1 00:00:01,070 --> 00:00:30,930 We will now call the meeting of the Bell Meet Board of Zoning Appeals to order, let the record reflect a quorum of members as present. We have 5, maybe 4 items of new business on today's agenda, and each applicant is here, because their request for a building permit has been denied. They're here to appeal this denial. It's a responsibility this board to hear the appeal and determine if there's a compelling reason. They would allow this board to grant the request while at the same time protecting the intent and 2 00:00:30,930 --> 00:00:32,810 integrity of the city ordinances. 3 00:00:33,550 --> 00:00:36,070 This board can only hear what is published in the appeal. 4 00:00:36,770 --> 00:00:40,390 If other items come up that we're not part of the public notice, we cannot rule on them 5 00:00:40,390 --> 00:00:41,210 at this time. 6 00:00:41,970 --> 00:00:45,150 If the board grants an approval, it will be specific to the request. 7 00:00:45,730 --> 00:00:49,770 The applicant must still comply with all other regulations and request the city building 8 00:00:49,770 --> 00:00:50,270 official. 9 00:00:50,910 --> 00:00:55,530 This board does not take into consideration our contextual design or stormwater issues which 10 00:00:55,530 --> 00:00:59,790 are addressed to city staff, city consultants or the historic zoning commission. 11 00:00:59,790 --> 00:01:02,950 Our procedures for this evening's meeting are as follows. 12 00:01:03,250 --> 00:01:05,750 The City Planning Director will introduce each item. 13 00:01:06,550 --> 00:01:10,310 The applicant or representative will state their name and present the appeal of the podium. 14 00:01:10,530 --> 00:01:14,910 There will be a time for the board to ask questions and then we will solicit any comments 15 00:01:14,910 --> 00:01:19,670 from anyone in attendance who will like why state their name and comments at the podium for 16 00:01:19,670 --> 00:01:20,150 the record. 17 00:01:21,070 --> 00:01:24,710 We will then close off discussion for the public and the board members will deliberate in 18 00:01:24,710 --> 00:01:25,610 an open forum. 19 00:01:25,610 --> 00:01:30,410 Board members at their discretion may choose to have additional dialogue with the applicant, 20 00:01:30,670 --> 00:01:33,430 a board member will then file a motion with a required second. 21 00:01:34,010 --> 00:01:38,950 Then the entire board will vote, it requires a majority vote for the appeal to be granted. 22 00:01:38,950 --> 00:01:44,090 If the appeal is granted, we ask the applicant to remove the art sign, pull a permit within 23 00:01:44,090 --> 00:01:44,750 one year. 24 00:01:45,070 --> 00:01:49,510 If the appeal is denied, we ask that the applicant immediately remove the art sign. 25 00:01:49,730 --> 00:01:54,030 If the appeal is deferred, we ask that the applicant keep the art sign up. 26 00:01:54,030 --> 00:02:01,330 As a board, we reach for a million rise to ourselves with the applications that have reviewed the submitted materials and if necessary, you may decide visit. 27 00:02:02,130 --> 00:02:05,070 I will now ask the board members if there are any conflicts of interest. 28 00:02:06,980 --> 00:02:08,220 No, no. 29 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,160 The record will reflect no conflicts of interest. 30 00:02:11,380 --> 00:02:15,260 The first item of business will be approval of the minutes from last month. 31 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:16,140 Can I have a motion? 32 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:17,660 Motion of proof. 33 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:18,360 Second. 34 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,340 For a motion of second, all in favor. 35 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,860 minutes are approved. Mary, what's the first item of new or unfinished business? 36 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:33,560 Thank you. The first item on the agenda's case, number A2628 at 2.13, 37 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:38,420 Bill me Boulevard for a rare yard setback. I've just been informed that the applicant 38 00:02:38,420 --> 00:02:42,560 is requesting another post-flement to the July 21 meeting. 39 00:02:44,180 --> 00:02:45,800 Okay. Do we need to vote on that? 40 00:02:45,860 --> 00:02:47,520 Yes, sir. Okay. 41 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,520 Well, I'll move to defer or postpone that. 42 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:53,020 I'll set it. 43 00:02:53,020 --> 00:02:54,660 Motion is second on the favor. 44 00:02:54,740 --> 00:02:55,420 All right. 45 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:55,720 All right. 46 00:02:56,220 --> 00:02:56,640 Thank you. 47 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,120 The next item on the agenda is case number 8263320. 48 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,240 Do pork drive for a very extra rear yard set back. 49 00:03:12,860 --> 00:03:13,580 Good afternoon. 50 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:15,340 My name is Charlie Rankin. 51 00:03:15,340 --> 00:03:16,840 Rankin Design Works Architecture. 52 00:03:17,300 --> 00:03:19,980 I'm here on behalf of John and Laura Foster. 53 00:03:20,780 --> 00:03:26,000 who were looking to add a screen porch addition to the back of their home to a two-tier parked drive. 54 00:03:26,820 --> 00:03:28,920 The home was originally built in 2009. 55 00:03:29,500 --> 00:03:33,880 The fosters purchased the home in 2015 and have lived their sense. 56 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:42,320 The proposed screen porch is just over 23 feet wide and extends 18 feet from the back wall of the existing house. 57 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:45,960 We're asking for a rear setback variance to build the porch. 58 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:50,700 And would contend that the irregular shape of the lot creates a hardship that would justify 59 00:03:50,700 --> 00:03:52,420 this variance request. 