Board of Adjustment Agenda and Packet 2016 11 16

Home Browse Search

Board of Adjustment Meeting Minutes October 19, 2016 Page 8 of 16 Malmquist says I have the same question. I assume the dash line just in front of the pergola is the 10' setback. It is not on the other side. Godec says this drawing was placed over the top of a plat I had when I bought the house. That line is left over from that. I have no idea why it is on the drawing. Ewy asks if you found any underground utilities. Godec says no. Godec says in regard to positioning of the pergola and in terms of the traffic, this is a bus stop corner. There are three buses every morning at 7 am. The kids congregate out on the corner. They are also there after school. There is traffic on Washington. On Grove on the other side of this road is a STOP sign that is higher than my house. When people are stopped at night across the intersection from my house, their headlights are coming in my windows now that my trees are gone. I have people park there, then turn, and then come back. The same is true coming down Washington because it curves so headlights hit my back fence and are above it. Now they shine on the back of my house. I am trying to protect everything from traffic and other situations that are really unique to that corner because of the way it is situated. Ewy says I have answered my own question. That actually is an 8' utility easement which complicates things a little further. Is the City in ownership of these easements on this plat? We would have to vacate the easement to allow a permanent structure to exist in the easement. Robinson says if it is a City -owned easement, we can grant a waiver without ating the easement. Closed Public Hearing and discussion by Commission: Meseck says should we discuss each criterion or discuss them as a whole. Ewy says if only one criterion does not comply, the decision is made. Meseck reads criterion 1 which is "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". I think the claim is that the easement in and of itself is what is causing criterion 1 to not be met. Stuart says I think criterion 1 and 2 are a pair and they are unique and do not exist throughout the neighborhood. The idea that you can't build up and that there is a constraint on the use of your property is unique. It is a physical constraint as if you had a hill or valley. While it is not exactly the definition we are used to, but having that easement is a limitation that he did not cause and it constrains what he can do his property. Ewy says I feel when these properties were platted, the neighbors affected by the power lines and easement had their lots made physically deeper. If you look at the whole plat, the lots are shallower with minimal backyards. I feel this pergola could have been inset to meet the setback and other vegetative means could have happened to provide the noise abatement. While it is a unique lot and the easement is there, when the lot was created, they made it deeper. Malmquist says I will pair 1 and 2 together. I think the lot has some unique features to it; it is not a square lot due to the nature of the corner; and the corner is diagonal for car sight lines. Where some corners are more traditional, this one is cut off. Campbell says I agree with Staff on criterion 1. Meseck read criterion 2 which is "That the unusual circumstances or conditions do not exist throughout the neighborhood or district in which the property is located". What troubles me most on this is we have discussed a variance for a corner lot in the past. The applicant wanted to build an addition into the setback. We denied it primarily because of the precedent it would set and our inability to set code. This worries me about this application. Is this so unique that other homes might come back and request to build a 7-10' privacy fence because of past approvals? DeJong says you are correct. I believe it was in Dutch Creek, it was a corner lot, but within that neighborhood, there were multiple corner lots with similar structures, so there was no "uniqueness" within the neighborhood. Stuart says because of the location of this lot and where the pergola is, because the trees were taken down and the street is busy with bus stops, having some barrier to noise and light would be useful. It is exposed in a different way than other proposals.