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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-11-07 Minutes• • • A meeting of the 1977, at 3:50 P. ville, Arkansas. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: OTHERS PRESENT: MINUTES OF A BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING Fayetteville Board of Adjustment was held on Monday,. November 7, M., in the Directors Room, City Administration Building, Fayette - Chairman Carl Yates (arrived 4:00), Dr. James White, David Newbern, Larry Smith, Mrs. Don Mills, Chester House, Richard Osborne (arrived 4:15 P. M.). None. Bobbie Jones, Angie Medlock, Sylvia Brooks, Lynn Wade, Vernon Wilson, John G. Ayers, Bill Brownfield, Mr. Caton, and other unidentified persons. In the absence of Chairman Carl Yates, Dr. James White called the meeting to order. The first item for discussion was the public hearing on Appeal No. 77-31, Sylvia Brooks, 2650 Huntsville Road, on an application to vary setbacks, or more specifically, she is asking for a setback on the side property line of 41/2 feet and the required is 20 feet. Sylvia Brooks was present to represent. Mrs. Brooks said she wants to put in a double garage on the north (rear) side of her house She said it would be in line with the west side of the house and make the house look better. She could then turn around before driving out her driveway instead of backing out onto Highway 16. David Newbern asked if Mrs. Brooks could build the garage further east and Mrs. Brooks said she has already built on to that portion and it would not tie in with the roof. Mrs. Mills asked if Sylvia Brooks would come back farther to the east with some shelter for her car if she were not granted a variance. Mrs. Brooks said she probably would not. She explained that there is a difference in the roof line on the east half and west half of her house. Mrs. Brooks said there are no other buildings on the west side where she is proposing to build. David Newbern asked if she built on to the 20 x 22 feet addition, could she still turn around and Sylvia Brooks said there would not be room to turn around. Dr. White asked if the garage door would open to the east and Mrs. Brooks said "yes". Mrs. Brooks said she has owned the property for 41 years. David Newbern asked if it is absolutely necessary that the garage connect to the house and Mrs. Brooks said it would improve the property value if she could connect it. No one was present in opposition. The public hearing was concluded. Carl Yates arrived. SYLVIA BROOKS 2650 Huntsville Rd. Appeal No. 77-31 The second item for consideration was the public hearing on the Appeal No. 77-27, Fulbright Invest- ment Company (Ayer's Furniture), south of Highway 62 West and lying East and West of Razorback Road, application to vary setbacks and maximum buildable area. Lynn Wade was present representing Fulbright Investment Company and Ayers Furniture. Also present were John G. Ayers, Bill Brownfield, and Mr. Caton from Ayers Furniture. Lynn Wade explained that Fulbright Wood. Products has been there since 1918. He said they have operated it until recently when they leased the premises to Ayers Furniture. He stated that they are using the site for production for parts of furniture. He said the lease to Ayers Furniture will expire in 1979 and at FULBRIGHT INVESTMENT CO. Highway 62 West Appeal No. 77-27 1110 • • • Board of Adjustment Meeting November 7, 1977 -2- that time Ayers Furniture may extend the lease, exercise their option to purchase or move the factory back to Fort Smith. He noted that Ayers Furniture owns all the equipment and machines in the buildings. Mr. Wade said the area east and west of Razorback Road and north of the Railroad track has been rezoned to I-2, and south of the track has been rezoned to R-0 for parking. He said they have submitted a Bill of Assurances which says they will remove certain buildings and repair others. Also, there is an assurance of maintenance of a fence or hedge along the entire north boundary. Lynn Wade said Ayers Furniture does have plans to put in a new dry kiln east of Building 17, if they are granted the variances, but that the new dry kiln would not require a variance. Lynn Wade said they are asking 1) that the Board of Adjustment acknowledge the historical use of the property and 2) make legal that which has been there for a long period of time. Mr. Wade passed out copies of a survey on which was marked the buildings proposed for repairs, repainting, and removal. Richard Osborne arrived 4:15 P. M. Carl Yates asked if the variance would be to grant them a variance to increase the size of the building and Bobbie Jones said it would not allow them to increase