60 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,720 Mary, if on that set, you can maybe look at the up page one. 61 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:03,540 On there, you'll see an existing site plan, and you'll notice that the property line follows 62 00:04:03,540 --> 00:04:09,100 the sweeping curve of deer park drive while the rear property line tapers at the sharp 63 00:04:09,100 --> 00:04:13,860 angle towards the north side of the property, creating a drastically diminishing building 64 00:04:13,860 --> 00:04:18,380 envelope on the left side of the property. You can see that the original house 65 00:04:18,380 --> 00:04:22,480 designed attempts to respond to this diminishing building envelope, but still 66 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:27,940 exceeds the rear set back in several areas across the back of the house. In addition 67 00:04:27,940 --> 00:04:32,840 to this diminishing width north to south, the property is wider than it is 68 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:39,060 deep, which is an unusual condition in the city of Bellmeade. If you look at page two, 69 00:04:39,060 --> 00:04:45,560 You'll see our proposed site plan, the existing footprint of the house is shaded in gray. 70 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,040 Our proposed screen porch is highlighted there in red. 71 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,180 I'm going to show you here this long edge of the screen porch. 72 00:04:53,460 --> 00:04:56,860 Like I said earlier, it extends about 18 feet from the back wall here. 73 00:04:57,220 --> 00:05:04,060 This shorter side extends about 9 feet from this intersecting wall right here. 74 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,860 However, even though we are increasing the depth of the house right here where the addition occurs, 75 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:16,440 we're actually not going beyond this wing on the back right side of the house here. 76 00:05:16,580 --> 00:05:25,660 In fact, the back of our screen porch is still about three feet shy of the back wall of the right wing of the house there. 77 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:35,260 So, the portion of the screen porch that is outside the building envelope is accounts for 78 00:05:35,260 --> 00:05:40,760 366 square feet, the total screen porch footprint is 412 square feet. 79 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,840 We believe in approval of this variance request would be without detriment to the public 80 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:46,480 good. 81 00:05:46,780 --> 00:05:50,700 Nor would it disrupt the harmony of the neighborhood for the following reasons. 82 00:05:50,780 --> 00:05:55,820 The proposed screen porch does not extend past the perceived back of the existing house. 83 00:05:55,820 --> 00:06:02,000 The porch is being built over an existing patio area, so we are not significantly increasing 84 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,860 the hard-skate area on the lot. 85 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:09,960 The rear property line is already screened by a very dense evergreen hedge that will 86 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:10,540 remain. 87 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:15,140 You can see that in the aerial photography there on page 4. 88 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:22,020 I believe the landscape plan calls for even additional evergreen planting along the backside 89 00:06:22,020 --> 00:06:30,020 their closer into the screen porch. Furthermore, there are existing setback non-conformities on the houses 90 00:06:30,020 --> 00:06:35,140 to the right and left of this property. And finally, we'd contend that the variance request 91 00:06:35,140 --> 00:06:41,180 is directly related to the irregular shape of this particular lot. So with that, I'd happy to answer 92 00:06:41,180 --> 00:06:42,880 any questions you might have. 93 00:06:44,020 --> 00:06:48,260 The only question that I think I have, and I think it was answered by the photo a second 94 00:06:48,260 --> 00:06:56,900 go put the terrace in the fountain. They're already there. Or maybe I mean it's already a patio back there. 95 00:06:56,940 --> 00:07:01,640 There is a patio back there. You can see it. Here this is actually an older image. This is a 96 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:09,400 more recent image, but you can see this this area. These two doors, if you could slide to the, 97 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:14,600 yeah, there we go. These two doors are existing. We're kind of adding a center door there, but the 98 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:20,600 reports will happen basically where that seeding arrangement is and there is a fountain 99 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:26,800 right there. We are proposing to modify that fountain. We're just going to make it less 100 00:07:27,780 --> 00:07:29,980 wide. So it does not exist. 101 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:42,620 Stand as far off of that retaining wall there. So you can see in the landscape plan, there's a new pathway that goes between the screen porch and that fountain. So the fountain sheets back, but it is a fountain there, yes. 102 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,060 Okay. Questions for the applicant? 103 00:07:48,940 --> 00:07:51,220 Do you have any letters from neighbors? 104 00:07:53,260 --> 00:07:55,440 Not that I'm aware of. I don't think anybody has submitted. 105 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,260 Any other questions for the applicant? 106 00:08:06,190 --> 00:08:06,530 Thank you. 107 00:08:06,530 --> 00:08:07,710 Thank you. 108 00:08:10,730 --> 00:08:10,950 Okay. 109 00:08:11,270 --> 00:08:14,150 We'll close the applicant portion and open the public portion. 110 00:08:14,330 --> 00:08:16,630 There's anyone here who wishes to speak to this application. 111 00:08:19,690 --> 00:08:22,950 Mary, it sounds like no public letters or letters from neighbors. 112 00:08:23,150 --> 00:08:23,730 That is correct. 113 00:08:23,850 --> 00:08:26,810 I didn't receive any response from a journey property owners. 114 00:08:27,150 --> 00:08:27,330 Okay. 115 00:08:27,490 --> 00:08:32,530 We'll close the public portion and start the board. 116 00:08:32,730 --> 00:08:34,770 Deliveration portion. 117 00:08:35,870 --> 00:08:37,550 Let's hear Mary's recommendation. 118 00:08:38,350 --> 00:08:38,790 Thank you. 119 00:08:38,810 --> 00:08:39,910 Staff recommends approval. 120 00:08:39,910 --> 00:08:46,190 Although this is an irregularly shaped lot, it's almost twice as wide as it is deep, typical 121 00:08:46,190 --> 00:08:48,630 Bell-Mead-Lots are deeper than they are wide. 122 00:08:49,290 --> 00:08:54,310 Again, as the applicant stated, they're not proposing the rear projection beyond the existing 123 00:08:54,310 --> 00:09:01,130 building in-loop, and also this is a screened-in porch element, so there's a level of transparency 124 00:09:02,470 --> 00:09:04,010 with the structure itself. 