Loading...
06-10-2002+~ .. Board of Adjustments Monday 10 June, 2002 The Schertz Board of Adjustments will convened in a public hearing on 10 June 2002 at 6:30 p.m. in the Municipal Complex, Council Chambers, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT Earl Hartzog, Chairman Ted Duigon, William Sommers, Planning Commissioner James Harris Norman Slocum Joe Potempa James Harden CITY STAFF Ron Youngblood, City Planner Misty Nichols, Recording Secretary MEMBERS ABSENT OTHERS PRESENT Kathy Hill Ron Johnson, 2701 Popular Grove Marvin Rutkowski, 4733 Windy Trail John Simonetta, 3524 Prairie Lane Robert Brockman, 4505 Grand Trail Patrice Sullivan, 1429 Oak St. Emil & Deborah Hirsch, 2716 Popular Grove Ln Frank Maynie, 4737 Windy Ridge Trail #1 Call to Order: Chairman Earl Hartzog called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Chairman Hertzog then informed the audience that this was a public hearing for several items requiring variances to the City's Unified Development Code. All citizens that wished to speak on these matters should sign in on the sign-in sheet. #2 Public Hearing: On a request from Marvin Rutkowski at 4733 Windy Ridge Trail, Forest Ridge Subdivision, for a special exception to the Zoning Ordinance to encroach into the rear yard setback from 20' to 10'. 9" to construct a patio cover. (BOA# 173-02). Chairman Hartzog asked for staff input. Mr. Youngblood stated that 19 letters were sent out to the surrounding properties around 4733 Windy Ridge. Of those 19 letters, three came back in favor of the variance, and no letters were returned to the city as opposed. Mr. Rutkowski has obtained a letter of approval from his homeowner association. No utilities are affected. Staff recommends approval. No further comments from attendees. Item Closed. #3 Public Hearing: On a request from Gary Shuck, 211 New Rock Creek, Ashley Place Subdivision, for a special exception to the Zoning Ordinance to construct a wood deck from the house to the existing swimming pool. (BOA# 175-02). Chairman Hartzog asked for staff input. Mr. Youngblood stated that 28 letters were sent out to the surrounding properties around New Rock Creek in Ashley Place Subdivision. Of those 28 letters, five came back in favor of the variance, and no letters were returned to the city as opposed. Mr. Shuck has obtained a letter of approval from his homeowner association. No utilities are affected. Staff recommends approval. No further comments from attendees. Item Closed. #4 Public Hearing: On a request from Ronald Johnson, 2701 Poplar Grove Lane, Woodland Oaks Subdivision, for a special exception to the Zoning Ordinance to encroach into ~~ ~, , , 1 the rear building setback from 10' to 7' to install an above ground pool. (BOA# 176-02) Chairman Hartzog asked for staff input. Mr. Youngblood stated that 29 letters were sent out to the surrounding properties around 2701 Poplar Grove Lane in the Woodland Oaks Subdivision. Of those 29 letters, two came back in favor of the variance, and no letters were returned to the city as opposed. Mr. Johnson has obtained a letter of approval from his homeowner association. No utilities are affected. Staff recommends approval. Amil Hersh asked to speak in favor of this action. He stated he did not complete a letter, however wanted to come to the meeting to voice his support for this action. He stated his address was 2716 Poplar Grove. No further comments from attendees. Item Closed. #5 Public Hearing: On a request from John Simonetta, 3524 Prairie Lane, Carolina Crossing Subdivision, for a special exception to the Zoning Ordinance to encroach into the rear yard setback from 20' to 6' to construct a wood deck from the house to the existing pool. (BOA # 177-02). Chairman Hartzog asked for staff input. Mr. Youngblood stated that 19 letters were sent out to the surrounding properties around 3524 Prairie Lane, Carolina Crossing Subdivision. Of those 19 letters, two came back in favor of the variance, and no letters were returned to the city as opposed. Mr. Simonetta has obtained a letter of approval from his homeowner association. No utilities are affected. Staff recommends approval. No further comments from attendees. Mr. Robert Brockman asked to speak to this item. He asked the BOA members if they have continued to have problems gaining access to gated communities. The BOA members stated they did not. No further comments added. Item Closed. Chairman Hartzog