The Mathews Board of Zoning Appeals voted 4-0 last Wednesday to deny an application for a setback variance requested last month by Mathews developer Walter Alford.

Alford had requested that he be allowed to leave in place a barn that had been built on the property line of a parcel he owns on Lilly’s Neck Road in Moon. During the public hearing held on the matter on Feb. 11, Alford’s neighbor, Rhonda Williams, objected to his request. She said that having another person’s structure on her property line made her property less valuable and limited her use of it. She also said that performing maintenance on the structure would require that Alford trespass on her property.

The board tabled the application last month and requested that both Alford and county officials search through records in an effort to determine whether the barn was built before the county’s zoning ordinance went into effect in January 1987. Buildings built before that time are grandfathered and do not have to meet setback requirements.

Alford was able to show that he had built a portion of the structure before 1987, said Mathews Planning and Zoning Director John Shaw, but he also expanded the size of the building after 1987 without a permit.

As its rationale for denying the request, the board said that Alford had not demonstrated an undue hardship because he could take other actions to comply with the setback requirements. In addition, the board said that a reasonable use of the existing non-conforming structure still remains even though the request is denied.