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170 8th Street 16-ZVAR-13 Staff Report CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BOARD STAFF REPORT AGENDA ITEM 4.B CASE NO 16-ZVAR-13 Request for a variance as permitted by Section 24-64, to designate 8th Steet as the front yard as opposed to Ocean Boulevard as required by Section 24-17 “lot, corner” and to remove the Section 24-17 “building restriction line” requirement to allow the corner lot side yard setback of 10 feet along Ocean Boulevard at Club Manor Lot 11 and the West 23.69 feet of Lot 12 (aka 170 8th Street). LOCATION 170 BEACH AVENUE APPLICANT WILLIAM J DORSEY DATE FEBRUARY 5, 2016 STAFF DEREK REEVES, PLANNER STAFF COMMENTS The applicant is William Dorsey, the owner of 170 8th Street. The property is a corner lot at 8th Street and Ocean Boulevard within the RS-2 zoning district. There is currently a single family home and a pool on the property. There are platted Building Restriction Lines (BRLs) across the two street sides of the property as well as a utility easement across the south side of the property. The applicant is requesting to designate the 8th Street side of the property as the front yard and allow for an addition of a garage over the BRL along Ocean Boulevard, which would then be considered the side yard. The property is part of the Club Manor plat that was approved by the city in 1954 and covers properties along 8th Street, the south side of Club Drive and the ocean-front properties along Beach Avenue directly to the east. The platted BRLs are somewhat unique to this portion of the city as much of the surrounding area was platted earlier in the 1900s without BRLs. Section 24-17 “building restriction line” states in part, “Building restriction lines, which may require greater building setback than the minimum yard requirement of the applicable zoning district, and which have been recorded upon a final subdivision plat approved and accepted by the city, shall be enforceable by the city.” Therefore a variance is required to build outside of the platted BRLs as requested. The existing house is nonconforming in two respects under current codes. It violates the BRLs and it violates setback requirements for corner lots. The first issue is that the existing house violates the 25 foot BRL along 8th Street by about 10 feet, resulting in the house being about 15 feet off of the property line. The second issue is related to setbacks on corner lots which are determined by Section 24-17 “lot, corner” which states, “The exterior lot line of the narrowest side of the lot adjoining the street shall be considered the front of the lot. The exterior lot line of the longest side of the lot abutting the street shall be considered as a side of the lot and shall have a minimum required side yard of ten (10) feet.” This would make Ocean Boulevard the front yard since it is the narrowest side of the lot adjoining the street and 8th Street the side yard since it is longest side. Making 8th Street the front yard requires a variance. Front and rear setbacks are both 20 feet. The existing house has about 17 feet in the front and 9 feet in the rear. Page 2 of 4 The image on the left is the current survey with lines added where the red lines are current zoning setbacks and the blue lines are the BRLs and easements within the zoning setbacks. The area within the bold red and blue lines is the buildable area on the lot. The image on the right shows the resulting buildable area if the variance is approved as requested with the garage addition shown in orange. For a historical perspective, when the house was constructed in 1960, it met the BRLs. It is not clear how corner lots were treated at the time, but it would not meet zoning setbacks today as mentioned before. The original garage was converted into a master bedroom in 2002. In 2004, an addition was added on the north side of the property that resulted in a violation of the platted 25 foot BRL. A site plan for the addition shows the standard setbacks for a corner lot in the RS-2 zoning district at the time. It showed 20 feet in the front along Ocean Boulevard and 15 feet in the side along 8th Street. Corner lot side yards have since been changed to 10 feet. The requirement to follow the BRLs was in place at this time. It is unclear if staff knew about the BRLs or the requirement to follow them, but the addition was approved and constructed. Approval of the variance would allow for the addition of a garage and reduce the nonconformity of the structure though not remove it completely due to the 2002 addition on the north side. However, the continuity with the surrounding properties would be an issue as well as potential impacts on immediate neighbors. Contextually, all of the properties on 8th Street have their front yard on 8th Street due to BRLs. While the next few properties on the east side of Ocean Boulevard have their side yard on Ocean Boulevard due to BRLs as well as