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02-19-19 CDB MinutesSLlr r Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BOARD February 19, 2019 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chair Lanier. Ms. Paul, Mr. Major, Mr. Hansen, Mr. Tingen and Mr. Elmore were all present. Ms. Simmons was absent. Also present were Director Shane Corbin, Principal Planner Derek Reeves, Planner Brian Broedell, Board Secretary Valerie Jones and the City Attorney, Brenna Durden representing the firm Lewis, Longman and Walker. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Minutes of the January 15, 2019 Regular Meeting of the Community Development Board. Mr. Hansen motioned to approve the minutes. Ms. Paul seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. 3. OLD BUSINESS There was no old business. Chair Lanier asked to move Item 4C to before 5A. All the Board members agreed. 4. NEW BUSINESS A. ZVAR19-0002 PUBLIC HEARING (Gregory Carr) Request fora variance as permitted by Section 24-64, to increase the maximum structural projection permitted into required rear yards from 4 feet to 7 feet to allow an open porch in the rearyard of 574 North Nautical Boulevard (Lot 4 Block 3 Seaspray). Staff Report Planner Broedell explained that this is a request for a change in the rear yard setback for an open porch located at 574 North Nautical Boulevard in the RS -2 zoning district. The lot is 75 feet by 100 feet deep lot with an existing single-family home built in 1976. He said the proposed plan is to add an open porch to the back of the existing house over an existing concrete pad. The porch would extend 10 feet from the back of the house placing it 13 feet from the rear lot line. The need for the variance comes from Section 24-83 which allows open porches to project up to 4 feet into the 20 feet rear yard setback which means the open porch has a 16 foot rear yard setback and the applicant is asking for a 13 foot setback, a variance of 3 feet. Applicant Comment Gregory Carr introduced himself as the homeowner of 574 Nautical Boulevard since 1980. He explained that he is asking for the extra 3 feet due to the fact that the home was built further back on the lot than the other homes in the neighborhood. Page 1 of 4 Public Comment Board Discussion Motion Staff Report Chair Lanier opened the floor to public comment. Don Ford of 338 6th Street introduced himself. He is in favor of this variance and confirmed that the house is set back 6 extra feet and needs the extra space to have a back porch like his neighbors have. Ms. Paul said her only concern is that the porch could become enclosed over time. Mr. Hansen said he has voted against this type of request in the past because today is for 3 feet but the next one will be for 4 and then 5 etc. Mr. Major asked Planner Broedell if the slab is in compliance to which he said it is due to the fact that there isn't a setback requirement on ground level slabs. Mr. Elmore agreed with Mr. Hansen and felt like the hardship is self-imposed and doesn't qualify for a variance. Chair Lanier believes that Mr. Carr purchased the house in its existing condition. Mr. Tingen commented that he did not see a problem with approving the variance. Mr. Hansen motioned to deny ZVAR19-0002 due to the lack of grounds to approve. Ms. Paul seconded the motion. The motion passed 5-1. Mr. Tingen was the dissenting vote. B. ZVAR19-0001 PUBLIC HEARING (Stephen Starke) Request fora variance as permitted by Section 24-64, to increase the maximum fence height allowed in rear yards from 6 feet to 8 feet and to decrease the required setback for fences over 4 feet tall on corner lots from 10 feet to 0 feet to allow for an 8 foot fence along the rear lot line of 650 Begonia Street (Lots 1-6 Block 138 Section 'V9. Planner Broedell said this is a request for an 8 foot fence along the back yard of 6 lots. The site is 650 Begonia on the corner of West 6th and Begonia near Dagley's Junk Yard. He explained some of the issues the City has had with the junk yard creeping onto other lots and the fact that it is zoned RS -2 and should not be used as a junk yard. Planner Broedell said the proposed plan is to keep the 8 foot fence along the entirety of all six lots (approx. 320 feet) with each lot having a single-family home. The need for a variance come from 2 parts: 1) the maximum height for fences in rear and side yards is 6 feet and 2) corner lots any fence over 4 feet along a side street has to be set back 10 feet or reduced to 4 feet tall. Planner Broedell said that concerns are proximity to the junk yard, nuisance and views for potential homeowners. Ms. Paul asked who owns the lot to the north of the junk yard and Planner Broedell said the Dagley's own it. She asked what the height of the fence on their property was and Planner Broedell said it was 6 foot. Mr. Elmore asked if Dagley's owned the property at 650 Begonia and Planner Broedell said that he believes it was owned by someone else. Mr. Major