closed the Public Hearings at 6:50 p.m. #6 Approval of minutes: For the Minutes of the Public Hearing of May 13, 2002. Chairman Hartzog asked if anyone had any comments or corrections for these minutes. Mr. Duigon stated he was confused by the statement of Public Notice times. Was the public notice 10 days or 15 days? Also, he questioned the BOA meeting being held on the 4t" Tuesday of each month. He stated that in the UDC, it says 15 days for public notices for citizens within 200 feet of the affected property. Mr. Youngblood stated it was 10 days. Mr. Duigon stated that we needed to be sure of this before we initiated a BOA action. Chairman Hartzog asked for a clarification on this and a report to the next BOA. Chairman Hartzog then called for a motion for the approval of the minutes. Mr. Duigon moved that the May 13t" 2002 minutes be approved as presented. Mr. James Harden seconded the motion. Motion passed. #7 Consider And Take Appropriate Action: On the above public hearing of Marvin Rutkowski at 4733 Windy Ridge Trail, Forest Ridge Subdivision, for a special exception to the Zoning Ordinance. (BOA# 173-02) Mr. Duigon stated that this seemed to be a trend that an existing concrete slab was more than likely to be covered by a patio roof. Why did these items need the City's approval for a variance? Mr. Youngblood stated that flat work was not considered an extension of the house. Once you tie an addition on to the house, e.g. porch, roof, deck, etc. it extends the house and if it encroaches into the setbacks of the property, it requires a variance. Mr. Bill Summers stated that we might need to look at amending the UDC to take a look at that to see if it might be allowable without a variance if no setbacks were affected. Chairman Hertzog called for a motion. Mr. Potempa moved that the BOA approve the special exception for Mr. Rutkowski at 4733 Windy Ridge Trail. Mr. Harden seconded the motion. Motion passed. #8 Consider And Take Appropriate Action: On the above public hearing of Gary Shuck 211 New Rock Creek, Ashley Place Subdivision, for a special exception to the Zoning 2 ~ ., Ordinance. (BOA# 175-02). Mr. Duigon questioned the deck being attached to the pool - 10 feet vs. 6 feet. Mr. Youngblood stated that the pool could have gone to the City without P&Z or BOA approval if it met the building code and did not come within 10' of the house. In that the deck now attaches the house and pool, a variance is necessary. Bill Summers also pointed out that the pool was an above ground pool. Chairman Hertzog called for a motion. Mr. Harden moved for a motion to approve Mr. Shuck's special exception to the UDC. Mr. Duigon seconded the motion. Motion passed. #9 Consider And Take Appropriate Action: On the above public hearing of Ronald Johnson, 2701 Poplar Grove Lane, Woodland Oaks Subdivision, for a special exception to the Zoning Ordinance. (BOA# 176-02) Mr. Slocum asked the BOA members if the HOAs have the authority to approve these requests. Mr. Youngblood stated this was a HOA related and necessary to get approval only for their HOA. Staff asks that a copy of these approvals be provided to the City, and to the P&Z and BOA members to ensure everyone is in the loop. By having their coordination and approval, it lends weight for P&Z and BOA's approval. Mr. Slocum said this appears to be an additional step that slows down the process. Mr. Summers said that all homeowners within an HOA needed to be aware of these convents and allow for additional time to get coordination from their HOA before bringing their request to P&Z or the BOA. Chairman Hertzog called for a motion. Mr. Potempa moved the BOA approve Mr. Ron Johnson's request for a special exception to the UDC to install an in-ground pool in the rear yard setback. Mr. Duigon seconded the motion. Motion passed. #10 Consider And Take Appropriate Action: On the above public hearing of John Simonetta 3524 Prairie Lane, Carolina Crossing Subdivision, for a special exception to the Zoning Ordinance. (BOA # 177-02). Chairman Hertzog asked for any further discussion on this matter. There was no additional discussion from any members. Chairman Hertzog called for a motion. Mr. Duigon moved that the BOA approve the request from Mr. John Simonetta, 3524 Prairie Lane, in the Carolina Crossing Subdivision. Mr. Potempa seconded the motion. Motion passed. #11 Consider and Make Recommendation: To City Council on reappointment of the