HomeMy WebLinkAboutZBOA Minutes 2018-02-06 Special 1
ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:01 pm with the following people in attendance:
Chairman Greg Hughes Regular Member David O’Brien III
Regular Member Ron Dyer Alternate Member Linda Thornton
Alternate Member Glenn Mintz City Attorney Mary K. Fischer
Brian Rouane, Building Official Becky Summers, Dev. Coordinator
Jim Hill, City Council Liaison
Aubrey Harbin, City Planner/Deputy Director of CDD
Absent: Czarowitz, Grayban
Dyer announced Board Member Delvin Kendrick passed away not long after the last ZBOA
meeting. He said Mr. Kendrick had been a police officer for 43 years and once retired, served
the City on a volunteer basis for many years. Dyer said the Board wanted to honor Mr.
Kendrick’s memory.
Hughes explained the procedure of the meeting and explained that 4 out of 5 votes are
required in order for a request to be approved. He stated that if a request is not granted, the
applicant has 10 days to file an appeal with the court. Hughes administered an oath to
everyone who would be speaking during the meeting.
2. The Board will conduct a public hearing and consider a request to encroach 1837.55 square
feet of pavement into the required 15 foot landscape buffer along the interior side yard
on the property located at 2210 S. Friendswood Drive, Abstract 9 Pg 13 S Part of Lot 45
(45-2) Slones Unrecorded Subdivision, Friendswood, Galveston County, Texas.
Rouane stated City staff met with the applicant prior to submittal and outlined the city
building requirements. He said the applicant requested multiple variances in December which
were denied. The applicant has since made significant changes to their site plan and was
coming before the Board again for one item they could not remedy.
Mona Miller/Infinity Realty Group (buyer’s agent) said they did a lot of due diligence prior
to purchasing the property. She said she assisted the buyers in rezoning the property from
single family residential to neighborhood commercial. Miller said the owners did not foresee
an issue with the required landscape buffer until TxDot (Texas Department of
MINUTES OF A
SPECIAL MEETING HELD
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2018 AT 7:00 PM
CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS
910 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE
FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS
2
Transportation) denied the original driveway location on FM 518 entirely. She said the gas
franchise requires an entrance from the major thoroughfare and TxDot finally approved the
proposed driveway layout along the property line with a right turn in only. She said all the
exits would be on Old Road. Miller stated the TxDot process took nine months to gain
approval. She said the owner has since reduced the building size and parking lot layout to
accommodate the other city requirements but was seeking a variance due to the TxDot
driveway location. Miller said they did not feel the situation was self-created and asked the
Board for consideration.
Brian Baca/architect reiterated he reduced the building size to meet the city setback and
removed parking spaces to allow an unencumbered landscape buffer along Old Road. He
stated TxDot was requiring the angled drive into the property to restrict traffic to one way
only.
Leo Campos/resident was upset he had not seen the proposed site plan yet.
Larry Tilger/adjacent property owner did not agree with the pavement encroaching towards
his property into the buffer area. He said everyone else follows the rules.
Marcus Rives/resident and local designer stated he has designed many buildings within the
city and he has had to comply with all the City ordinances. He stated he had to redesign an
entire project to meet the Community Overlay District requirements. Rives said he did not
see a hardship to warrant the variance.
Mintz asked Miller what would happen should the variance not be granted. Miller said the
franchise would most likely not move forward without an entrance on the major
thoroughfare.
Hughes asked for the amount of funds that had been spent on the project so far. Miller stated
she was not aware of the monetary expenses but time-wise, they began working on the
project in September 2016. Miller said she understood variances were not for all situations
but felt the narrow shape of the lot was hindering their ability to meet City regulations.
Hughes asked the architect what the plan was for the remaining buffer area, should the Board
allow the variance. Baca stated the grassy area would still include a tree every 20-25’ and an
8-foot fence would be erected along the property line.
Mintz asked if the landscape buffer was required for any safety reasons. Rouane explained
the landscape buffer was for aesthetic purposes. Hughes questioned whether pavement was
considered an encroachment since pavement was not a vertical structure. Rouane explained
building setbacks and landscape buffers had different encroachment scenarios.
Hughes led the Board through the Fact Findings prior to voting.
Motion to Approve: Dyer
Second: Mintz
Vote: 4 to 1 (Thornton opposed) Motion Passed
3.Consid�ration and possible action regarding approval of minutes for the:
A.December 19, 2017 regular meeting
Motion to Approve: Thornton
Second: Mintz
Vote: 3-0 (Hughes & Dyer abstained)
4.Comments from Board Members
Motion Passed
Hughes asked Councilman Hill what the process was for filling board member vacancies.
City Planner Harbin explained staff would provide volunteer applicants to Council
Liaison Hill who would then make his recommendations to the Mayor. Hill stated he
prefened that process over the recently revised method the Planning and Zoning
Commission uses.
5.Staff and/or Council or Board Liaison Reports
Summers stated two variance applications had been received for the February 27th
meeting. She said an email would be sent out in the morning regarding the new
applications as well as the process for promoting alternate members into regular member
positions.
6.The meeting was adjourned at 7:42pm.
Respectfully submitted by: Approved by:
Greg�� 3