The Chatham County Board of Commissioners voted to deny a variance request for 22 Lake Drive after county staff told the board the property contains unpermitted, finished rooms in the lower level that violate the county’s Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance.

County engineering staff told commissioners they found finished, air‑conditioned rooms on the home’s bottom floor and that federal guidance and the local ordinance prohibit finished residential lower floors in floodplain areas. County engineer Suzanne Cooler said allowing the variance could put the county’s flood program certification at risk and put at stake roughly $2,000,000 in annual insurance savings for policyholders in unincorporated Chatham County. “The flood damage prevention ordinance says there can be no rooms finished in the downstairs and it can't be air conditioned,” Cooler told the board.

An attorney for the property owners, Mike Vacker, said the owners purchased the home in July 2022 and were unaware of a previously recorded nonconversion agreement; he asked the board to approve a variance subject to a mitigation plan that would allow the owners to retain inherited improvements while working with county engineering to bring the property closer to compliance. “What they are requesting is not a total denial of the variance, but to approve a variance subject to a mitigation plan,” Vacker said, adding that removing the existing lower‑level improvements could cost “somewhere in the vicinity of $200,000.”

Commissioners pressed both sides on how and when the nonconversion notice should have appeared in a title search and on septic and short‑term rental permitting tied to the property. County staff said an NOV was issued in November 2024 after neighbor complaints and inspection, and that some improvements predated the current owners. Staff also told the board the property had a short‑term rental permit but that additional bedrooms increased pressure on an undersized septic system and that the health department is pursuing compliance.

After discussion the board moved to deny the variance request, seconded by another commissioner, and the chair announced the denial. The board and staff advised the property owners to work with staff to determine the steps needed to come into compliance or to pursue remedies outside the board’s land‑use variance process.

The denial follows staff advice that enforcement is required to maintain compliance with federal guidance and local ordinance language; staff noted that policies exist to ensure community rating and flood insurance program status. The board did not provide a roll‑call tally in the public record excerpted in the transcript; the chair announced the motion carried and the request was denied.

What’s next: County staff said owners may work with the engineering and health departments to identify mitigation or compliance steps and may return to the board if they can show a path to meet ordinance standards.