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Home My WebLink AboutZBOA Minutes 2015-10-27 Regular' ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING HELD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2015 AT 7:00 PM CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS 910 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS 1.The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm with the following people in attendance: Chairman Ron Dyer Regular Member David O'Brien III Regular Member Delvin Kendrick Building Official Frank Manigold Planning Manager/PIO Nick Haby Vice-Chariman Greg Hughes Regular Member Steve Knis City Attorney Arnold Polanco Board Secretary/City Planner Aubrey Harbin Development Coordinator Becky Summers Alternate members present: Linda Thornton, Mike Czarowitz, Glenn Mintz, Glen Grayban 2.The Board will conduct a public hearing and consider a request to reduce the rear yard setback from 15 feet to 14 feet at 4211 Friendswood Link Rd, also known as 1.0820 acres being a portion of Reserve A Forestcreek Subdivision Volume 239, Page 50 of the Harris County Map Records located in the Sarah McKissick Survey, A-549, City of Friendswood, Harris County, Texas: Polanco explained the Board had three options to consider: an appeal being a difference of opinion with a decision made by a City official; a special exception being either some ambiguity in the ordinance language or a de minimus circumstance and a variance. He said the rear yard setback being discussed could be considered a de minimus exception while the other two requests would most likely be variances. He said the best option for the board would be to consider a variance on all three requests. O'Brien opined City Attorney Polanco's definition of a special exception was far more restrictive than previously discussed with City Council. He stated he did not agree with Polanco's interpretation. Polanco said he respectfully noted Board Member O'Brien's objection. Chairman Dyer explained the process of the meeting, the votes required and the appeal process. He also asked everyone who would be speaking either for or against an item to raise their right hand and swore them in stating that they would tell the whole truth in their statements. A.Staff Presentation 1 Harbin explained the applicant was proposing to rehabilitate a building originally constructed in 1982. She said it was zoned Neighborhood Conunercial (NC) and had residential properties behind the lot. Harbin explained since the building had been vacant for more than 12 months, the site had lost its Existing Non-Conforming status; it was no longer "grandfathered." Harbin showed the Board pictures of the site and stated the building had a metal frame 14-feet from the rear property line and current city ordinance required a 15' rear building setback, therefore the applicant would need a variance for the 1-foot difference. B.Applicant Presentation Mona Miller/Integrity Realty explained her client would not be able to remove one-foot of the building due to the way it was constructed. She said they visited with some of the residential neighbors and talked about the cosmetic changes they would make to the property. Miller said the existing rear fence would be replaced with a new, taller 8-foot fence to provide better screening. Chad Earnest/ Am Cap Mortgage Branch Manager said he knew the building was an eyesore to most people but he saw a vision there for his business and wanted to make the site beautiful. C.Public Comments Janine Aguilar/neighbor stated the area had drainage issues. Harbin asked Mrs. Aguilar to leave her contact information and staff would call her tomo1rnw. Frank Manigold/Building Official said the previous owner was hard to reach and the City had been working on drainage in the area. Martha Dutton/neighbor said she had flooded in the past because the subject lot drained towards to the rear and into the neighboring residential lots. She directed her statement to the potential buyer and said to be a good citizen, he should fix the drainage and not just make the site pretty with landscaping. Miller stated they had found the storm drains in the parking lot had been crushed but since repaired. She said there was some new concrete in the front lot that was graded towards the road. Dutton spoke that a concrete fix in the front would not aid the neighbors in the rear. Aguilar said the commercial building had gutters that pointed to the back fence line. She said she had paid to install large French drains in her yard in an effort to not flood. Fred Mitchell, Pastor of Lifeline Baptist Church said he owned the commercial property next door and they too had drainage issues. He said he would appreciate the situation being looked into. D.Consideration of Evidence by Board Board member Knis asked if an 8-foot fence was legal to which Manigold said it was. 2 Board member O'Brien stated the prope1ty had been vacant for over a year and would have otherwise been grandfathered in. He said the site was not built substandard but had been annexed into the City as is. Hughes asked if the cunent regulations would require the lot to drain towards the street. Manigold said yes but the way it was currently designed included a swale at the rear of the property. He said at this point, there was most likely a prescriptive easement following the way the water has drained for over twenty years. Hughes asked if there was a viable option to resolve the drainage issues. Manigold stated he was not an engineer but he believed there were improvements that could be made. O'Brien asked if drainage would be addressed during permitting and clarification on whether drainage issues had any bearing on a setback variance. Manigold answered that drainage would be reviewed during permitting. Chairman Dyer asked how many roof drains existed. Sean Rives/designer stated there were three or four drains along the back. He said he discussed with his client installing downspouts to be routed around the side. He said since the street was lowered there may be enough fall to drain forward. He asked the neighbors if they had flooded over the weekend since the manholes had been fixed. Aguilar stated they did not. City Attorney Polanco inte1jected that while drainage is a very impo1tant subject, the jurisdiction of the Board was to hear testimony pe1taining to the setback, buffer width and use percentage. He stated drainage was not relevant to the agenda items. Chairman Dyer said he agreed but wanted to give the public an opp01tunity to express themselves. Dutton said she did not flood and described the drains she had installed in her yard. Hughes asked the neighbors if they would prefer to leave the building as-is or have some level of improvement. All three neighbors present said they would prefer some improvements. Dyer asked if the site was built to Hanis County code. Harbin stated the building was constructed in Harris County prior to being aimexed by the City of Friendswood. 