By Amanda Mears

October 15, 2007 | MILLVILLE -- Residents not following the rules concerning accessory buildings could become a problem, said City Planner Harry Meadows at a Planning Commission meeting Thursday.

Currently, if a resident builds an addition on to their house it must be 15 feet away from the setback, or edge of the property. However, Meadows said that residents are finding a way around that rule by building a detached or "accessory" building, which only has to be three feet from the setback.

"People are skirting the ordinance," Meadows said.

Meadows said that the planning commission had previously talked about deleting an ordinance which states that the minimum distance between a dwelling and an accessory building must be 20 feet in order to combat the problem, but it was unclear on whether or not that had been removed.

Jim Hart, chairman of the planning commission, decided to look into the issue further and continue discussion at the next meeting.

Accessory buildings were brought up again when Millville resident Glenn Floyd went before the commission to request a zoning clearance for a house addition. Floyd said he would like to add a garage to his house, which does not currently have one. The commission decided that since it is considered an integral part of a home, the garage addition will not be labeled as an accessory building.

The addition to Floyd's house will, however, cause the front door to face west rather than north and will require a change of address.

"I guess I'm going to need a new address -- or I can just make one up," said Floyd, laughing.

The commission approved Floyd's request and gave his residence a new address.

In other business, David Rowell was introduced as a new planning commission member, which means that Millville now has a full commission, said secretary Ginger Meadows.

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