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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-07-06 Minutes0 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF AWUSTMENTM- A meeting of the Fayetteville Board of Adjustment was held on Monday, July 6, 1987 at 3:45 p.m. in Room 111 of the City Administration Building, 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas, MEMBERS PRESENT: Don Mills, Larry Tompkins, Jerry Allred, Gerald Boyd, Dennis Becker and B.J. Dow MEMBERS ABSENT: Robert Waldren and Dennis Moore The meeting was called to order and the minutes of the June 15, 1987 meeting were considered. MINUTES The minutes of the June 15, 1987 meeting were approved as distributed. APPEAL 87-12 - APPEAL TO THE ZONING ADMINISTRATORS DECISION HAROLD JONES FOR RONNIE TEAGUE - 234 HUNTSVILLE RD. • The first item of consideration was a request to appeal the zoning Administators decision. The property is zoned R-2, Medium Density Residential District. Harold Jones, 1617 Ramsey explained he owned a constuction company in Fayetteville since 1965 as well as other jobs. He said he sold the property to Mr. Teague 2 years ago. Mr. Teague failed to do anything with the property or building. Mr. Jones felt the building did not reach the 50% demolition possibility as stated by Freeman Wood, Mr. Jones said today he had made a written estimate and had made copies for each of the Board of Adjustment members. Mr. Jones said he was proposing to turn the existing building into a warehouse for his personal storage of furniture. Mr. Jones said he planned to cut 3' of the overhang on the old Dairy Queen. He proposed to cut the soffit and facia which were the bad parts on the building. He said the top of the roof had been reroofed two years ago and was not leaking with the exception of a vent pipe which just needed a piece put back on it. He also proposed to block up the two small windows with blocks and finish up the repairs. He said he would charge Mr. Teague $500,00 for all the repairs and paint and clean-up. n U S) • Board of Adjustment July 6, 1987 Page 2 Mr. Jones said he would not turn the building into a dwelling or a commercial business, but for storage it would really come in handy. Mr. Jones said he felt the most important thing was to make the outside appearance look better. Mr. Jones added the repairs could be started in a week or just as soon as he finished a job he was working on. Mr. Jones said he would need a building permit to do that and that was why he was appealing Freeman Woods decision for demolition. Sandra Carlisle gave the Board of Adjustment a little background on this appeal. She said the building inspector had taken this property to the City Board for condemnation or razed. She said Freeman Wood had an estimate which she passed around, that the building was over 50% destroyed. She said Mr. Teague did not appear at the Board meeting when it was heard and an ordinance was passed to raze the building. She said Mr. Jones has appealed to the Board to hold off on that ordinance until :he could appeal to the Board of Adjustment. Larry Tompkins asked if Carlisle replied "no". • certified appraiser, and Mr appraiser for 19 years. Freeman Wood was an appraiser, and Tompkins asked if Mr. Jones was a Jones replied "yes" he had been an Tompkins asked for clarification of the exact location of the property in question. Carlisle explained it was the old Dairy Queen on Huntsville Rd. She said the map was misleading and that the legal description was also misleading. Boyd asked if a separate storage building was a permitted use in R-2. Carlisle stated the owner could use the building for his own purpose which was to store his excess furniture in the building. She added he could not do any retail or commercial. Boyd asked Carlisle where did it say that in the Code Book and Carlisle replied that was her literal interpretation. Tompkins this Board was not concerned with the use, and only if it was more than 50% destroyed. He then said Carlisle was basing her decision on the data she had recieved from Mr. Jones and Mr. Woods. Carlisle clarified the decision was based on Mr. Woods data. Boyd asked if there were other problems other than setbacks. He also wanted to know if anything could be built on the lot in question. Carlisle said nothing could be built on the lot other • than a very small high-rise. Mills stated the Board of Adjustments determination was to t�k • Board of Adjustment July 6, 1987 Page 3 determine whether or not the building was 50% destroyed. Allred said it appeared to him the building was about 90% destroyed. He did not think anyone could rebuild that building for $500.00. Mr. Jones said he was in the business and thought he could. Allred added what Mr. Jones was trying to do was; 1) put it backup to code; 2) convert the building into another use (storage building). Mills advised the Board of Adjustment was not concerned with the converting. She said this Board was only to determine whether or not the building was 50% destroyed and that was it. Tompkins asked if the structure and lot were non conforming at present time. Carlisle replied the structure was grandfathered in and "yes" it was a non conforming lot with structure. Boyd asked Mr. Jones how long he had been in business. Mr. Jones • replied since 1965. Boyd asked as a General Contractor and Mr. Jones replied "no", and that he did not own a State Licence. Mr. Jones said if he had a State Licence he could not do little jobs like this one. Bert Rakes explained the estimate that had been passed around was not from an official appraiser, but an estimate from the building Superintendent to bring the structure up to code. He also said the estimate was not based on a change of use. Mr. Rakes added Mr. Wood wanted to avoid having to do this every year or two. Mr. Rakes clarified the estimate from Freeman Wood was based on the original use (Dairy Queen) and not a storage building. Becker felt the estimates should be looked at one more time to see if Mr. Jones could possibly pull a permit for a storage structure with an appropriate estimate from Freeman Wood. Boyd said who from the Inspection