A porch-and-deck expansion needs a creek-buffer exception

A proposed screened-porch extension and deck at 286 Mount Vernon Cove in Sandy Springs, Georgia, would reach into the city's protected creek buffer. The applicant seeks an exception for work in the band between 25 and 50 feet from the creek; the project's engineer says the inner 25-foot state buffer would remain untouched.⁠[1][2]

The applicant's stream-disturbance exhibit labels a 128-square-foot addition, a 256-square-foot deck and a 30-square-foot landing. It identifies a larger construction footprint: 950 square feet of disturbance within the 50-foot buffer.⁠[2]

In an Oct. 1 letter, engineer Daryl Cook argues that the creek buffers leave no alternative design avoiding the outer buffer. He predicts negligible long-term water-quality effects, citing the yard's gentle slope and vegetation. Cook also says rear-roof drains were connected to a dry well during recent landscaping and proposes two layers of silt fencing during construction. Those are the applicant engineer's assessments and proposed safeguards, not city findings.⁠[2]

A separate replacement-deck variance at the same address, V-25-44, is recorded as withdrawn. The new request carries a different case number, V-26-58; the register does not identify it as a replacement for the withdrawn application.⁠[1][3]

The city's register lists V-26-58 under staff review and gives a Board of Appeals date of Dec. 2, 2026, at 6 p.m. That is a scheduled review step, not an approval of the project.⁠[1]