wanted to know if the 8 foot fence was already up and Planner Broedell confirmed the 8 foot fence is up on the west property line with no Page 2 of 4 fence on the south. Mr. Major asked if the 8 foot fence would have to be torn down and Planner Broedell said it would either have to be torn down or replaced with a 6 foot fence. He said the fence was not permitted. Applicant Comment Stephen Starke of 632 Pine Street in Neptune Beach introduced himself as the property owner. He said that when he purchased the property they got a clearing permit but there were a lot of vehicles encroaching on the property. Mr. Starke explained that the adjacent property is about 3 feet higher than his property. He didn't realize that the property wasn't zoned commercial so he put up an 8 foot fence (which ends up being 5 feet on Dagley's property). Chair Lanier asked him if he had an environmental test done and Mr. Starke said he had and everything was good. Public Comment Board Discussion Motion Chair Lanier opened the floor to public comment. Paul Gunsaulies of 780 Begonia introduced himself as living in the neighborhood. He said that there was an agreement with Mr. Dagley that he would not park anything behind his fence or his neighbors. He said that he has 6 foot fence but it doesn't do him any good in blocking the junk yard. Mr. Gonzales said he is in favor of the 8 foot fence for the applicant but he would also like to have an 8 foot fence. He asked the Board to keep in mind that if they approve the applicant's fence then they should approve requests by him and his neighbors. Mr. Hansen said that he went out to the property and he would like to see something done about the zoning and code violations so that neighbors don't have shield something that shouldn't be there in the first place. Director Corbin explained some of the back and forth they have had with the property owner of the junk yard. Mr. Elmore said he thinks it's a legitimate variance request because of the disparate use of land uses and the ongoing fact that the zoning violation continue. Mr. Tingen asked about the cars being removed daily and Director Corbin said that technically the cars shouldn't be there at all. He asked Director Corbin if the City can do something about getting this cleaned up and Director Corbin said they could. Chair Lanier remarked on the repeating behavior. Mr. Elmore asked if an 8 foot fence was going along 6th Street and Planner Broedell, along with the owner said it would not be 8 foot. Mr. Elmore motioned to approve ZVAR19-0001 due to the first 3 conditions listed in Section 24-64(d) as justification for approval. Mr. Tingen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. C. Reschedule of March 19th Meeting due to Election Primaries Planner Reeves presented various dates as options. The Board agreed to Wednesday, March 20th. Page 3 of 4 D. Selection of Chair and Vice Chair Chair Lanier told the Board that she would take nominations for Chair and Vice Chair. Mr. Hansen nominated Mr. Elmore for Chair and he respectfully declined since his term is ending. Chair Lanier nominated Mr. Hansen for Chair. Mr. Elmore seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Ms. Paul said that she would be happy to Vice Chair again. Mr. Elmore seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. S. REPORTS A. Board Membership Updates Planner Reeves said that there was an effort to get all of the boards on a consistent schedule with consistent terms so that it's easier for all parties. For the Community Development Board there will be 7 full positions, 1 alternate position, 3 consecutive terms at 3 years for a 9 year maximum. The alternate will participate whenever a member is absent. When a member has reached their term limits, but a replacement has not been named, the current member will remain until the replacement is named. Director Corbin then updated the Board on the status of the impervious surface ordinance that Board heard in February. He said that City Commission approved it on 1st reading. He said there were multiple references to the work that the CD Board had done. Mr. Elmore said that he was very disappointed in the last minute change of the calculation variables. Mr. Elmore said that the biggest surprise was the change in the predevelopment run-off which means you will have to store a lot more water from pre to post development. He said that people will manipulate their property and the City has no way to enforce this. Mr. Elmore said it is not a holistic approach to the problem. He said it is a blanket ordinance where there are communities that don't have flooding issues. He said it hasn't been vetted well and the solution is poor. 6. PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment. 7. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Elmore motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:07 p.m. Mr. Tingen seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Kirk Hansen, Chair Attest Page 4 of 4