zoning setbacks. Then every property for 3 blocks south has their front yard on Ocean Boulevard on both sides of the street. Page 3 of 4 ANALYSIS Section 24-64(b)(1) provides that “applications for a variance shall be considered on a case-by-case basis, and shall be approved only upon findings of fact that the application is consistent with the definition of a variance and consistent with the provisions of this section.” According to Section 24-17, Definitions, “[a] variance shall mean relief granted from certain terms of this chapter. The relief granted shall be only to the extent as expressly allowed by this chapter and may be either an allowable exemption from certain provision(s) or a relaxation of the strict, literal interpretation of certain provision(s). Any relief granted shall be in accordance with the provisions as set forth in Section 24-64 of this chapter, and such relief may be subject to conditions as set forth by the City of Atlantic Beach.” Section 24-64(d) provides six distinct grounds for the approval of a variance: (1) Exceptional topographic conditions of or near the property. (2) Surrounding conditions or circumstances impacting the property disparately from nearby properties. (3) Exceptional circumstances preventing the reasonable use of the property as compared to other properties in the area. The applicant stated in their application that the property does not have a garage, which is something that other properties have and that the yard designations do not make sense when everything about the house says that the front yard is on 8th Street. (4) Onerous effect of regulations enacted after platting or after development of the property or after construction of improvements upon the property. (5) Irregular shape of the property warranting special consideration. (6) Substandard size of a lot of record warranting a variance in order to provide for the reasonable use of the property. Page 4 of 4 REQUIRED ACTION The Community Development Board may consider a motion to approve 16-ZVAR-13, request to designate 8th Street as the front yard as opposed to Ocean Boulevard as required by Section 24-17 “lot, corner” and to remove the Section 24-17 “building restriction line” requirement to allow the standard corner lot side yard setback of 10 feet along Ocean Boulevard at Club Manor Lot 11 and the West 23.69 feet of Lot 12 (aka 170 8th Street), upon finding this request is consistent with the definition of a variance, and in accordance with the provisions of Section 24-64, specifically the grounds for approval delineated in Section 24-64(d) and as described below. A variance may be granted, at the discretion of the community development board, for the following reasons: (1) Exceptional topographic conditions of or near the property. (2) Surrounding conditions or circumstances impacting the property disparately from nearby properties. (3) Exceptional circumstances preventing the reasonable use of the property as compared to other properties in the area. (4) Onerous effect of regulations enacted after platting or after development of the property or after construction of improvements upon the property. (5) Irregular shape of the property warranting special consideration. (6) Substandard size of a lot of record warranting a variance in order to provide for the reasonable use of the property. Or, The Community Development Board may consider a motion to deny 16-ZVAR-13, request to designate 8th Street as the front yard as opposed to Ocean Boulevard as required by Section 24-17 “lot, corner” and to remove the Section 24-17 “building restriction line” requirement to allow the standard corner lot side yard setback of 10 feet along Ocean Boulevard at Club Manor Lot 11 and the West 23.69 feet of Lot 12 (aka 170 8th Street), upon finding that the request is either inconsistent with the definition of a variance, or it is not in accordance with the grounds of approval delineated in Section 24-64(d), or it is consistent with one or more of the grounds for denial of a variance, as delineated in Section 24-64(c), described below. No variance shall be granted if the Community Development Board, in its discretion, determines that the granting of the requested variance shall have a materially adverse impact upon one (1) or more of the following: (1) Light and air to adjacent properties. (2) Congestion of streets. (3) Public safety, including traffic safety, risk of fire, flood, crime or other threats to public safety. (4) Established property values. (5) The aesthetic environment of the community. (6) The natural environment of the community, including environmentally sensitive areas, wildlife habitat, protected trees, or other significant environmental resources. (7) The general health, welfare or beauty of the community. Variances shall not be granted solely for personal comfort or convenience, for relief from financial circumstances or for relief from situation created by the property owner.