The Augusta Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), during its meeting Monday afternoon, voted to help a high-end apartment complex off Riverwatch Parkway address a five-year-old oversight.
Sterling Development had petitioned the city for a variance from the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, to reduce the side setback of Building 2 at Argento at Riverwatch Apartments from 10 feet to six feet.
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The petition was aimed at legitimizing the construction of the apartments. In 2019, the developer requested a variance for the 12-acre parcel at what is now 420 Topgolf Way, to reduce the rear setback on Building 2 from 50 to 15 feet, and the front setback of Building 4 from 40 to 12.5 feet.
In September of that year, Augusta Planning and Development gave conditional approval to the conceptual plan for the 296-unit complex, with full approval of the project contingent on the BZA’s voting in favor of the requested setback reductions.
The board approved Sterling’s petition for a variance on Oct. 21, 2019. Construction of the apartment complex started in 2020 and was completed in 2021.
Sterling claimed, in its letter of intent for its latest variance request, that it moved forward with development the apartments because a six-foot side setback at Building 2 was approved during the initial site plan review process in 2019.
Planning staff, however, stated to the BZA on Monday that the Planning Department has found no documentation supporting this.
Attorney James Trotter, speaking on behalf of Sterling Development, told the BZA that while the developers had requested several setback variances to accommodate the site, determining the orientation of the development proved challenging.
“It was very difficult to determine on this piece what was front, what was rear and what was side, and there were a number of different interpretations there,” said Trotter.
The Board of Zoning Appeals voted unanimously to approve the setback variance.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
