The other problem is that if they DO grant a varience, anyone else can point to your situation and say "How come you let him do it? Why can't I build my "X" in the same setback distance?" This is NOT just about your individual shed, but about the right off the community to decide it's standards and expect their residents to comply, or face the consequences of failing to do so.
BY all means apply for and attempt to get one- just don't presume you will be granted it. Your neighbors likely also have the riught to object to any variance. When a guy up the street was requesting permission to expand the lines of his front entry a bit forward of the front setback (he backs to the not-so-stable bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, so building backward is not an option for him), we were sent notice of the variance request and had the right to object.
Just be glad it wasn't a HOUSE. There was a case here where a builder messed up and built too far across the side setback in an established suburb. The neighbor brought suit for enforcement- because this was a huge manufactured home that was trucked in and set on the readied basement in one day. The neighbor came home to find this two story home way too close to the side lot line where that morning an empty foundation had sat.
Guess what? The house had to be moved.
BY all means apply for and attempt to get one- just don't presume you will be granted it. Your neighbors likely also have the riught to object to any variance. When a guy up the street was requesting permission to expand the lines of his front entry a bit forward of the front setback (he backs to the not-so-stable bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, so building backward is not an option for him), we were sent notice of the variance request and had the right to object.
Just be glad it wasn't a HOUSE. There was a case here where a builder messed up and built too far across the side setback in an established suburb. The neighbor brought suit for enforcement- because this was a huge manufactured home that was trucked in and set on the readied basement in one day. The neighbor came home to find this two story home way too close to the side lot line where that morning an empty foundation had sat.
Guess what? The house had to be moved.
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