in size the existing buildings. She said she feels they are looking at the question of, if the building is destroyed, can they reconstruct it at the same place. Bobbie Jones explained that variances do go with the land so if the variance is granted, they could grant it with a condition. Chairman Yates asked if they would consider a condition being imposed that if the buildings are completely destroyed, they would have to come back in to the Board of Adjustment before rebuilding. Chairman Yates said the variance as requested would grant them permission to remodel more than 10% of the cost. Chairman Yates asked if they would be willing to amend the Bill of Assurances to provide additional dedication for Razorback Road and Lynn Wade said Ayers Furniture would, but he did not know if Fulbright Investment would. Mr. Wade also said Ayers Furniture would be willing to remove at their cost, those portions of Buildings 8 and 10 marked on the. survey at the time Razorback Road is expanded to an 80 foot right-of-way. David Newbern questioned if there is anything about the physical characteristics of the land which imposes a hardship or which prevents the tenants from relocating this so it would conform. Lynn Wade said he does not feel there is enough buildable area after meeting the setbacks. He said the cost of relocating the buildings would be grossly prohibitive. No one was present in opposition. The public hearing was concluded. The last item for discussion was the public VERNON WILSON hearing on the Appeal No. 77-32, Vernon Wilson, 1120 1120 Lindell Lindell, on an application to vary setbacks, or more Appeal No. 77-32 specifically, he is asking for a setback from North Street, minimum 10 feet and maximum 18 feet, and the required is 50 feet; also, a 48.4 foot setback from Lindell, and the required is 50 feet; also, a 21 foot setback from Mt. Comfort Road, and the required is 60 feet. Vernon Wilson was present to represent. Mr. Wilson said he purchased the property in 1961 and his building was built in 1962 and met all the setback and zoning requirements at that time. He said the expansion of North Street has taken approximately 1300 square feet from his property. IHI • • • Board of Adjustment November 7, 1977 Mr. Wilson said if he does not get a variance, his land would be useless. Carl Yates asked if Mr. Wilson has plans for expanding and Mr. Wilson said he would like to build a building later to rent for a doctor or dentist's office. He said he has no definite plans at this time. He said he could not build back if his car wash were destroyed. Mr. Wilson stated that he has been contacted by a real estate office who would like to put a doctor's office on the property. Mrs. Mills asked if he would be planning for offices both upstairs and downstairs if he built a two-story building and Mr. Wilson said that would be a possibility. Mr. Wilson also noted that the east side of the property is approximately 10 feet above the street. Mr. Yates explained to Mr. Wilson that most people have more definite plans when they come in and ask for a variance. He said he would rather not take action on this until they do have more definite plans. Mr. Wilson said he would like to have a little reassurance. He felt his land is useless as it is. He said there is a pretty good foundation there now and he would like to just remove the steel sides and build a two-story building around the edge of the slab Bobbie Jones noted that there had been an ordinance passed in September amending the fencing and screening requirements in the zoning ordinance which also permits the reduction of building setbacks in certain zones provided there is no parking between the building itself and the street, and provided there is landscaping (not just grass) occupying at least 20% of the open area. She explained that in the C-1 zone, it would permit the reduction in setback to 25 feet if there is no parking between the building adn the street and if there is landscaping. Richard Osborne asked Mr. Wilson if he is in the planning stages of building and Mr. Wilson said "yes". Rick Osborne said he felt Mr. Wilson is premature in applying to the Board of Adjustment. David Newbern explained that usually when someone buys or sells a piece of property, they will apply for the variance. Mr. Newbern said he would like for Mr. Wilson to come back in when he has more definite plans. No one was present in opposition. The public hearing was concluded. Chairman Yates said he feels the FULBRIGHT INVESTMENT COMPANY request of Ayers Furniture and Highway 62 West Fulbright Investment Company is an unusual Appeal No. 77-27 request. He noted that they have the Planning Commission and City Board of