125 00:09:04,430 --> 00:09:09,330 If the board chooses to approve it, I would request that you make a condition that the landscape 126 00:09:09,330 --> 00:09:17,130 plan be approved as well. So the landscaping must be installed prior to a certificate of completion of the 127 00:09:17,130 --> 00:09:26,670 porch. So when they win the porch, when there's a visit done to do the specific occupancy, 128 00:09:27,070 --> 00:09:32,290 you want the or you suggest that the landscape would be done by that. Right. And typically when 129 00:09:32,290 --> 00:09:38,310 applicants propose a landscape plan using it as justification for the request for a variance saying, 130 00:09:38,310 --> 00:09:40,510 Well, this landscaping is going to buffer from the neighbors 131 00:09:40,510 --> 00:09:42,910 and the landscaping has to go in. 132 00:09:43,370 --> 00:09:45,190 So would this be the landscape plan? 133 00:09:45,870 --> 00:09:46,110 Correct. 134 00:09:46,230 --> 00:09:48,050 We would approve or deny. 135 00:09:56,260 --> 00:10:01,120 Before we ask Charlie, is that an issue getting the landscaping in 136 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,760 before the final certificate is? 137 00:10:04,180 --> 00:10:06,360 I don't think that would be an issue. 138 00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:08,680 Gave and Duke is actually the landscape architect. 139 00:10:08,860 --> 00:10:10,040 I don't know if you would want to jump in. 140 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:14,480 I don't know what to say anything about that, but if you can, no, you can speak during 141 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:15,220 yeah, sure. 142 00:10:15,700 --> 00:10:18,500 Yeah, even to do landscape architect, yes, we would plant that. 143 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:24,120 We planned to have evergreen single trunk trees on the back of that, that would screen 144 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:28,560 that out in this rear area. 145 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:34,800 And then Charlie kind of stole my thunder, but we're going to cut down the fountains eyes 146 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:41,040 And then we do have some other landscaping there, but we haven't gone beyond the existing wall. 147 00:10:41,260 --> 00:10:42,860 That all that wall was existing now. 148 00:10:42,940 --> 00:10:45,980 But no issue with Mary's suggested sequence of... 149 00:10:45,980 --> 00:10:47,660 No, we definitely can. 150 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:48,460 Okay, yes. 151 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:51,960 Okay, what? 152 00:10:52,380 --> 00:10:53,200 Can have a motion. 153 00:10:53,980 --> 00:10:54,680 I make a motion. 154 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:57,800 We approve the request for the variance. 155 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,740 And part of that would be to have the landscaping installed for this plan. 156 00:11:02,740 --> 00:11:16,980 So we have a motion that is essentially to approve as submitted with the added condition that the landscape can be done as we've discussed and as Mary suggests. 157 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:17,480 Okay. 158 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:18,120 Second. 159 00:11:18,780 --> 00:11:19,800 We have a motion in a second. 160 00:11:19,860 --> 00:11:20,160 Second. 161 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:23,700 Second. 162 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:25,540 Second. 163 00:11:34,810 --> 00:11:40,750 difficulty to get this within the envelope. So anybody have anything they want to say? 164 00:11:41,310 --> 00:11:51,870 Okay. Let's vote Carter. I vote aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, variance is created. Thank you. 165 00:11:52,150 --> 00:11:58,970 Thank you. Sure. Thank you. The next case is A2636-1225, Jickering Road for variance your front yard 166 00:11:58,970 --> 00:12:03,650 and rear yards up at the applicant can come up please. 167 00:12:10,030 --> 00:12:15,850 Let's see, Mary, can you go to a site plan there we go? 168 00:12:16,210 --> 00:12:19,650 That's the existing lot as it is now. 169 00:12:20,790 --> 00:12:23,950 We met with staff and worked through a couple of scenarios 170 00:12:23,950 --> 00:12:28,710 as far as where, you know, working with this house 171 00:12:28,710 --> 00:12:32,050 and the desire is to have a center courtyard 172 00:12:32,050 --> 00:12:35,570 because it is on East Brookfield 173 00:12:35,570 --> 00:12:41,450 And there is a bend, this is not as irregular as the last one, but it is sort of a regular 174 00:12:41,450 --> 00:12:43,570 lot that cuts in. 175 00:12:44,830 --> 00:12:50,710 And our proposal is to screen the proper long, a long east for field. 176 00:12:51,250 --> 00:13:01,110 So that would be tied into this project that we would screen that, but in the block, it pretty 177 00:13:01,110 --> 00:13:06,610 much matches the side setbacks for a lot of the houses along Chickering. 178 00:13:07,770 --> 00:13:12,090 It is getting a little bit closer to East Brookfield, but with the screening, I think that 179 00:13:12,090 --> 00:13:23,830 will buffer that closeness to that part of the road, so that we can, you know, instead 180 00:13:23,830 --> 00:13:29,690 by the rear set back, we're kind of encroaching a little bit back on that as well, 181 00:13:31,710 --> 00:13:32,370 but that's 182 00:13:32,370 --> 00:13:40,170 our very short quest is to have this original set back would take it way into the, it was 183 00:13:40,170 --> 00:13:43,950 unbuildable. As far as Mary is that in there as well, 184 00:13:46,020 --> 00:13:48,020 where the allowable, 185 00:13:50,890 --> 00:13:53,430 so this, sorry, this 186 00:13:53,430 --> 00:14:12,860 This is the allowable set back here, and so we're asking for a variance to kind of ease that so that we can get a reasonable amount of room for the house in that envelope, 187 00:14:15,570 --> 00:14:20,650 and also the architect is here to speak to the architecture of the house. 