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August 19th, 2014 Signed MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BOARD August 19, 2014 1. CALL TO ORDER. - 6:03 pm Chair Brea Paul verified that all board members are present. The meeting was called to order at 6:03pm. Also present was Building and Zoning Director, Jeremy Hubsch; Zoning Technician, Derek Reeves; Recording Secretary Jenny Walker, and representing the firm Kopelousos, Bradley & Garrison, P.A. was Mr. John Kopelousos. 2. ADOPTION OF MEETING MINUTES - July 15th, 2014. Brea Paul called for a motion to approve the minutes of the July 15, 2014 regular meeting. Mr. Elmore made a motion to approve the minutes. Mr. Parkes seconded the motion and it carried by a vote of 5- 0. 3. NEW BUSINESS. Staff Report A. ZVAR- 14- 00100021(PUBLIC HEARING) 152 3rd Street (Allison Hillis) Request for zoning variance as permitted by Section 24 -64 for an increase in allowable fence height from 4 feet to 6 feet within 10 feet of the property line on corner lots where the abutting right -of -way is less than 50 feet as required by Section 24- 157(c) (1) at Atlantic Beach Subdivision Block 20 Lots 5 and 6 (aka 587 Beach Ave). Derek Reeves states that the applicants are Kirk and Anne Marie Moquin, the owners of the property, with representation from Thomas Kervin of Aurora Custom Homes. The property is an ocean front lot on the corner of Beach Avenue and 6th Street. There is currently a new home being constructed on the site by Mr. Kervin for the owners. The owners are seeking to redesign their originally approved plans to move the location of a fence along 6th street to the property line and to increase the height to 6 feet from 4 feet along its length. A variance is needed for this redesign according to Section 24- 157(c)(1) which states, `for corner lots located on rights -of -way that are fifty (50) feet or less in width, no fence, wall or landscaping exceeding four feet in height, shall be allowed within ten (10) feet of any lot line which abuts a street. " The 6th Street right -of -way is 40 feet wide. Staff has found 23 variances related to fences that have come before the Community Development Board since 2000 and 12 have been approved. Two of the approvals were considered because of high levels of pedestrian traffic and parking in right -of ways related to beach accesses. In an effort to improve the aesthetic views of the property along 6th Street as well as provide a safer environment, the applicants have offered to work with the city to design and furnish 3 parallel parking spaces in the right -of -way along the south side of 6th Street east of Beach Avenue. These spaces are already recognized by the city as beach access parking, but they are not paved. Derek discussed the reasons to recommend approval and the reasons to recommend denial. Applicant Comment Thomas with Aurora Homes spoke stating the request for the 6 foot fence is based on privacy and safety. They have already had a reported incident of someone climbing over the 4ft fence and climbing up to the 3rd floor of the house under construction. A 4 foot fence leaves a higher exposure to foot traffic and trespassing. He also discussed the sight line will not be an issue. Thomas also discussed how they are working with the City to improve the 3 parking spaces along that lot. Mr. Kirk Moquin spoke next. He has concerns regarding his family's privacy and safety. He is worried since they do have a pool that someone could jump over the 4ft fence and drown in his pool. Public Comment First public speaker is Scott Griswold, 511 Ocean Blvd. He states that this variance has negative impacts on the safety and visual appearance. He says with a 6 ft fence, anyone stopped at the stop sign will not be able to see on 6th St. He believes it will pose a safety hazard for the pedestrians, bicycle and vehicle traffic. He feels that it is more likely to have trespassing on new to construction then to occupied homes. Next was Rich Reichler of 2025 Beach Ave. He states this variance is almost identical to the one for 690 Beach Ave that he claims the city staff and CDB made several errors in granting it. He proceded to discuss his opinions and issues. Last was Rodney Margol of 41 6th St. He lives immediately north of this property. He suggests they built a 4 ft fence with 6ft of landscaping. He also wants some assurance from the board that the entire North side of the property will be landscaped. Board Discussion Mr. Parkes agrees with Mr. Margol regarding putting in 4 ft fence with taller landscaping. The board discussed the palm trees along the property line, allowing the 6ft fence along the access, security, privacy and other options available. The board also brought up the variance they denied on the lot behind AB Elementary School. Linda Lanier discussed that all of these issues should have been thought about when they bought the lot and in the planning of construction, not afterwards Motion Mr. Hansen makes a motion to deny ZVAR -14- 00100021. Mr. Stratton seconded it. All were in favor and motion carried. 