Height limit on Silver Lake buildings might be going up

Silver Lake’s skyline could rise a little as residents may soon be allowed taller houses.

Current planning laws in the village cap houses at 30 feet tall, but members of the two committees covering planning are proposing that residents be allowed to build up to 33 feet.

Planning Commission Chairman Denny Stoiber told Silver Lake Village Council at its Aug. 15 meeting that work to review and improve chapters of the village’s planning code had revealed the village is behind neighboring communities in allowing taller houses.

“People are asking for taller buildings,” Stoiber said. “We recognized there is a real trend in upscale housing for people to want higher ceilings on the ground floor, so we thought we should do something to let them be higher.”

Members of the Planning Commission worked with counterparts on the village’s Board of Zoning and Building Appeals, which handles appeals against initial planning decisions.

Stoiber said appeals had often been granted with a planning variance to allow buildings to be a little taller, so it made sense to make the village code clearer. The change is part of a package planned for three of the code’s chapters focused on having clearer definitions of planning terminology to allow more consistency in decisions.

He said neighboring communities in Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, Tallmadge and Hudson already permit houses to reach 35 feet, but committee members felt that would change the character of Silver Lake.

Stoiber said: “If we do increase the permissible height to 33 feet, someone could still apply for a variance to go a little higher if they could show there was a hardship caused by holding to the requirement.

“But we did not go to 35 feet, as not only did we look at light and shadow impact on neighboring houses, but [also] the scale factor going up and down a street if one house is suddenly significantly taller than all the rest.”

That’s not to say that the height of a house can’t reach 35 feet, though.

“We decided not to take the radical step of 35 feet, but if someone could really make a case, they could get taller,” Stoiber said. “It is an important factor in any zoning code: You are trying to set standards for pleasing neighborhoods, such as certain setbacks from the street, which is why you don’t allow storage sheds in front yards. We want an aesthetically pleasing community, so something 40 feet tall would be out of character and diminish the expectations of the community.”

The proposals will be debated at a future council meeting and would apply to not just new buildings but any planned alterations to existing homes, though Stoiber added any plans would still need to be approved by the village’s architectural board to ensure they are fitting.