Board of Adjustment Agenda and Packet 2016 06 15

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Board of Adjustment Meeting Minutes March 16, 2016 Page 4 of 6 Robinson says 1. That there are unique physical circumstances or conditions such as irregularity, narrowness or shallowness of lot, or exceptional topographical or other physical conditions peculiar to the affected property. Robinson says Staff focuses on the setback issue and the shortness or shallowness of the lot. This is a fairly shallow lot especially compared with the other lots in the neighborhood. It is well below the average for the Centennial Valley 3 subdivision, in the lower 20% of lot depth. The house when originally built was placed to the rear on the lot and provided no room for a deck. Staff finds that the shallowness of the lot along with the location of the original house has created the hardship, preventing the construction of the deck. Public Hearing Closed/Board Discussion: Meseck says since I was not at the previous BOA meeting, I will say I listened to everything and read the minutes. Typically, when I look at a situation or any variance, once it gets through Staff and they make the recommendation (they checked all the boxes on the six criteria particularly in regard to uniqueness), I look at a couple of different things on my mental checklist. First, is it reasonable? This has been brought up in a number of different portions of the discussion. In my personal opinion, this is a pretty minor request. The space behind the home is a very large open space. There is a social trail behind it. We have over a quarter mile of space before we hit other homes. My feeling is even if someone is out in the open space, they would very likely not recognize a 2' or 3' difference in a deck. It would be imperceptible at that point. I have personal experience where I have owned a property that had a 7' balcony. I expanded it to 10'. It turned from a glorified walkway to a functional deck where you could sit on it with a table and chairs. 7' is too small to be usable. Secondly, I look at property values and improvements. Clearly, this is an improvement and not detrimentally impacting the neighbors. Third, how do the neighbors feel about it? There were a couple people who spoke, but no one specifically came and said the deck will negatively impact the use of our yard or the value of our property. I feel this is an improvement and makes the back yard more functional. Finally, I go back and look at the past voting record. I know I have voted on a number of setback issues that were very similar to this. They were reasonable as well and I approved them. It would have been a different story if you asked to put an in-ground pool into the setback or a large structure such as a shed up against the open space. The applicants have made a strong effort to do this with minimal impact to everyone while meeting all the criteria that are in place for a variance. Based on my past voting record, I could not in any way not support this moving forward. I also thought about safety. If you had a put a stairway down to your deck immediately out of your main living level, it is a safety issue. Keeping the deck at the main living level is an important aspect of safety. DeJong says I will repeat something I stated at the last meeting. I find that Scott Robinson and Staff completed a thorough and reasoned analysis of the issues. I concur with their conclusions that the criterion were either met or were not applicable. There are no third parties or neighbors that have communicated any complaints or opposition regarding the proposed variance. Lastly, I find the proposed deck addition with limited extension into the setback is not unreasonable. I support the proposed variance to extend the deck into the existing setback. Ewy says I feel it is a very modest addition to the home and there should be an expectation for usable living space outdoors. The deck was overly small to begin with and the request is a very modest deck by most suburban standards. I support the variance request. Stuart says I find it is reasonable. I agree with Robinson in the way he assessed each of the criteria.