The Mathews County Board of Zoning Appeals handed down a unanimous split decision concerning four violations of the zoning ordinance in an appeal that came before the board on June 21.

Planning and zoning director Thomas Jenkins had found that Doswell residents Mark and Candy Eubank, who own a vacation home on Sweet Gum Road in Gwynn, were in violation of four provisions of the Mathews County Zoning Ordinance. The board upheld the planning director’s findings on two of those violations, but denied his findings on the other two.

The first of Jenkins’ findings that the board upheld concerned a charge that an 8’x26’ addition had been made to an existing screened porch and an 8’x18’ open wood deck had been built adjacent to the screened porch on the water side of the structure sometime between 1999 and 2011, all without permits.

Jenkins said the expansions and additions had created a deeper encroachment into the Resource Protection Area, had violated ...