following Board of Adjustment members: Mr. Slocum, Ms. Brown, Ms. Hill, and Mr. Harden. Chairman Hartzog called for a motion to forward these recommendations to City Council. Mr. Potempa motioned to do so. Mr. Duigon seconded the motion. Mr. Hartzog asked that a letter be prepared for his signature to forward this action to City Council as soon as possible. #12 Consider and Make Recommendation: To City Council on establishing a set monthly date for Board of Adjustment Meetings. Chairman Hartzog asked staff to explain why the staff could not set a specific date for BOAs. Mr. Youngblood explained the P&Z chairman had staffed a letter thorough the City and was co-signed by the Assistant City Manager in Jan of 2002. He explained that due to the workload the staff was experiencing, planning matters always got pushed to the side. The staff and P&Z needed one night a month to look at UDC matters, zoning and re-zoning, annexation plans, comprehensive land plan issues, etc. It was never intended to not be customer service minded. The staff and P&Z were working hard to meet the needs of the community. Some of these requests were going to take some time to go through the process. Mr. Summers also related that in larger municipalities, you could expect to go through a lengthy process. For instance, if this was the City of San Antonio, you could expect a six to eight-month process to get your item on the agenda. Yes, it's unfortunate to have a citizen wait 45-60 days to get a deck put on their house, however, who's going to pay for the extra staff to man this level of service to our citizens? There has to be some give and take for a city of our size to work both complex items and sometime the short simple ones. He thought the 3 staff did a very good job on the whole. Where he saw problems is when the staff tries to hurry these thorough and we see errors and the repercussions are sometime grave or even legal-- these tend to slow down the approval process. Mr. Summers stated we need to all work thorough the system. Mr. Duigon stated we need to get the word out to our citizens on how it works9 what the lead times are to expect one will have to back off to properly plan to get their project underway. He said he still didn't understand why we just couldn't plan ahead for the dates of the BOA, send out notices, and prepare the agendas after an action was forwarded by P&Z. Mr. Youngblood explained it just wasn't that simple. There is a tremendous amount of staff time needed to just staff the action, coordinate it with all the different staff agencies, get it on the agenda and thorough P&Z, then prepare the notices for the public hearing which could be anywhere from 2 to 30 letters, then set up the BOA meeting--it's a lot of work for the staff. Chairman Hertzog asked Ms. Nichols if there was adequate time to staff these actions after a P&Z. Ms. Nichols stated that we normally hold the BOAs the second Monday after the P&Z, but that was really pushing it. She explained that after a P&Z, we begin getting agenda items ready for the next P&Z. These are accomplished while trying to prepare the notices to go out to property owners within 200 feet. She explained we first have to find the property owners, prepare the letters, mail them out, get the public notice ready--all while getting the next P&Z packages staffed and coordinated. In her opinion, this date was putting a tremendous strain on our resources. She stated it's hard enough to make sure these packages are right the first time. If they are not, that will slow down the approval of them and delay the customer from beginning their project. Chairman Hertzog stated it seemed like we could just set a date, and let the customers know this is the projected date. Mr. Youngblood stated that some months we don't even have a BOA. It just depends if someone request a variance or not, or if P&Z approves and recommends an item goes to the BOA. After more discussion, it was asked that staff discuss this matter and bring to the next BOA a suggested established date that the BOA will occur each month. #13 ITEMS BY THE BOARD AND CITY PLANNER: None #14 Adjournment: Chairman Hertzog asked for a motion to adjourn at 8:20 p.m. Mr. Duigon made a motion for adjournment, which was seconded by Mr. Potempa. Motion passed. ~'; ,~ Chairman, Board Adjus ents ATTEST: Kathy Hill _., ~-, _ , r , ... ~`~ ~S~ J r- ~~ ~a I'~'1 ~iV ICJ Planning Secr<etary,~ City~of Schertz