The Glynn County Board of Commissioners on May 2025 affirmed the Board of Appeals’ unanimous denial of a request to reduce a 7-foot side-yard setback by 2 feet to allow a proposed 48-square-foot laundry-room addition at 74 Wildlife Preserve on St. Simons Island.

The denial matters because the applicant sought an exception to the county’s side-yard setback requirement for an existing single-family house; county staff told commissioners the home’s footprint is about 3,400 square feet on a roughly 13,000-square-foot lot and the house currently sits 11.3 feet from the side property line but the landing/porch intrudes into that setback area.

Planning staff presented the appeal (application ZB25-3) and showed site diagrams indicating the location of the existing stoop/landing and the proposed 8-by-6-foot addition. Planning staff noted the Board of Appeals had held a public hearing and denied the variance 5-0. The property owner, Earl Schlegel, told commissioners he built the house about 16 years ago and said the addition is meant to provide an indoor laundry room for his family; he said the addition would “clean up” the exterior by removing an exposed stair landing and moving trash cans.

During public comment, resident Patricia Ann Barnador said she had observed the county granting setback waivers for new developments and asked why the applicant was being treated differently. Commissioners asked staff factual questions about the structure in the setback; staff said the stairs themselves are not considered part of the house wall but a portion of the landing and a landscape wall intrude into the setback.

Commissioner Duncan moved to affirm the Board of Appeals’ denial of the variance; a second was stated on the record and the motion passed by voice/show-of-hands vote. The formal motion affirms that the applicant may not build into the required 7-foot side-yard setback.

The decision leaves the property owner with the existing conditions and without authorization to construct the proposed laundry-room addition within the setback. The county record for this appeal is ZB25-3 and the Board of Appeals’ denial was cited by staff during the commission hearing.