1966 Beach Avenue ZVAR20-0014 Opposition S Hill and G West 09.08.2020Sent by email only to all but Janet Powell. Please confirm receipt of
email.
From: Susan Hill and Gregory West, owners of 57 19th Street
(gregorykwest@gmail.com <mailto:gregorykwest@gmail.com> , 904-993-9444)
To: Brian Broedell, Principal Planner (bbroedell@coab.us
<mailto:bbroedell@coab.us> )
Amanda Askew, Director of Planning & Community Development
(aaskew@coab.us <mailto:aaskew@coab.us> ) Brenna Durden, City Attorney
(bdurden@coab.us <mailto:bdurden@coab.us> )
Copy: Montell Owens (montellandlisa@gmail.com
<mailto:montellandlisa@gmail.com> )
Janet Powell (by US mail, First Class, to the "Return and Record"
address set forth on the Warranty Deed attached to Variance Application
ZVAR-20-0014)
Re: Opposition by Susan Hill and Gregory West to ZVAR-20-0014 at 1966
Beach Avenue (September 15, 2020 Meeting)
Variance Application ZVAR-20-0014 seeks two variances: changing the
driveway of 1966 Beach Avenue from Beach Avenue to 19th Street and
increasing the grade (thereby increasing the allowable building height).
Although we would certainly be happy to see the vacant corner lot at
1966 Beach Avenue developed with a home appropriate to the size and
character of the property, we oppose both zoning variances for the
reasons set forth below. We respectfully request that the Community
Development Board deny both since there are sufficient grounds for
denial of both variances as provided in Section 24-64(c).
We have lived at 57 19th Street diagonally across the street from 1966
Beach Avenue for more than 25 years. We spoke at the City Commission
meeting on April 26, 1993 when the Commissioners unanimously approved
the current 19th Street parallel parking plan and 6’ wide sidewalk in
anticipation of the residential development of the north side of 19th
Street.
Driveway Access
Applicant states that he does not want the driveway on Beach Avenue
because it would be near a “relatively busy intersection”. But 19th
Street is much busier. Beach Avenue is a one-way one-lane north-bound
Street; 19th Street is a two-way two-lane street. Both Beach Avenue and
19th Street have stop signs at that intersection. Beach Avenue is used
primarily by the Beach Avenue residents living between 18th and 19th
Streets; 19th Street is also used by the Beach Avenue residents living
between 18th and 19th Streets, but is also heavily trafficked by the
many beach-goers parking and cruising in search of parking on 19th
Street, especially during busy weekends and holidays and the even more
busy summer months. As the City’s website description of the current
18th Street Enhancement Project states: “By all accounts, the number of
18th and 19th street beachgoers has increased steadily through the
years. On most days throughout the year, the public parking area is
orderly; on many days, however, the area is crowded with vehicles and
traffic is heavy.” The variance seeking the movement of the driveway
should not be granted on the basis of applicant’s suggestion that Beach
Avenue is busier than 19th Street, since it is not. The Commission
should deny the request to move the driveway from Beach Avenue to 19th
Street because the variance would create more traffic safety issues than
leaving it on Beach Avenue.
The proposed driveway would also pose a danger to the many beach-goers
walking on the sidewalk on the south side of 19th Street to avoid the
heavy street traffic, particularly to older adults and families who use
19th Street Beach access because there are no wooden steps to climb.
The uninterrupted sidewalk on the south side of 19th Street was part of
the 1993 Commissioners’ plan instituting safe parallel parking. It was
intended to be a safe uninterrupted way to get to the beach from cars
and from the neighborhood west of Seminole. Allowing applicant’s
driveway would add an unnecessary danger to the many pedestrians, since
not only would applicant use it but, perhaps more importantly, other
cars would undoubtedly turn around in it when leaving the beach (as they
now often do each day in our driveway and our other neighbors’ driveways
on the north side of 19th Street).
Removing motorcycle parking would also undermine the City’s current
unified parking plan for 18th, 19th and 20th Streets, effectively
reducing the number of car parking spaces, since motorcycles would then
take some of the limited parking needed by families and senior citizens
and others using the 19th Street beach walk-over. The motorcycle
parking area often has motorcycles and scooters parked in it now.
Finally, removing the palm tree and its island would remove one of the
few beautification components of the City’s plan for 19th Street.
Even though keeping applicant’s driveway on Beach Avenue might be less
convenient for applicant since applicant would have a more circuitous
route to his house up 18th Street and then north on Beach Avenue (rather
than just turning off of Seminole onto 19th Street), the Commission
should not grant applicant's request for the convenience of applicant
when there are parking, traffic safety and other public safety concerns
raised by applicant's variance request.
Grade Increase
19th Street has inadequate drainage and is prone to flooding in bad
storms. Applicant in the application acknowledges that there has been
past flooding from 1966 Beach Avenue. The application suggests that the
grading as proposed will increase flooding from 1966 Beach Avenue onto
19th Street with possible runoff onto our property and the other low
lying neighbors on 19th Street because the application states that the
increased grading will reduce flooding to the neighbors to the north and
west of 1966 Beach Avenue. Those runoff waters being diverted from the
neighbors to the north and west will have to flow somewhere, and the
only available direction for the diverted runoff will be north into 19th
Street and perhaps onto the lower-lying properties on the north side of
19th Street, since the water that will be diverted from the west and
south in a bad storm by applicant is certainly not going to run uphill
east toward Beach Avenue.
Applicant has not offered any professional study or other evidence to
show that the increased grading will not cause additional flooding to
19th Street or to us or any of the other lower-lying neighbors. That
burden of showing no harm from the variance should fall to applicant.
Applicant in his application has not even nominally met that burden of
showing no harm. Applicant’s variance should be denied until such a
study is prepared and the affected neighbors and the Commission are both
given a reasonable opportunity to review and approve it. If the
Commission does determine that such a study should be prepared before
further consideration of the variance request, we would ask that a copy
be sent to us contemporaneously with its submission to the Commission.