[7:29] I'm going to watch that.
[7:35] » Nailed it.
>> All right, [snorts] are we recording?
[7:38] » We're recording.
>> All right, well, good evening, everyone.
[7:41] Let me call tonight's um
hearing to order.
[7:45] Uh my name is Carl Grandrath. Um the
hearing examiner for tonight's hearing.
[7:49] Looks like we have one item to schedule
for tonight.
[7:52] Um so, just a quick uh overview. Um
so, as a hearing examiner tonight, the
[7:57] purpose of tonight's hearing is for me
to gather testimony and evidence um from
[8:01] staff, the applicant, and members of the
public.
[8:04] Uh and to uh create a complete record on
which I will have 2 weeks from tonight
[8:09] to submit my recommendation
uh back to staff who then will take that
[8:13] recommendation and bring it in front of
your county commissioners for the
[8:16] ultimate decision uh on this matter.
Uh as far as procedure for tonight, uh
[8:22] what we'll do is we'll start off with a
presentation from staff. And we have Mr.
[8:25] Zetter here for the county.
Uh we'll give an overview of the project
[8:28] and the staff's analysis and
recommendation on it. Um
[8:32] after that, the applicant will have an
opportunity to make any presentation
[8:35] they so desire. They have up to 30
minutes
[8:38] uh for that. Um after that, will be our
public comment portion of tonight's
[8:42] hearing. I don't have anyone signed up
yet. Um so, and there may also be people
[8:46] um
who call in on the telephone.
[8:50] Um
but uh tonight and during that portion,
[8:52] that is the public comment, will be the
only opportunity for me to receive
[8:55] public comment. So, if anybody changes
their mind, I'll give a a reminder then
[8:58] if anyone decides they want to give an
official comment on the record.
[9:03] Uh after that, there's an opportunity
for
[9:05] the applicant to rebut or address or
answer questions, anything that's been
[9:08] brought up by the public.
Uh and I can and will ask questions uh
[9:12] at any point in time uh to anyone. So,
um
[9:16] without further ado, I'd like to open
the public hearing for variance 26-0003.
[9:22] Uh I'll sit.
[9:26] Go ahead.
>> Good evening, hearing examiner. Blake
[9:29] Zetter for the record, here to present
VAR 26-0003.
[9:34] A request for two variances, one to the
rear yard and one to the side yard
[9:38] setbacks for an existing deck.
Before I dive into the request itself,
[9:43] um
I would first like to start off the
[9:45] presentation by saying uh Kootenai
County Community Development has
[9:48] received a number of inquiries and phone
calls regarding concern around beach
[9:53] access near the subject property. Um I'd
like the record to state that um
[9:58] this request and the public hearing
tonight are limited to the scope of the
[10:02] deck variance.
Um any beach access concerns along the
[10:06] Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive
um are not part of this request, nor are
[10:10] they even located on the subject
property. Um so it is uh
[10:14] it's assumed that those concerns will
not be addressed tonight.
[10:19] Moving on to the uh request at hand, the
applicant is requesting approval of a
[10:24] variance for an existing deck that was
built um by a prior owner.
[10:28] Um the first variance is a foot 14-ft
variance from the 25-ft rear variance
[10:34] setback that will allow the deck to
remain about 11-ft from the rear.
[10:37] The second variance is a 7.5-ft variance
from the 10-ft side yard setback that
[10:42] would allow it to remain about 2.5-ft
from that side yard.
[10:46] The property in question is located uh
southeast of Coeur d'Alene Lake of
[10:51] downtown Coeur d'Alene of Coeur d'Alene
Lake Drive.
[10:54] You will see here that the zone is
restricted residential that has a front
[10:58] yard setback of 25-ft. You will also
notice that the um right-of-way along
[11:04] here
um takes up a good portion of the
[11:07] property um
and creates a uh
[11:11] a significant hardship with regard to
development area.
[11:16] As far as site conditions are concerned,
these are some photos of the um deck and
[11:21] the surrounding slope. It is a little
hard to discern based on the vegetation,
[11:24] but the uh you can tell there's a
retaining wall here. It slopes pretty
[11:28] steeply up
back into the hillside.
[11:33] It should also be noted there is not a
way to access this back portion of the
[11:37] property without going through the house
and onto the deck.
[11:43] So, here is the site plan that the
applicant has prepared. As you'll
[11:45] notice, the deck here is located in red.
The stairs itself are about 11 ft from
[11:52] the
rear yard setback and the side of the
[11:55] deck here, oops,
is about 2 and 1/2 ft from the
[12:00] eastern side.
[12:03] During the public agency comment period,
all agencies approved or had no
[12:07] objection.
During the public comment period, staff
[12:11] received zero written comments, although
we did receive a number of phone calls
[12:16] with regards to the beach access.
It is staff's position that there is an
[12:21] undue hardship that exists because of
the shallowness of the site and the
[12:24] slope characteristics. In addition, the
applicant did inherit this issue and has
[12:29] now come back trying to correct it. Um
As such, staff recommends approval of
[12:35] this variance and I stand for any
questions.