188 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:28,520 Hi, my name is Celeste Robbins. I'm the principal at Robbins architecture, and 189 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,840 Let's see, so gave and kind of gave a little of 190 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:40,500 Prep it is in your regular lot, but it's also a corner lot, so I think that's kind of the biggest hardship for the us being able to do it 191 00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:47,440 We wanted to do for the owner for George in Virginia. There's oh, you're gonna pretty picture too 192 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:55,580 This, what we did was, I guess, try to thread a needle in terms of accommodating what the 193 00:14:55,580 --> 00:14:59,060 site setbacks were on both Brookfield and Chickering. 194 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:06,900 And also kind of keeping in with the scale and what you're trying to accomplish with the 195 00:15:06,900 --> 00:15:12,900 variances, the variance to keep the neighborhood flow. And I think what we've, you know, 196 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:18,920 why I was hired was I think one of the reasons is just my commitment to maintaining a connection 197 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:24,480 to nature with my homes. And because this was on a park and the setting and the kind of the 198 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:30,020 landscape of this area, that was one of the goals is to keep the park light setting, 199 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:37,380 keeping a low single story home, an agent place home, and still fit within the context 200 00:15:37,380 --> 00:15:37,960 of the neighborhood. 201 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:46,320 So, there we go. So, as you can see, the amount of land is here, 202 00:15:46,860 --> 00:15:54,460 and what would have been the buildable area was a pretty small area by the time you do the 203 00:15:55,540 --> 00:16:04,460 So we had worked with Mary just asking to get familiar with the history of this property and with the setbacks. 204 00:16:05,620 --> 00:16:14,760 I'm kind of learned a little bit about the fact that it needed to be curved and getting caught up on the rules of the area. 205 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:19,540 From this side I think we're 61 feet from the street edge. 206 00:16:19,540 --> 00:16:31,520 And that's just, that's from the roof, were about a little bit, I think it's just 14% of the back area is over the setbacks for the rear. 207 00:16:31,620 --> 00:16:33,560 I think it's 20% on the setbacks. 208 00:16:33,620 --> 00:16:40,560 And you can see with the design that the home is kind of setting itself in a stepped way to accommodate that curve. 209 00:16:44,100 --> 00:16:49,220 I think, I think I could answer questions, I think I've said enough. 210 00:16:50,100 --> 00:16:51,180 Questions for that? 211 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:51,800 I 212 00:16:55,510 --> 00:17:02,500 can't read those numbers, but Mary, you might be able to tell us how far, so the 213 00:17:05,010 --> 00:17:09,690 the encroachment, I mean, the setbacks, what they are now and what they're proposing, 214 00:17:09,710 --> 00:17:10,670 what's that difference? 215 00:17:12,190 --> 00:17:18,430 They are compliant with the front yard setback on the shickering and on the side, so from 216 00:17:18,430 --> 00:17:23,850 birth field it's supposed to be 100 feet and they are asking for 61, so that would be a 39 217 00:17:23,850 --> 00:17:32,310 foot encroachment and then on the rear it's required to be 70 and there at 65 for a couple 218 00:17:32,310 --> 00:17:39,860 of small sections where it clips it. So trying to, for not trying, kind of I think our goal 219 00:17:39,860 --> 00:17:45,580 of the house if you know that area, there's a lot of single story homes as you, as you go down 220 00:17:45,580 --> 00:17:51,900 that street which was also the goal of this family wanting to keep it age in place and on one level 221 00:17:51,900 --> 00:18:01,980 And I think architecturally, I kind of was, you know those toys that were like, I don't know, that might be an old toy, which was like a clown and you could squish it and then the eyes would pop out. 222 00:18:02,580 --> 00:18:05,900 I kind of felt like that's what we were trying to do here is like keep it. 223 00:18:07,020 --> 00:18:21,540 You know, within the setbacks of the property of what was asking for, because I think if we had just followed where the set, where the building envelope was, it would end up just being this little box that sat out a scale. 224 00:18:21,540 --> 00:18:38,040 within the neighborhood, and I felt that, you know, we kind of felt like the single story, even though we're asking for a setback was actually honoring more of the context, and kind of the scale of what was going on in the surrounding, so I hope the renderings kind of gave you an idea of how quiet the house is. 225 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:40,760 Thank you. Any other questions for the applicant? 226 00:18:46,860 --> 00:18:46,980 Thank 227 00:18:49,610 --> 00:18:59,410 you. 228 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:07,780 Okay, as, I don't know, go ahead, go ahead, he's a property owner. 229 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:09,440 So he's technically he's an applicant. 230 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:15,440 Hey, I'm George Lassenby, I'm a wife and I don't know why, I mean, I think what the challenge 231 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:21,080 is for this lotter that being the plotted setbacks is a front setback on the East Brookfield 232 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,360 side as well as the Chickering Road side. 233 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:32,060 So what we're asking for is basically the ability to build a reasonable home on a lot 234 00:19:32,060 --> 00:19:37,780 this size and to accommodate that this is actually the side yard, not a front yard. 235 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:46,880 When we studied this, so when we looked at along the all around the adjacent homes, the average 236 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:54,980 combined setback for the side yards is 86 feet. Even with what we're asking for, we're 237 00:19:54,980 --> 00:20:02,200 at 104 feet. So it's quite generous as compared. We're not going to be closer to any 238 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:09,660 other home with this requested setback than what is average for the neighborhood. So that's 239 00:20:09,660 --> 00:20:16,060 So the challenge is two fronts at the curvature of these more and more and more and more. 240 00:20:16,060 --> 00:20:19,940 And the diet is clean, clean, put the wine and clean to the bottom. 