Resident Asks Examiner To Ok Setback For Addition

A South Side homeowner says it wasn’t her fault that the foundation for an addition to her house was put where it wasn’t supposed to go.

Elizabeth Lee Henderson, 4201 E. 42nd, said a contractor she hired a few years ago to build the addition failed to make sure the plan complied with property setbacks in the city zoning code.

The contractor never completed the work, and he left the area with her money, she said.

Now that she is trying to finish the job, she discovered the problem.

Henderson on Tuesday went before the city hearing examiner to seek a certificate of compliance to allow a setback of less than 10 feet on the side yard of her home.

The house is on a corner lot, and the addition would occupy land on the west end of the home. She wants to use the addition for a painting studio.

The unfinished addition would leave a strip of grass between the house and the sidewalk.

To obtain a certificate of compliance, Henderson had to notify surrounding neighbors of her plans and the hearing date. She said none objected.

“The addition I am planning will add value to the neighborhood,” she said.

She said she was unable to finish the work last year because a hairstyling studio she operated in the former Fairmont Hotel downtown was ruined by the adjacent Mars Hotel fire, which spread to the Fairmont.

Now that she has recovered from that loss, she said she is trying to complete the addition. She said the planning staff at City Hall has been helpful in telling her how she could get into compliance.

“City Hall has been really good to me,” she said.

Hearing Examiner Greg Smith is expected to issue a written ruling on Henderson’s request in the next several days.