[12:37] » Hey, great. Thanks for the presentation
and your staff report. Um I guess just
[12:43] maybe half curiosity, how did this come
across the county's radar?
[12:46] » Yeah, so
this The applicant has actually applied
[12:49] for
solar panel permit. And so, in doing
[12:53] research on the property, as we do for
all permits, we found that there was an
[12:57] unpermitted structure built from the
last permit to this permit. It should be
[13:01] noted that there is a variance that was
approved for the existing house
[13:06] back in 2012 and then the subsequent
house permit was built in 2013. It is
[13:11] assumed, based on aerial imagery, that
the deck was built about 2014, about a
[13:15] year after the house was built.
[13:19] » I think that's all the questions I have
for you this time. Thank you.
[13:24] Mr. Paulson, I presume?
>> Yes.
[13:26] » Go ahead, sir.
>> Thank you, sir. Yes, my name is Dan
[13:29] Paulson and I'm
here hoping to request a setback
[13:32] variance for both my for my back deck
and its attached stairs.
[13:37] The
the deck was built or extended expanded
[13:41] by the the original owner in 2013 2014
right after building the house.
[13:47] The second owner was unaware of the
undocumented or unpermitted deck as well
[13:52] as I was unaware of it until applying
for the solar permit.
[13:57] Um
the pain that I feel is due to
[14:01] the narrowness of the lot. The lot as
you could see from Blake's picture that
[14:05] he showed of the lot size that just is
the house itself was designed in a very
[14:10] unique shape only because it had to be
fit onto that small lot. And so there is
[14:14] absolutely no place
um around the house where a a deck could
[14:19] be placed and be within the setback
requirements.
[14:23] There just simply isn't an area there.
Um
[14:26] so I'm not trying to expand the deck or
change the deck in any way. I'm just
[14:30] trying to legalize the deck
um that is existing in its current
[14:36] condition.
Um
[14:41] both my adjacent neighbors I have a
neighbor that owns the land behind the
[14:45] house as well as a neighbor that owns
the land to the east of the house.
[14:49] They both have signed a statement in
full support of the variance application
[14:53] and I have that with me, sir, if you'd
like to view it.
[14:55] » Uh I did see that in the record um when
I was reviewing it unless it's different
[15:00] than
there's like four signature blocks in
[15:03] the statement. I can see that.
>> Um
[15:07] my deck I I believe maybe the house
itself is not even visible from
[15:12] the neighbor's house is as I live below
them in very steep terrain and so you
[15:16] can see the
to the right there on the images the
[15:20] the land spot where the neighbor is now
building his house and the other
[15:24] neighbor who has the land behind my
house is up above and he he can't see
[15:29] the house at all I don't believe from
his vantage point. He surely can't see
[15:32] the deck.
From the roadside uh just the very
[15:36] corner of the deck can be seen from the
roadside
[15:39] on the on the east side and that's only
after looking through the the blanket of
[15:43] trees. So it's very difficult to see. I
don't believe there's any
[15:47] impact to the public and definitely not
to my neighbors with the visual aspect
[15:50] of the deck.
Um
[15:54] As Blake said, all review and agencies
have
[15:58] uh
not found any problems with the the deck
[16:02] and those agencies are extensive
Lakeside Highway, the Idaho
[16:04] Transportation Department, Panhandle
Panhandle Health, Avista as well as
[16:08] Kootenai County Fire.
Um
[16:13] In summary, I am trying just to bring my
existing structure which has been in
[16:18] existence for 13 or 14 13 years
into uh becoming a legal structure. And
[16:25] uh
I'm not trying to change it in any way
[16:27] or improve it in any way. I just want to
make it legal.
[16:31] Thank
[16:37] » All right. So that does move us to our
public comment portion of tonight's
[16:40] hearing. Um so I'll check real quick to
see if there's anybody who's connected
[16:45] via telephone or online however it's
being done today.
[16:50] Um I don't know if
Okay. Well, if there's anyone who can
[16:53] hear my voice who's connected versus on
the telephone,
[16:56] um you can go ahead and speak up now.
[17:03] Okay. And I'll repeat for anyone else
who's here in the audience. Uh
[17:08] uh this is your one and only chance to
enter a public comment on the record. Uh
[17:13] so I'm just giving a last chance to do
that. Seeing none so eager.
[17:17] Okay. I'm going to move this on
from the public comment portion.
[17:23] I guess I'll just ask if there's
anything else from staff or the
[17:26] applicant they would like to say during
tonight's hearing.
[17:30] » I have nothing further.
[17:33] » Okay,
I have no further questions. As I said
[17:38] well maybe I didn't say this part
before. I did receive the file from from
[17:41] the county staff and so that's that in
tonight's testimony is going to be the
[17:44] bulk of the record tonight.
Um
[17:47] but with that I am going to close the
record for variance 26-0003
[17:53] and we are adjourned. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[17:57] Thank you. Good job.
Nice job.
[18:00] » Nice job.