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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-10-05 Minutes• • • MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS A regular meeting of the Board of Adjustments was held on Monday, October 5, 1998 at 3:45 p.m. in Room 111 of the City Administration Building, 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. ITEMS CONSIDERED ACTION TAKEN BA98-21.00: Variance (Van Duong Ngo, pp216) Approved BA98-28.00: Variance (Washington Elementary, pp484) Approved MEMBERS PRESENT Thad Hanna, Michael Andrews, Larry Perkins, Marion Orton, and Bob Nickle STAFF PRESENT Alett Little and Janet Johns APPROVAL OF MINUTES Perkins: Asked the Board if there were any changes or amendments. Hanna: Requested correct to page 11 of the September 8, 1998 Minutes to reflect the unanimous vote to be 6-0-0. The Minutes were approved as amended. BA98-21.00: VARIANCE (VAN DUONG NGO, PP216) 2907 WESTON This item was submitted by Van Duong Ngo for property located at 2907 Weston. The property is zoned R-2, Medium Density Residential and contains approximately 0.31 acres. The request is to reduce the side setback by 7.35 feet to allow for a .65 foot setback along the east property line. Mr. Van Duong Ngo and Mr. Paul Bynum were present in support of the variance request. Perkins: Opened the floor to staff comments. Little: Stated that the side setback needed to be reduced by 7.35 feet. Further she stated that all that was available is .65 feet. She stated the situation was that the house had been there for a number of years and the air conditioner was two feet over the adjoining property line. At the Board's request, we had the applicant talk to Mr. Lindsey and see about buying additional property which the applicant has done but property is not available to him. Mr. Ngo has obtained • Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Adjustments October 5, 1998 Page 2 from Mr. Lindsey a Deed Restriction on the adjoining property which will prevent any structure from ever being built within three feet of Mr. Ngo's exterior wall. This will allow Mr. Ngo to have his air conditioner over on the other property and will allow Mr. Ngo to meet the building code. So the distance of the remaining set back is .65 feet. Perkins: On the property owned by Mr. Lindsey is there an overhang? Little: Right. Perkins: Basically one foot away from that air conditioner. Am I correct in understanding that? Little: The air conditioner is two feet over the property line. Perkins: Okay. So actually -- Little: The wall of the house is 1.68 feet from the property line but with the overhang it • is .65 feet from the property line. Perkins: Okay. I see that now. And so the distance from overhang to overhang would be three feet? Little: Well, Mr. Lindsey is also going to have an eight foot side building set back when he comes forward. What the deed restriction is going to address is that he would never be able to build within three feet of Mr. Ngo's exterior wall and that leaves Mr. Lindsey all the freedom that he needs to come to you and ask for any kind of variances that he might need. But, he's still going to have his eight feet set back from that side property line. So, actually, the structure's about eight and one-half feet apart. Hanna: So that takes care of Bert's concerns with the fire. Little: You've got to give that three feet for Bert. Yes. Hanna: I thought it was eight feet. Perkins: We're holding Mr. Lindsey to the eight feet side back that would put it eight feet Little: Eight and one-half feet apart. • Perkins: But now where's the three feet? I'm still a little unclear on that. • • • Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Adjustments October 5, 1998 Page 3 Little: Okay. That is a different code You're used to dealing with the zoning code. Three feet is a building code and it says that you may not have exterior walls with openings closer than three feet. Now, we're going to get Mr. Ngo that three feet for his use with that deed restriction. Hanna: So he won't have to close in his windows on that side. Little: Right. Perkins: Or move the air conditioner? Little: Well the air conditioner part of it has not been settled. The deed restriction is not going to allows Mr. Lindsey to build anything within three feet of Mr. Ngo's exterior wall, but Mr. Ngo's air conditioner is still over on Mr. Lindsey's lot. And that's not your problem. Mr. Perkin's recognized Mr. Paul Bynum. Bynum: I talked to Mr. Lindsey and my understanding was after talking to staff that if we would get a one and one-half foot easement for that particular piece of property that Mr. Lindsey owns that that would take care of the air conditioning also. So, what I ran past him was that he would grant us a one and one-half foot easement and we will also do a deed restriction that ran with land that said no building could be built within one and one-half foot of the property line. And at the same time, I assumed he was agreeable with that. That's fine. I assume that rather than an eight feet setback, then he could do a six and one-half feet setback to make up the extra one and one-half foot. Little: that. He doesn't have approval to do that know. He'll have to come down and ask for Perkins: That's not part of this deal so we can't really address it. It would have to be another appeal to come and Mr. Lindsey would have to request a six and one-half feet setback. Given the considerations of what led to that. Little: Now bear in mind, Mr. Lindsey probably might not change it, so it is in effect a six and one-half setback that bears a foot and one-half easement over this property. But, Mr. Lindsey still