1)A variance from Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 7.Q.2. Motion to approve with drainage improvements approved by the City: Knis Second: Hughes Vote: 5-0 (unanimous) Motion Carried Dyer amended the motion to include that all five variance criteria had been met. 2)A special exception to Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 7.Q.2. No action. 3 3)An appeal to Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 7.Q.2, No action. 3.The Board will conduct a public hearing and consider a request to reduce the 10-foot landscaped open space buffer strip to 6 feet at the rear of the property locatecl at 4211 Friendswood Link Rd, also known as 1.0820 acres being a portion of Reserve A Forestcreek Subdivision Volume 239, Page 50 of the Harris County Map Records located in the Sarah McKissick Survey, A-549, City of Friendswood, Harris County, Texas: A.Staff Presentation Harbin explained the property was zoned Neighborhood Commercial (NC) which required a 10-foot landscape buffer to separate conunercial and residential uses along with an 8-foot fence. She said there was currently only 6-feet buffer space due to the existing 8-foot utility easement. Harbin added a tree was required every 25-feet but cannot overlap a utility easement so the applicant was proposing crepe myrtle trees. She explained crepe myrtles have small root structures ideal next to underground utilities. B.Applicant Presentation Mona Miller explained the 10-foot landscape buffer was designed to create screemng between residential and commercial prope1ties. She said the problem here was the utility easement behind the building. C.Public Comments Dutton/neighbor said grass would be good but she felt the money spent on trees would be better put to use addressing the drainage concern. D.Consicleration of Evidence by Board Board member O'Brien said since the area was completely shaded and trees would not grow there he wanted to waive the tree requirement and concentrate on improving drainage. Dyer said he walked the property and it was a jungle behind the building. He asked if there would be a sidewalk installed behind the building. Miller said her client would install one if required for ingress/egress. Manigold said there may be a landing required; he would need to confer with the Fire Marshal's Office. 1)A variance from Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 8.I.2.a Motion to approve ancl waive the buffer tree requirement; variance founcl to meet all five criteria: O'Brien Second: Hughes Vote: 5-0 (unanimous) Motion Carried 2)A special exception to Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 8.I.2.a. 4 No action. 3)An appeal to Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 8.I.2.a No action. 4.The Board will conduct a public hearing and consider a request to increase the allowed office use percentage from 60% of the gross floor area to 100% of the gross floor area at 4211 Friendswood Link Rd, also known as 1.0820 acres being a portion of Reserve A Forestcreek Subdivision Volume 239, Page 50 of the Harris County Map Records located in the Sarah McKissick Survey, A-549, City of Friendswood, Harris County, Texas: A.Staff Presentation Harbin stated the applicant would like to have professional offices at the subject location. She said it was not a heavily trafficked area and the applicant did not foresee a retail type area. She said Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zoning limited office use to sixty percent gross floor area and the applicant was requesting to use one-hundred percent as office space. She presented the proposed building elevations and explained the site would still go before the Planning and Zoning Commission for approval. After P&Z approval, building permits could be applied for which include site drainage plans. B.Applicant Presentation Mona Miller said her client was interested in higher end uses and not wanting dumpsters usually associated with retail or food tenants. She said they would like to keep noise at a minimum and have operating hours close to 8:00am to 5:00pm. C.Public Comments None D.Consideration of Evidence by Board O'Brien asked for clarification on the zoning ordinance to which Harbin displayed the staff repo1i provided to the Board. Knis asked how office area was calculated. Harbin said staff used the Permitted Use Table to determine whether a use was allowed in a specific zone. She said staff looked at the gross floor area provided for Tenant Occupancy applications and Commercial Build-Out applications. Knis requested further clarification. Harbin explained the current ordinance language only allowed 60 percent to be used as professional office use. She stated the remaining 40 percent would need to be another type of allowed use such as retail or restaurant. O'Brien stated the history of the area shows that zone previously allowed one hundred percent professional office. Harbin explained the NC zoning was intended for mixed-use. 5 1)A variance from Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 7.G. Motion to approve; variance found to meet all five criteria: O'Brien Second: Hughes Vote: 5-0 (unanimous) Motion Carried 2)A special exception to Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 7.G. No action. 3)An appeal to Appendix C -Zoning Ordinance, Section 7.G. No action. 5.Consideration and possible action regarding approval of minutes for the: A.March 24, 2015 regular meeting Motion to approve: Knis Second: O'Brien Vote: 4-0 (Hughes did not vote)Motion Carried 6.Consideration and possible action regarding appointment of a new chairman and vice chairman Motion to Remove from Table: Knis Second: Kendrick No vote taken Harbin stated City Council adopted a revised Appointment Policy earlier in the year. She said the Chairman and Vice-Chairman had two-year terms with a four te1m maximum. Harbin explained Dyer and Hughes had been in their current positions since 2009. Dyer nominated Hughes as the new Chairman. O'Brien nominated Dyer for Vice-Chairman. Motion to accept Hughes as Chairman and Dyer as Vice-Chairman: O'Brien Second: Knis Vote: 5-0 Unanimous 7.Comments from Board Members None 8.Staff and/or Council or Board Liaison Reports Councilman Jim Hill thanked the Board for their hard work. Motion Carried Harbin said the next ZBOA meeting would be held on November 1 ih. 6 [ O'Brien and Dyer asked Harbin for new copies of the City Ordinances. Knis asked if the ordinances were available online to which Harbin said they could visit W\¥\v.municode.com for current copies and she would print hard copies, as well. Dyer asked the Boy Scouts in the audience to introduce themselves and be recognized. Will Jeffcoat, Joel Estes and Zeke Bickam of Bay Area Boy Scout Council #442 introduced themselves at the podium. Dyer praised the young men for earning their Citizenship in Community badge while learning about local government. 9.The meeting adjourned at 8:32pm. Respectfully submitted by: Becky Sumtner, Development Coordinator Approved by: . -_,..Ron Dyer, Chair 7