241 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:21,400 Okay, 242 00:20:24,020 --> 00:20:24,180 I'm sorry. 243 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,180 I'm not accustomed to being in front of a camera. 244 00:20:28,740 --> 00:20:37,760 So anyway, that's the main thing for us is that we were trying to build a house or trying to build a house that will create some privacy for us. 245 00:20:39,020 --> 00:20:41,300 And accommodate the neighbors. 246 00:20:42,020 --> 00:20:42,520 So thank you. 247 00:20:42,740 --> 00:20:43,920 Thank you. 248 00:20:44,940 --> 00:20:46,840 Questions for either for the applicant? 249 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:48,320 Okay. 250 00:20:48,540 --> 00:20:50,020 Let's close that portion off. 251 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:50,960 Go to the public portion. 252 00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:55,620 I think we establish just nobody here to speak from the public on this application. 253 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:56,700 So Mary, what are the letters? 254 00:20:57,140 --> 00:20:57,620 Yes. 255 00:20:57,800 --> 00:20:59,820 We did receive two letters of support. 256 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:02,160 We did not receive any objection letters. 257 00:21:02,180 --> 00:21:05,880 I do know that the applicant did share the plans with the surrounding property owners. 258 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:12,940 Okay. Great. Close the public portion, open the board, deliberation portion. Can we have a motion? 259 00:21:17,230 --> 00:21:21,090 Motion approved. Okay. We have a motion to approve as submitted. Second. 260 00:21:23,030 --> 00:21:25,310 Second. Okay. We have a motion in a second. 261 00:21:25,570 --> 00:21:29,590 Excuse me. Mary, what's your, I'm sorry. 262 00:21:30,430 --> 00:21:31,150 That's okay. 263 00:21:32,070 --> 00:21:34,910 The staff recommends approval on this one. 264 00:21:36,050 --> 00:21:39,490 Again, as far as the rear sit back, it's really nominal. 265 00:21:39,730 --> 00:21:44,810 There's only a couple sections of the structure that would exceed the rear yard 266 00:21:44,810 --> 00:21:45,490 sit back. 267 00:21:46,010 --> 00:21:48,330 As far as the front along, he's fulfilled. 268 00:21:48,870 --> 00:21:54,230 This is a 100-foot plated front yard sit back for birthfield. 269 00:21:54,530 --> 00:22:00,690 Again, but if you look at the site because of the curve, this house wouldn't necessarily 270 00:22:00,690 --> 00:22:04,070 line up with the house's on-profile because of the curve. 271 00:22:04,070 --> 00:22:07,430 So it wouldn't be really projecting forward, visibly. 272 00:22:08,350 --> 00:22:10,790 The Board of Zoning Peels did approve a very similar 273 00:22:10,790 --> 00:22:14,130 variance a couple of years ago for a house that ultimately 274 00:22:14,130 --> 00:22:17,270 did not get approval for construction through HCC. 275 00:22:19,490 --> 00:22:23,610 But that this issue with this front set back on for field 276 00:22:23,610 --> 00:22:27,130 has been discussed previously with the BCA. 277 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:39,060 I think that on this side of Chickering Road, it's common to have or not. Uncommon to have one story houses. I'm starting to see this trend, 278 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:44,440 to be a lot of people are wanting to stay in Belme, to an aging place, as they say, and have one story houses. 279 00:22:45,020 --> 00:22:52,080 So I think the one story house would fit nicely into the context of the existing architectural fabric of this side of Chickering. 280 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:58,460 But when you have one story house, it takes up more ground space, and therefore you start bumping up against the setback. 281 00:22:58,460 --> 00:23:02,800 So, with those things stated, I'm recommending approval. 282 00:23:04,380 --> 00:23:07,080 So, if it were within the setbacks, 283 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,400 am I hearing that it would be out of character 284 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:10,860 with the other houses on that? 285 00:23:10,860 --> 00:23:15,100 If it was in the setbacks, it would be a very, very small house. 286 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,400 And it would be four-segalob. 287 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:19,180 Exactly. 288 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,160 Which would be out of character with that structure? 289 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:21,580 Correct. 290 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:24,940 It'd be oddly shaped, very stout. 291 00:23:25,420 --> 00:23:25,620 Okay. 292 00:23:27,820 --> 00:23:34,680 You know, we have a motion and a second discussion in the end recommendation. 293 00:23:36,700 --> 00:23:43,480 I mean, I, you know, the hardship of being on the corner a lot isn't really a part. 294 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:44,820 I mean, it's just facts. 295 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:47,040 You know, really, I think that's a hardship. 296 00:23:47,260 --> 00:23:49,740 I love on the corner a lot, and we have to deal with the same thing. 297 00:23:49,740 --> 00:23:58,240 But I do appreciate the one story I appreciate the, you know, how she is adapted it to the curve. 298 00:23:58,280 --> 00:23:59,840 I think art actually is lovely. 299 00:24:00,740 --> 00:24:09,440 And I think the curve of the road does, you know, accommodate the setback where it's not super visible. 300 00:24:09,780 --> 00:24:14,440 But I do kind of go like, is, you know, it's a hardship or not. 301 00:24:14,740 --> 00:24:18,820 But I, I mean, I appreciate the architecture and I feel like it's a, 302 00:24:18,820 --> 00:24:25,980 the one's story, that's how to keep the scale more in shock to neighborhood. 303 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:28,040 So. 304 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:28,560 You know, I agree. 