has an eight foot setback from his property line. Perkins: He's granted an easement for your conditional use for that air conditioner but he's still eight feet away from his. • Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Adjustments October 5, 1998 Page 4 Little: His setback has not changed. Bynum: He's got eight feet from his property line. Perkins: You've got eight feet between the two structures, basically. Little: That's what you've got. Bynum: Our basic goal is to make sure that this okay before Van goes to an attorney to draw up papers. Perkins: On the easement? Bynum. The deed restriction. Little: Right. Right. • Mr. Perkins opened the floor for public comment. • There being none, he opened the floor back to the Board members. Nickle: I understand that what we're doing is trying to grant to Mr. Ngo for a side setback basically a 7.35 feet variance. That's all we're doing. Little: Right. That's all you're doing. The staff did ask that you condition it on the deed restriction because that's something that the City needs in accordance with the Code. Discussion ensued regarding the earlier report and staff's earlier recommendation to get a property line adjustment. Ms. Little stated that needed to be crossed out to avoid confusion. MOTION Mr. Hanna made a motion to grant the variance subject to the City receiving the deed restriction for the easement. Ms. Orton seconded the motion. The motion passed with a unanimous vote of 5-0-0. Mr. Boyd and Mr. Wilhelms were absent. Bynum: Once we have that deed restriction, will we need to come back? • • Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Adjustments October 5, 1998 Page 5 Little: No. We would just like for our city attorney and the building inspector to look at it and then it should be file at the courthouse. • • Minutes of a Meeting of the Board of Adjustments October 5, 1998 Page 6 BA98-28.00: VARIANCE (WASHINGTON ELEMENTARY, PP484) 425 NORTH HIGHLAND AVENUE This project was submitted by Halley and Associates Architects on behalf of Fayetteville Public Schools for property located at 425 North Highland Avenue (Washington Elementary School). The property is zoned P-1, Institutional, and contains approximately 3.03 acres. The setback requirement is 39'6". The request is for a 32'3" setback (variance of 7'3") along the Highland Street right of way and a 36'5" setback (variance 3'1") along the Lafayette Street right of way for a proposed gymnasium addition. Mr. Zed Johnson and Ms. Paula Maranoni were present to discuss the request. Z Johnson: There may be a typo on the Lafayette variance. It should be 1'7" setback along Lafayette. Perkins: All right. So you say that the variance then on Lafayette is 1'7". If you would correct that on the record. That's on the southeast corner of the property. Little: This is a gymnasium for Washington Elementary School. Present today is Zed Johnson and he is the architect for the project and he has designed the school gymnasium of brick to coordinate with the school. We are very pleased to have that. The reason that he needs a variance is because of the additional height. Of course the gymnasium is a building that is a little bit higher than normal and the way our code reads, "...for each additional foot in height there is an additional foot of setback." So that is the reason you have more than the ordinary 30 foot setback there. We do have two recommendations for you if you choose to approve this: 1. The gymnasium shall be built as shown on the site plan and elevation drawings. 2. The variance shall be void if a building permit is not issued within one year. Z Johnson: Thank you, Alett. I'll give you an idea to kind of picture this here. By the way, Paula Marinoni is here and she has met with us on Friday with her helpful ideas. The building itself that we're looking at -- why we're asking for a variance here is just so we can kind of maintain the history line of the existing building with this red addition. We're also trying to save a little bit of the playground. It's an awfully tight site over there so ever foot counts. We could chew up the path but it seemed a little arbitrary relative to the existing historic building. The side is really just matter of like you said a 1 foot 7 inches. The building is slightly under 28 feet tall when it's finished and we have some cross courts inside it. Let me show you what I'm referring • to here. The inside is a very, very simple building, by the way. It basically has one full basketball court and two cross court basketball and volleyball courts and a little bit of area for • • • Minutes of a Meeting of the Board of Adjustments October 5, 1998 Page 7 some future bleachers. This is similar to what we've done except fortunately a little more architecturally compatible with this building. The other elementary schools have those kind of cross courts and some ability for some spectator seating. Perkins: Now from this drawing, here on the bottom it looks like the new building comes to the east a little bit further but the faces of the two buildings are the same. Z Johnson: The intent is that they line up directly and have the same type of architectural detail as close as we can get. We're going to try and get the same brick and everything else. What we talked about with Paula during a meeting with Mr. Karr at the School District and we were talking about the existing trees that do soften this area that is close to the road. We'd like to have some more maple trees along that perimeter when this things is built to kind of continue it on. These are all maple or pine trees along that area now and hopefully we can continue that on. Andrews: How many trees