4. Reports A. Beach Avenue and Ocean Boulevard Through Lots Code Brea states that the discussion will start with amending the Code Sec. 28 -84 for through lots. Jeremy states the code was changed in April of 2014. There has since been some unintended consequences of what passed and staff, through the direction of the City Commission are interested in making a change to the code that was changed. We need a recommendation of the changes from the CDB to take back to the Commission. There are currently 22 through lots between Beach and Ocean Blvd, all located South of the temporary dead end of Beach Avenue at the Seaplace Condos at Club Drive. 16 of them are located between 1St and 4th and 6 are between 4th and 7th Streets. He discussed the history of the code and the April 14, 2014 changes. The code change that was implemented in April took away the special provision that allowed the rear yard to be on Beach Avenue. The code now reads that through lots between Beach and ocean are to be treated the same as through lots elsewhere in the city. On through lots elsewhere in the city, both street facing sides of the property are considered the front yard. This means that you cannot build detached garages, pools, or other accessory structures within 20 feet of the street on either street frontage. Jeremy gave some history of the code and states that other than the four year period between 1982 and 1986, the Atlantic Beach code has always considered Beach Avenue the rear yard for through lots. Recent code changes: there was special treatment of Ocean Blvd lots with double frontage, the required front yard should be the yard that faces Ocean Blvd, the rear yard would then be Beach Ave. The April 14th code change actually struck that section out and just completely erased it, it didn't add anything new, which took away the special treatment of Ocean Blvd lots, although keeping the special treatment of oceanfront lots, so now the through lots between Beach and Ocean have to meet the double frontage setback requirements. This means there is no rear yard. This is very restrictive for these lots. Another option is to let the owners choose which is their front yard is and which is their rear yard. The board discussed the potential problems with different changes in the code. Brea tabled the discussion to open the floor to public comment. Public Comment Lindley Tolbert, of 465 Beach Avenue. She states that she built on a through and there is room to have a 20' setback on Beach Ave and a 15' setback on Ocean Blvd. It is possible to have a garage and enough room for parking without blocking the sidewalk. She requests that the board not make the new code state that all new houses have to face Ocean Blvd. Her first choice would be to make all new houses face Beach Ave. or to give owners a choice. She also thinks 15' each is a good idea. The board discussed just setting a total setback of 30' for these through lots with a minimum of 10'. 5. Old Business A. ZVAR- 14- 00100020(PUBLIC HEARING) Request for zoning variance as permitted by Section 24 -64 for a reduction of setbacks as required by Section 24 -106 (e). Staff Report Jeremy states this is the previous zoning variance we heard about 2 months ago that was deferred. This is directly related to the through lot discussion. They are seeking to have a detached garage 10' from Ocean Boulevard which is less than the minimum required setback of 20', as per the new code. Jeremy displayed the 6 grounds for approval of a variance and denial. Board Discussion Brea believes we should take into consideration the fact that they are trying to preserve the historical architecture of the house. Public Comment Andy Pitler of 277 Beach Avenue. He would like this expedited. He is available for any questions and for site visits. Board Comment Mr. Hanson would like to ask the applicant if there is a compromise to the setbacks the applicant is asking for to not have to worry about the car sticking out too far. Alison Hillis of 380 5th St. but we are talking about 152 5th St. Brea asked if she would be opposed to moving the garage back so that there is 15 ft from the property line to the garage. Alison stated that 15' would be awesome. Motion Sylvia Simmons made a motion to approve the garage to be built 15' off of Ocean Boulevard and leaving the house where it is. Linda Lanier seconded the motion. Motion carried 6 -0. Mr. Hanson stated that this is only approved for this exact case because of the quandary circumstances of this case only and not to set a precedence for the future. 6. Reports. No new reports. 7. Adjournment. Kirk made the motion to adjourn, Brea seconded. Adjournment at 8:37. Brea Paul, Chair Attest