305 00:24:28,700 --> 00:24:29,000 I don't know. 306 00:24:31,020 --> 00:24:36,780 If the intent, if our job is to make sure that houses are in construction 307 00:24:36,780 --> 00:24:40,700 has done consistent with the way that the street, the neighborhood flows, 308 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,400 then it makes sense to in my life. 309 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:44,660 Yeah. 310 00:24:44,660 --> 00:24:47,980 if the variance would be warranted, what does everybody else think? 311 00:24:48,460 --> 00:24:50,960 Yeah, I don't have a problem with it, but I do have one question. 312 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:52,940 I don't know if it's mayor or Doug. 313 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,100 Or setbacks measured from the street or the property line? 314 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,400 There are facing a street, go from the street, 315 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:08,380 but the others go from the property line. 316 00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:10,060 That's how I would look at it. 317 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,420 I think we've discussed this before, but the code doesn't say 318 00:25:13,420 --> 00:25:18,500 how to measure it as long as it's consistent, whichever way you choose to. 319 00:25:18,500 --> 00:25:29,040 So, if you're determining a front yard step back for property, if you measure all the joining properties from the property line, then that then you measure the subject property from the property line. 320 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:36,500 If you measure everybody when a thousand feet on each side from this edge of pavement, then it's edge of pavement for the new house. 321 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:47,160 Typically, I allow people to do edge of pavement because it's faster and cheaper for the surveyors to measure from the edge of pavement than having to cite all the corner markers for the right away. 322 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:52,300 Yeah, if they got to do that anyway, they got to mark the property line. 323 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,480 Yeah, but to calculate all the adjoiners. 324 00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:56,960 You know what I'm saying? 325 00:26:00,660 --> 00:26:03,400 Any other comments or discussion on the application? 326 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:10,840 I'll comment that I appreciate the applicant and the city working together to solve 327 00:26:13,220 --> 00:26:18,140 for a challenging corner lot, which I know is not the hardship, 328 00:26:18,140 --> 00:26:25,200 but corn a lot's are more challenging but certainly the shape of a lot with the bin creates 329 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:33,960 some challenges and because of the deep setbacks in this area of town, you know, what was 330 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:44,280 said earlier about having a squatty high rise in the middle of that lot is not I don't think 331 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,820 in keeping with the neighborhood, and this is very much 332 00:26:47,820 --> 00:26:49,080 in keeping with the neighborhoods. 333 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:54,240 I appreciate the investment and time 334 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:55,860 and thought that went into this. 335 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,880 All right, let's vote, Johnny, start. 336 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:03,180 Approved, approved. 337 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:04,400 Approved, I vote, aye. 338 00:27:06,890 --> 00:27:07,190 OK. 339 00:27:09,380 --> 00:27:10,460 Thank you very good. 340 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:15,000 Next case is case number 826-37-2070. 341 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,960 One sunny side drive, a conditional use for swimming pool. 342 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,160 and a variance for retaining walls over three feet in height. 343 00:27:29,450 --> 00:27:34,190 I'm going to get used to this setup we've got here with it behind me as I talk to you can take 344 00:27:34,190 --> 00:27:37,790 them. Can you hear me? Yeah and you can take it with you. 345 00:27:40,190 --> 00:27:40,590 Hello. 346 00:27:46,550 --> 00:27:48,310 My name is Ann Day. I'm landscape 347 00:27:48,310 --> 00:27:54,110 architect from day-rick landscape architects. I'm representing Tammy. Uh oh. 348 00:28:00,930 --> 00:28:01,910 Are you sure that seems a little 349 00:28:01,910 --> 00:28:03,250 to me actually. 350 00:28:07,100 --> 00:28:07,760 Okay. 351 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,460 Well, I'm representing Tammy and Carlos Hernandez. 352 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,380 They are at 201 Sunnyside Drive. 353 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:22,640 I wanted to start it out by saying that the Hernandez purchased 201 Sunnyside Drive 354 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:28,000 knowing that they would be tearing down the existing house and building a new house 355 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:31,580 and that it would need to be facing Bill Me Boulevard. 356 00:28:31,580 --> 00:28:38,580 Prior to purchasing the property demo has already been approved by the HCC on the condition 357 00:28:38,580 --> 00:28:41,320 that the new house must face Bell Me Boulevard. 358 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,880 So that's already been approved. 359 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,740 Looking at the, oops, can we go back to the context map? 360 00:28:52,740 --> 00:28:55,580 I just wanted to point out, yeah, this map. 361 00:28:55,580 --> 00:29:02,920 the magenta that's 211 sunny side and you can see that all of the houses in blue but well this 362 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:17,040 is building the microphone police yeah or after me okay this is sunny side drive the magenta 363 00:29:17,580 --> 00:29:24,020 and you can see that it faces both building boulevard and the sunny side drive and also the neighboring 364 00:29:24,020 --> 00:29:29,200 properties have the same condition, but the difference of these three properties is that the 365 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:34,280 two on either side, although they both touch sunny side and bill made, the two on either side 366 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:39,420 actually face bill made bill of art and our properties only one on this section of bill made 367 00:29:39,420 --> 00:29:43,780 bill of art that does not face the bill of art and it faces sunny side drive. 