do you plan along there? Z Johnson: Whatever seems right as far as the spacing once they are mature. If you look at these sizes that are right now, by the way, this drawing is 1 inch equals 20 feet. These trees are actually a little small on this plan that was prepared by the surveyor in terms of the locations of these but if you add two or three at a couple of locations, that's about as much as it would handle in terms of a mature canopy. I think the School District's intent down the road is also to replace the chain link fence with more of a wrought iron type thing so that will also help with the layering the back of the building to make it as nice as we can. Nickle: That area up there to the back top going to be done like that? Z. Johnson: That is done like that. That is probably one of the neatest areas around that I know of at an elementary school with all the kid scale spaces up there. Discussion ensued about the area and the view of it from Maple Street. Z Johnson: Right now the buses drop off here and there is a small parking lot and a parent pickup for their kindergarten and first graders that will remain in here. At one time that was a bus stop but they've done away with that for a safety standpoint as well. This is also the service end of the building, too. So, it sort of hides that back there. I don't think it has any visual impact in terms of the traffic. We have a couple of options we're trying to do within the budget so we've got a little bit of reflection of some existing windows along that side bound in brick which will show up some but not be overly strong and then just one central window in that area. We're going to try to get most of our exhaust area coming out between the two buildings where it kind of hides that. We did have some intake vents that will need to be on the opposite side. There • • • Minutes of a Meeting of the Board of Adjustments October 5, 1998 Page 8 will not be an air conditioned space. Discussion ensued regarding the bricked in windows along Highland. Mr. Johnson stated that they were trying to keep the existing entry as the main focus of the school. In fact, the School District is coming in -- they used to go through that period where they filled in the windows from the energy management -- and they're getting ready to take all that junk out of there and put windows that replicate what was historically there. Z Johnson: Are there any questions I can answer for you? Nickle: My only question would be do you want to be quite this exacting? Instead of 1' 7" on Lafayette make it 2' and the 7'3" on Highland make it 8"? Little: That's fine. We would certainly recommend that. Highland 8' and Lafayette 2'. Mr. Perkins recognized Paula Marinoni. Marinoni: My name is Paula Marinoni and I appreciate the work that you all do. This is the first time I've been here. But, when I saw the red sign go up on Lafayette where I live on Lafayette Street and I'm very concerned about an active and historical preservation in Fayetteville. So I went to see what it was and I saw the big box and I thought, "Oh, no." And so I called Zed and he arranged a meeting and we met and I had the plans. I went and said, "what if we took it and did this with it [turned the building]." I was surprised to see why some people have to articulate and some people don't. I have in my research found that the area next to the University is probably the most condensed historic area in this part of the state. In a two block radius of Old Main, I found out that there are nineteen properties on the National Register. Six are in front of my house and if you go on down Lafayette Street, there are about nine more that should be added and so I'm very interested in this area and thus what impact a big box would have on it. And so they were gracious enough to meet with me and we discussed, like I said, let me put it this way, how about put it this way, how about taking the traffic off the street this way and what it boiled down to was the School District doesn't have money. Everybody knows that. They were able to get money and assistance from the City in order to do this and have a full size gym and to be switching it around would cost more money than they had and possibly make it deal killer. So, in this situation, even though it is a big box, what we agreed on was adding the maple trees. Even though I am concerned about preserving the historic nature of that area, the priority for the children to be able to have quality space. And I appreciate them. They did work with my concems on that and they also agreed to put in writing to me that they are considering the historic nature of the area because I am working on a historic master plan for Fayetteville which will take place over a period of years where I'll be categorizing historic sites and making that information available possibly via computer and listing historic elements that are important. • • Minutes of a Meeting of the Board of Adjustments October 5, 1998 Page 9 For instance, the rock retaining wall that cumulatively adds to the character of Fayetteville and that if they could put that in writing that I could take that to other people then to help get cooperation in building a spirit in the community. MOTION Mr. Nickle made a motion to grant the 8 feet variance on Highland and the 2 feet variance on Lafayette along with what staff recommends. Mr. Hanna seconded the motion. Mr. Andrew requested that the motion be amended to include the planting of tree screening. Little: That can certainly be added and probably does need to be stated for the record. Upon roll call the motion passed with a unanimous vote of 5-0-0. • The meeting adjourned at 4:15. •