The owner of a duplex at 216 West I St. is seeking to have the land on which the building sits divided into two parcels today, Associate Planner Suzanne Thorsen said.

The request will be heard during an administrative hearing at City Hall.

Applicant Scott Torres and owner Duane J. Velen will ask permission to divide the 18,750-square-foot parcel into two separate parcels.

One, labeled Parcel A, would be 11,250 square feet, and is where the duplex sits.

The remaining 7,500 square feet, labeled Parcel B, would remain vacant for the time being, though the applicant told Thorsen that it would be intended for single family use, she wrote in her report.

The property is inside the city’s Downtown Historic District, and the duplex is considered a contributing building, Thorsen wrote.

“In accordance with the Benicia Downtown Historic Conservation Plan, future construction of a new structure on Parcel B will be subject to Design Review before the Historic Preservation Review Commission,” she wrote.

She wrote that the project would be consistent with Benicia’s goals of making efficient use of land through infill development similar to that on neighboring lots. Most of the property’s neighbors are single-family homes, though it’s also near a funeral home.

Currently, the duplex is considered a nonconforming use because its rear setback is 31 1/2 feet from the west property line, less than the zoning standard of 35 feet because an alley adjoins the property.

Should the subdivision take place, 216 West I St. would be divided so that only Parcel B would adjoin the alley, and Parcel A’s setback would be measured from the east property line that adjoins West Second Street.

That neither creates nor eliminates the nonconforming condition that already exists, Thorsen wrote.

The current parcel also is nonconforming with respect to lot width, but the proposed change would create a new conforming lot — Parcel B — and reduce the existing nonconforming condition for Parcel A, Thorsen wrote.

Because the discrepancy would be reduced, she found it consistent with Benicia’s zoning ordinance, and she has recommended approval.

The zoning administrator hearing will begin at 11 a.m. today in Conference Room 1 of City Hall, 250 East L St.

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