368 00:29:46,060 --> 00:29:46,920 And I was actually going to 369 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:51,500 show there's a couple of pictures over here just to show. These are the houses on either side, 370 00:29:51,500 --> 00:29:58,000 can see the beautiful sweeping drives up there in the distance is the house. This is the 371 00:29:58,000 --> 00:29:59,980 house that faces. We're looking at the back of that. 372 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:09,940 House that's facing Bill Meble of Art here. And then these are the prop, this is the house to the left. And then you can see the house over to the right that's the, at joining neighbors. 373 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:31,240 And then you can see on the backside or the front of the house, I get confused, talking about it, but on the, this is the front of the current house and it's just at level and you can see on the backside it drops off. To, to a walk out basement on that side. 374 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,540 I wanted to just quickly look at the existing survey. 375 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:39,080 There's just a few things. 376 00:30:39,260 --> 00:30:43,680 Just to note, you can see that it touches Bell Me Boulevard, Sunnyside Drive. 377 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,420 This is the front of the current house. 378 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:54,380 One thing I did want to point out is how much the house has been dug out to have that walk-out 379 00:30:54,380 --> 00:30:55,120 basement. 380 00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:00,400 So, basically, our goal is to be to try to get that grade back to its natural grade instead 381 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:07,960 of carving it out and creating that big, you know, grade change with the existing grade. 382 00:31:12,580 --> 00:31:21,220 All right, so to the master plan, the main objectives for the master plan, basically we 383 00:31:22,020 --> 00:31:27,760 wanted to cite the house within the building envelope. We also established the finished 384 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:32,300 floor elevation. Also obviously, I just said we had to face the house towards 385 00:31:32,300 --> 00:31:38,920 building bull of art. And doing so we wanted to create a beautiful sweeping driveway off of 386 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:44,020 building bull of art to kind of match the properties on either side. In addition we added 387 00:31:44,020 --> 00:31:48,380 this nice motor court that kind of has a circular effect so that the people the guests can 388 00:31:48,380 --> 00:31:54,900 come and go without getting clogged up there in the back of the service court. We also wanted to 389 00:31:54,900 --> 00:32:01,440 bring the grade back to its natural topography and create a gradual interest sequence to the front 390 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:07,080 doors, you can see how we've, this is where that sunken area was and we brought it back 391 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,900 to match the natural grade of what's there. 392 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:18,040 Our clients wanted to add a pool and spa, so we were trying to work it within the building 393 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:26,030 envelope, also they have a walkout basement and they have to have this tall wall for 394 00:32:26,030 --> 00:32:31,190 He graced purposes, they wanted perimeter fencing, privacy screening from sunny side, which 395 00:32:31,190 --> 00:32:33,590 we provided in lawns and gardens. 396 00:32:35,110 --> 00:32:37,630 So I was just saying all that for context. 397 00:32:38,470 --> 00:32:43,950 What we are asking for is basically, we are wanting to build a wall taller than three feet 398 00:32:43,950 --> 00:32:45,710 at the walk-out basement. 399 00:32:46,590 --> 00:32:49,750 You could argue that this is a part of the house. 400 00:32:50,210 --> 00:32:53,050 It is necessary for egress out of the basement. 401 00:32:53,050 --> 00:32:55,450 It also will bring light down into the basement. 402 00:32:56,310 --> 00:33:03,990 I want to note that this wall is free standing three feet from the outside, so that's all you'll be seeing is a three-foot height wall from the outside. 403 00:33:05,070 --> 00:33:10,430 No one will ever see the height of this wall except from being inside the basement looking out. 404 00:33:11,330 --> 00:33:16,410 We are also asking for a conditional use to build a pool and spa within the building envelope. 405 00:33:17,150 --> 00:33:21,150 We are tucking the pool and spa within an interior courtyard. 406 00:33:21,970 --> 00:33:25,450 No one will see this pool and spa from the outside. 407 00:33:26,830 --> 00:33:31,750 The exterior walls indoors within the courtyard will satisfy the pool enclosure requirements. 408 00:33:34,010 --> 00:33:36,870 We did host a neighbor get together. 409 00:33:37,950 --> 00:33:39,210 Earlier, I guess it was about a month ago. 410 00:33:40,030 --> 00:33:45,190 So the Hernandez could meet their neighbors and kind of show them the plans and what we were working on. 411 00:33:45,190 --> 00:33:53,510 And everyone really loved the idea of not being able to see the pool that it's within, the interior of the house. 412 00:33:54,430 --> 00:34:03,390 They were also very happy to see that the house was flipped to be facing building boulevard to be more in context with the boulevard itself. 413 00:34:04,090 --> 00:34:09,550 And they also really liked the architecture of the house and appreciated an updated house. 414 00:34:09,550 --> 00:34:11,850 I'm to increase their property values. 415 00:34:14,330 --> 00:34:20,770 So, I guess that's it for us, I'm always getting right, did you want to talk any further 416 00:34:20,770 --> 00:34:24,710 or you don't have to, but talk about it. 417 00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:31,260 Oh, when we do, I think we had, last I checked. 418 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,460 We had two neighbor letters of support. 419 00:34:34,220 --> 00:34:37,400 I'm not sure how many we ended up getting, but I know we have at least two. 420 00:34:39,450 --> 00:34:40,030 Hello, buddy. 