City Halts Work on Too-Tall Building

New construction at 1265 S. Lightsey Ave., Bartow, was stopped by code enforcement after the garage apartment was found to be nearly five feet too high.

BARTOW | The city has halted construction on a garage apartment on Bartow's south side because it's nearly 5 feet taller than the zoning codes allow.

Now the owner, Darlene Patrick, is seeking a second variance to allow for the additional height, and the Zoning Board of Adjustment has to decide what to do about it.

Patrick already had secured one variance from the board in February to expand the garage behind her house at 1265 Lightsey Ave. The board gave her a 4-foot variance, which allowed her to build the garage to 34 feet in height, according to city records.

But once construction got under way, Planning Director Bob Wiegers told the city's building inspectors that something didn't look right.

"It hadn't gotten far enough along where we were called to do a framing inspection on the structure," Building Official Gregg Lamb told the board during a recent meeting, "but Bob had mentioned the height, so we went out and measured, and it was 38.8 feet."

Lamb said he also recognized the construction didn't reflect the plans the city had on file for the project.

"It went from a loft on one end to a loft on both ends with a walkway in between. The plans didn't reflect that."

Patrick told members of the board last month that changes in the design created the additional height.

Wiegers said none of Patrick's neighbors has voiced concerns about the project.

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City Halts Work on Too-Tall Building