Directors approval for rezoning. He said it seems we have a situation where an industry has been there for a long time and they are asking for a variance to improve the present buildings and make some modifications to the inside without enlarging the outside. He said if they want to build additional buildings which would not meet the setback requirements, they would have to come back before the Board of Adjustment. He said he would be in favor of granting the variance on that basis. Mr. Yates said he does recognize that it might be difficult to justify this variance on a hardship basis Mrs. Mills asked how long it would be before they do anything to Razorback Road and Highway 62 and David McWethy said he felt it would probably be a number of years. She said she feels they need to keep from creating another problem and they need to be extremely careful. David Newbern said the idea of the ordinance is to let all property not in con- formance die out. He said it is clear what they are being asked to do here is to permit the property owner to improve property which is in that condition. He said the price the community has to pay to have rules on zoning requirements seems to be very high in instances like this. He said he is afraid the Board is put in a position to try to decide if they should enforce the setbacks. He noted that there is a major intersection there and also the railroad tracks. Mr. Newbern said he is having trouble trying to fit this situation into a hardship. 1112 • • Board of Adjustment November 7, 1977 -4- He stated that he feels the job of the Board of Adjustment is to uphold the Ordinance. Richard Osborne pointed out that this is an odd -shaped piece of land. Mrs. Don Mills asked how far it is from the railroad spur to Highway 62 if it is widened as proposed and also questioned what they could put on that land. Mr. Yates said the last building was built approximately 10 years before the new zoning ordinance was passed. He said this troubles him because now if they do not grant the varaince, they will not allow them to make improvements. Richard Osborne said he is not sure what use, if any, could be made of the land between the railroad spur and Highway 62. Bobbie Jones said the Ordinance which amended the screening and fencing require- ments would allow a reduction of street right-of-way setback to 50 feet in the I-2 zone if there is no parking and there is landscaping between the building and the street. She said the Planning Office has not required a setback from a railroad spur. Richard Osborne made a motion to grant the variance. Carl Yates seconded the motion. -Carl Yates suggested they amend the motion so that if any one building is destroyed 50% or more, they would have to come back before the Board of Adjustment. Richard Osborne amended his motion to read that they approve the variance but if one building for which a variance is requested is destroyed in excess of SO% of the fair market value on the date of destruction, the owner would be required to come back before the Board of Adjustment before reconstructing any building on the same site. Carl Yates seconded the amended motion. The motion to approve passed 5-2, with Osborne, Yates, Smith, White, and House voting "Aye" and Mills and Newbern voting "Nay". Carl Yates left 5:20 P. M. Chester House made a motion to approve the variance as requested by Sylvia Brooks. He noted that the house was originally built in violation (built outside the City and is non -conforming) and also that she would need 25-30 feet to back up and turn around. He also felt it is very hazardous for her to have to back out onto Highway 16. Mrs. Don Mills seconded the motion, which passed 5-1, with House, Mills, Osborne, Smith, and White voting "Aye" and Newbern voting "Nay". SYLVIA BROOKS 2650 Huntsville Rd. Appeal No. 77-31 David Newbern made a motion to table the request until Mr. Wilson could come in with more definite plans. Richard Osborne seconded the motion. Larry Smith felt Mr. Wilson could build more building on the he can. David Newbern said he does sympathize with Mr. Wilson but feels he is clearly premature in asking for the variance. He felt he should come back in with specific plans. David Newbern amended his motion to table this until the next meeting to give Mr. Wilson an opportunity to withdraw his request. Richard Osborne seconded the motion. Richard Osborne also asked Bobbie Jones to write Mr. Wilson a letter notifying him of the Board's feelings. The motion to table passed unanimously. VERNON WILSON 1120 Lindell Appeal No. 77-32 land than he thinks The minutes of the October 17 meeting were approved as mailed. MINUTES The meeting adjourned at 5:25 P. M. ,ItJ