addresses the Houghton Zoning Board of Appeals about a rear-yard zoning variance request at her house on Douglass Avenue Wednesday night.

HOUGHTON — The Houghton Zoning Board of Appeals approved a rear-yard variance for a home where constructors had not filed an updated permit request at its meeting Wednesday night preceding the regular Houghton City Council meeting.

The 10-foot, 4-inch variance at 205 W. Douglass Ave. covers the ground of an 8-foot, two-story addition being built behind the home. The addition would put it 4 feet, 8 inches from the city’s pipeline right-of-way, which runs through the back of the property.

There are no known utilities running through the lot, City Manager Eric Waara said in a memo to the zoning board.

Work had already begun on the new building, which had begun before the builders knew a change in the original plans would require a variance, they said.

Elizabeth Chosa said she and her husband had been motivated to add onto their house partly to accommodate her mother and mentally handicapped sister, who will be moving to Houghton next summer.

They had hoped to build on the east side of the house, which would have been a faster, cheaper build, Chosa said. After that neighbor expressed concern, she appreciated her neighbor to the west, who agreed to sell her side lot to aid the construction.

“Honestly, my husband and I both thought that the paperwork had been submitted correctly, and that the permit already had variance as part of it,” she said. “…Until the complaint was received by the neighbor, we didn’t realize we didn’t have the correct permit.”

Neighbors said the addition would reduce nearby property values. Sarah Hoy, who lives next door, said the two stories would block light coming onto her property, harming the garden in their backyard.

She’d also been caught off-guard by the addition, which was in the building plans submitted to the county but hadn’t gone through a variance request before construction began. She only learned about it after a surveyor had come to map the Chosas’ property, walking through Hoy’s to get there.

“I think that granting this variance after the fact sets a worrying precedent, that you can just build whatever you like and then expect to get things approved after the fact, even though it causes harms to your neighbor,” she said.

The confusion over the variance was the builders’ fault, said Mark Peterson, the founder of Northlands Construction and Remodeling, which is handling the project. They had originally applied for a zoning permit for construction off the west side of the building. The Chosas later suggested moving the addition to the rear, on the footprint of their existing mud room, which Chosa said was starting to fall apart.

“This is not intentional by any means, but I did resubmit to the county, and it just totally fell off my radar to resubmit that to the zoning permit for that back eight feet off the west side of that mud room,” Peterson said. “So that’s my error.”

After neighbors submitted complaints to the city, Peterson heard from Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Jepsen that they lacked the zoning permit to extend their construction the extra eight feet.

A subsequent letter from the city stated while there wouldn’t be a stop work order on the project, they would be continuing at their own risk. It continued, Peterson said.

Board members compared it to an approval at the board’s previous meeting in 2023, where a homeowner had mistakenly built his house too close within the 25-foot front setback.

“I don’t think this is a gross negligence, and certainly not an attempt to circumvent the rules of procedures or ordinances in place,” Councilor Brian Irizarry said. “…I believe the communication provided to the council proves the due diligence being taken by the Chosas. They weren’t trying to just be sneaky about it.”

The board consists of the council, minus the mayor and mayor pro tem. It approved the variance by a 4-1 vote, with Virginia Cole voting against.

The pipeline right-of-way on that block has stopped at least three other people from doing what they wanted to do, Councilor Craig Waddell said during the regular council meeting. He suggested adding a discussion about the city abandoning the right of way as a future agenda item.

Councilor Mike Needham asked if the council could start the process by giving City Manager Eric Waara the direction to do it. Waara gave a tentative yes.

First, he said, the Department of Public Works would need to do due diligence in excavation to make sure there’s no active pipe there.

A possible solution may look like the city abandoning half the block, but retaining easements for existing pipe routes with city assets, Waara said.

During its regular meeting, the council:

Approved the allocation of $119,976.91 — the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds — for projects in Woodhaven Park, West Houghton Neighborhood Park and Garnet Street Park.

The projects are aimed at improving amenities and making the sites more accessible.

Among the changes at all three are adding dual adult/child swings and a teeter-totter and/or merry-go-round.

Now that funds have been committed, the city can begin ordering equipment, which should be ready to be installed in the spring, Waara said.

Approved a commitment of $31,000 as matching funds for its application for a $200,000 Shared Street and Community Spaces Grant. The $231,000 will go towards mobility and accessibility improvements at Bridgeview Park.

Approved a resolution proclaiming Dec. 8 as TubaChristmas Day in the Houghton. The Rozsa Center is presenting a free TubaChristmas concert that night at 6 p.m.

Prominent tubist Harvey Philips launched the TubaChristmas concerts in 1974 at the Rockefeller Plaza Ice Rink in New York City.

Went into closed session at the end of the meeting to discuss the purchase of property. No action was taken when the council returned to open session.