Department could tell this Board that there would be a likelihood that the $500.00 worth of repairs would pass or sufficient to pass an inspection. Richard Wilson, Property and Signs Inspector said the $500.00 in repairs would not be sufficient to pass an inspection. He said in order to make the building sound he would have to null down . the concrete blocks and the front walls and side walls and reblock them because they are broken and you can see daylight through them. He also said the corner block on the southwest C • Board of Adjustment July 6, 1987 Page 4 corner was completely broken. Also the mortar was missing from the blocks and on the front side (south) there were several areas where there was no mortar. Wilson said the floor of the building had big cracks with raised portions of the floor of at least an inch or so. He said the floor would also need to be torn out and redone in an area of 5' X 1/2 the building in order to straighten that out. Wilson said he had taken pictures where you can see daylight through the roof, and that the rafters or the joist going across had rotten and showed signes of water damage. He said the bathroom door and front door would also have to be replaced. He also said there was no insulation in the walls and they were just concrete blocks. Wilson said the overhang for the soffit and facia had a lot of rotting, and it could be cut a lot, but there was the internal 2X12 that might exceed the span limitation which would mean problems structurally. Wilson said for $500.00 there was no way the building could be repaired to where it would be usable even as a storage building. Tompkins asked Richard Wilson if he thought the structure at 234 Huntsville was unsafe. Richard Wilson replied "yes" as it stood right now. • Mills asked what specifications would the.building have to meet in order to be used as a storage building. Bert Rakes replied basic building codes such as spans, proper footings (existing footings are cracked), blocks layed in a workmanship manor with proper mortar. He said it would also require a flat built-up roof with tar paper and tar. Bruce Cully, 344 Combs street stated the building has sat there broken and trashed out for years. He said now we are talking $500.00 to fix it up and wanted to know why the $500.00 had not been spent before. He said it was an eye -sore in the neighborhood and was to close to Huntsville Rd. Mr. Cully said he was all for tearing the building down. The public hearing closed at this point and discussion returned to the Board members. Boyd said in his opinion the building was more than 50% destroyed. He said for $500.00 they could probably make a shack out of the building, but anything that would resemble a sound storage building could not be done without replacement. Tompkins said looking at the two estimates he could see basically that Mr. Jones was saying the building appeared to be 26% • destroyed. He said if he looked at Mr. Woods figures he saw it was approximately 51% destroyed except for the part to restore to P • Board of Adjustment July 6, 1987 Page 5 the Dairy Queen. Tompkins said Mr. Jones had a labor cost that he did not believe. Also he was very concerned about the safety factor and was concerned about the non-conformance of the lot now. He said when he looked at the discrepancies of the legal description and records felt it would be more appropriate to rebuild the buiding. Tompkins said if the master street plan called for Huntsville Rd. to have an 80' ROW there would be a possibility to take some land on each side. Tompkins said he was inclined to uphold the Planning Administrators decision. Becker stated the City holds the cards here because they have to issue the permit. Becker said either Mr. Jones does what the City wants or he gets an attorney. Becker felt Mr. Jones did not address the structural safety of the building as did the City Inspectors. Becker said he would also have to go along with the zoning administrators decision. MOTION • Allred moved to uphold the zoning Administrators decision, seconded by Tompkins. The motion to uphold the administrators decision passed unanimously. APPEAL NO. 87-13 - SETBACK VARIANCE LOGAN AND DAPHNA CHANDLER - 2501 COUNTRY WAY The second item of consideration was a request to vary the north and east side of the property in question. The request was to vary the required 25' setback to 23.65 on the north and 22.5 on the east. The property is zoned R-1, Low Density Residential District. Daphna Chandler said when they bought their new home they were not aware of what the builder had done. Mrs. Chandler said they were not selling their home and at the time of closing the survey showed the encroachments. Boyd asked Mrs. Chandler if she was the original owner of the home, and Mrs. Chandler replied "yes". She said Clifford Clevenger had built their home because they felt he was a very reputable builder. Allred asked if a survey had been done before construction had began. Mrs. Chandler explained at that time the mortgage • companies did not require surveys for title insurance. Boyd asked if the sale of the home was pending a decision from Lk • Board of Adjustment July 6, 1987 Page 6 this Board, and Mrs. Chandler replied "yes". Mills closed the public hearing at this point and returned discussion to members. MOTION Becker moved to grant the request as requested, seconded by Boyd. The motion to approve as requested passed unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS Chairman Mills introduced B.J. Dow from the Planning Commission. She said Commissioner Dow would be attending the Board of Ajustment meetings for the next 3 months. Commissioner Dow said it was an interesting meeting and that she enjoyed it. Chairman Mills announced that Dennis Becker would be attending isthe Planning Commission meetings for the next 3 months. His alternate would be Gerald Boyd. Mills requested that both members of the Board of Adjustment receive agendas for the Planning Commission. Mills stated she would write a letter of appreciation to Gerald Seiff for attending their meetings. There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 4:55 p.m. U A