HomeMy WebLinkAboutZBOA Minutes 2006-03-28 Regular 24 ;
State of Texas )(
City of Friendswood )(
Counties of Galveston/Harris )(
March 28,2006 )(
Minutes of a regular meeting of the Friendswood Zoning Board of Adjustment that was held on Tuesday,
March 28, 2006, at 7:00 PM at Friendswood City Hall Council Chambers, 910 S. Friendswood Drive,
Friendswood,Texas,with the following present constituting a quorum:
Chairman Ron Decker
Vice Chairman David Dannemiller
Regular Member David O'Brien,III
Regular Member Greg Hughes
Alternate Member Steve Joiner
City Attorney Alison Holland
Building Official Frank Manigold
Staff Liaison Melinda Welsh
Regular Member Ken Boggs and Alternate Members Elisabeth Wagner, Steve Knis and Ernie Kyle were
absent from the meeting.
Chairman Decker called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
Chairman Decker appointed alternate member Steve Joiner as a regular voting member for this meeting.
7:00 PM—REGULAR SESSION
Chairman Decker called the hearing to order to receive public input regarding seeking a variance for
property located at 1525 and 1531 Briar Bend Drive, 19,865 square ft. of land situated in Lots 7 and 8,
Block 1, Section 1 of the Briar Bend Subdivision, Galveston County, Texas to move front setback line to
16 feet to match adjacent lot setback. Variance request from the requirements of Section 7.Q.3, Garden
Home District,of Appendix C of the Friendswood City Code.
Peter Gorman, 522 Pine Ridge Court, stated he is the applicant and presented his case. He is a builder
and developer of Briar Bend Subdivision, requesting a variance on 2 lots that are not sold yet, during
initial engineering of the subdivision, setback lines were put on 2 of his corner lots that will conflict with
the uniformity within the subdivision and that is the hardship presented tonight, in this Garden Home
community the setback is 16 ft and the 2 lots are 35-40 ft. back, the houses on either side will be 16 ft,
when it was determined that the front doors of these houses would be looking at the side of the brick
walls on the adjacent lots they decided to request a variance, largely due to the uniformity, somewhat due
to the back lot line is up against FM 528 and one of the requirements on back of the lots is a 10 ft.
landscape buffer which is required under the city's Entryway Overlay District(EOD),which made the lot
10 ft. shorter in the back, his primary position will be for aesthetics of the subdivision, which is also the
basis for the city having EOD's,to have the front set back so far on the corner lots is not desirable,would
rather have the extra land in the back of the house which is the premise behind garden homes, provided a
drawing showing the difference between proposed and existing lots, heard that the city recently changed
one of the zones for Cluster zoning which was reduced to 40 ft., if granted the variance, one lot would be
40 ft. and the other 46 ft. across the building line which is a minimum especially if they put front entry
garages since they go back a little bit further because you have to have 20 ft.from the curb.
No one spoke for or against the proposed request.
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Hearing no further input the Public Hearing was closed.
Discussion was held among the Zoning Board members, Building Official and City Attorney regarding
this request for a variance. The discussion included questions regarding hardship created by the unusual
shape of the lots that were dictated by the right-of-way on FM 528 and the nearby creek. Chairman
Decker stated he does not feel there is a hardship because they are not denying reasonable use of the land.
The rules says a hardship is defined as not being able to use the land as such and there is ample room to
be able to use the property as it was intended without granting the variance.
**Boardmember Hughes moved to approve the variance as requested for property located at 1525 and
1531 Briar Bend Drive.
Seconded by Boardmember O'Brien. The motion failed 3-2 with Chairman Decker and Vice
Chairman Dannemiller opposed.
**Boardmember Joiner moved to approve the minutes for the January 24,2006 meeting.
Seconded by Boardmember O'Brien. The motion was approved 4-0. Vice Chairman Dannemiller
abstained because he was not present at the previous ZBOA Meeting.
A motion was made and approved to adjourn at 7:26 PM.
Ron Decker
Chairman
Attest:
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Melinda Welsh,Deputy City Secretary
ZBOA Staff Liaison