421 00:34:40,970 --> 00:34:44,350 My name is Brett Green and with Oxford Architecture Architect for this project, 422 00:34:44,350 --> 00:34:51,530 represented in Hernandez's. As Anne mentioned, we're working really within the context of all the 423 00:34:51,530 --> 00:34:57,650 setbacks, height restrictions, you know, we met with Mary. When we first got started on this 424 00:34:57,650 --> 00:35:03,130 product to make sure we were kind of working within the zoning regulations for the property. 425 00:35:04,010 --> 00:35:10,150 Really all we're asking for today, I think, is this one wall where we're kind of digging out 426 00:35:10,150 --> 00:35:17,290 our basement down here. So it's just a minor wall, but it obviously has to be deeper than 427 00:35:17,290 --> 00:35:23,950 three feet allowed just to get down there. So our goal is to bring something beautiful to 428 00:35:23,950 --> 00:35:29,250 the neighborhood and I think we will do that with this application and as we kind of move forward 429 00:35:29,250 --> 00:35:35,690 through the HCC. But yeah, that's really all wanted to point out it. We're not asking 430 00:35:36,390 --> 00:35:42,790 for any setback experiences or anything like that, just this basement wall that you see 431 00:35:42,790 --> 00:35:49,830 there. How tall is the wall? I know you can only see three feet from outside it, but 432 00:35:49,830 --> 00:35:51,510 how tall is it going to be? 433 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:58,400 Okay. I think it'll be eight people low the grade. 434 00:36:01,070 --> 00:36:01,270 Okay. 435 00:36:02,050 --> 00:36:07,010 So 11 feet. But visually from the outside, all you're going to see is like three feet above 436 00:36:07,010 --> 00:36:08,770 not great. Okay. 437 00:36:12,270 --> 00:36:12,890 Questions for the applicant? 438 00:36:22,070 --> 00:36:26,210 Okay. Thank you. Okay. We'll close off the applicant 439 00:36:26,210 --> 00:36:29,890 portion open the public portion. Anybody in the public wish to speak to this application? 440 00:36:30,270 --> 00:36:34,550 Why don't you somebody take the mic over? Will reach your SD? 441 00:36:44,790 --> 00:36:46,430 I'm Frank Sheffield. I live at 200 442 00:36:46,430 --> 00:36:58,990 sunny side drive. What I want to know is is the House on 112 Bell Me Boulevard has a 443 00:37:00,490 --> 00:37:05,210 extension onto their back to face the sunny side drive 444 00:37:13,090 --> 00:37:14,510 there off the street at 445 00:37:14,510 --> 00:37:21,710 Boxley, 69 feet. I wanted to make sure that whole line stayed the same coming down 446 00:37:21,710 --> 00:37:23,530 towards the circle. 447 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:29,860 I don't know what this applicant should go beyond it. 448 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:36,880 I said, I came down and voted for the demolition, but at the time I wanted to make sure that 449 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:41,880 we maintain the consistency of 450 00:37:44,250 --> 00:37:45,290 this, 451 00:37:47,890 --> 00:37:50,490 I think, as you want to, what's within the setbacks, 452 00:37:50,690 --> 00:37:57,090 right, Mary? Correct, that rear yard setback from the edge of the right of way for a Sunday 453 00:37:57,090 --> 00:38:02,430 site, not the edge of the road, but the edge of the right of way is 60 feet. And that's where 454 00:38:05,090 --> 00:38:08,230 I'm not sure what that setback is. 455 00:38:10,860 --> 00:38:12,200 I can do that really quickly. 456 00:38:12,620 --> 00:38:13,820 Hold on. 457 00:38:14,060 --> 00:38:17,040 While you're doing that, if it's within the setback, 458 00:38:17,340 --> 00:38:19,160 there's nothing we can do about that. 459 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:20,000 That is correct. 460 00:38:20,740 --> 00:38:23,660 So if it's compliant, then it's compliant, 461 00:38:26,540 --> 00:38:29,880 but we can look at the overhead map. 462 00:38:32,270 --> 00:38:34,450 I know it's the rear of this property, 463 00:38:34,750 --> 00:38:37,830 but it is considered a front yard setback. 464 00:38:37,830 --> 00:38:44,990 back there because it does face sunny sign or is it have a separate rear yard set back? 465 00:38:48,730 --> 00:38:55,720 It I think in this instance it was a rear yard set back 466 00:38:58,180 --> 00:38:59,560 because it's such an anomaly. 467 00:39:02,170 --> 00:39:11,350 So 112 is a hundred and there's 165 feet back from sunny set. Yeah. 468 00:39:12,370 --> 00:39:15,870 Okay, you're taking it from the property and I'm not the street, right? 469 00:39:16,130 --> 00:39:16,350 Correct. 470 00:39:17,370 --> 00:39:27,470 The existing house that's at 201, sunny side is about 75 feet at the closest point. 471 00:39:28,330 --> 00:39:34,470 I'm okay if you're maintaining the same circle because what that is, a little corner circle 472 00:39:35,270 --> 00:39:39,150 is the property of LME just on the front, I just found it out. 473 00:39:39,630 --> 00:39:45,850 Yeah, the circle is, yeah, the landscape island is the cities. 474 00:39:48,660 --> 00:39:49,960 It's in the right of way. 475 00:39:55,550 --> 00:39:57,690 I'm okay then, was it? 476 00:39:58,290 --> 00:40:02,190 Well, I think it's going to be, I don't think that's even, they're not asking for that setback 477 00:40:02,190 --> 00:40:02,910 to be listed. 478 00:40:03,730 --> 00:40:03,850 No. 479 00:40:04,990 --> 00:40:08,510 Even if we didn't like it, there's nothing we could do about that as long as there was 480 00:40:08,510 --> 00:40:10,350 in whatever the, the allotted. 481 00:40:10,370 --> 00:40:15,150 I'm just trying to make sure that I don't have it right on the, on the, on the street 482 00:40:15,150 --> 00:40:16,230 It's what I'm trying to do. 483 00:40:16,510 --> 00:40:21,050 Yeah, the setback is not changing, based on application, right, Mary. 484 00:40:21,090 --> 00:40:21,430 Great. 485 00:40:21,870 --> 00:40:22,050 Okay. 486 00:40:22,810 --> 00:40:23,330 Thank you. 487 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:28,480 Any other comments from the public? 488 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:31,100 And then, Mary, we had a couple letters. 489 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:31,820 Sounds like. 490 00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:35,660 I think we received a letter support from the RISNIC. 491 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,000 Which are ironically one, twelve. 492 00:40:38,300 --> 00:40:39,700 That property did the south. 493 00:40:40,860 --> 00:40:45,900 I haven't received any other letters or letters of objection either. 494 00:40:45,900 --> 00:40:46,640 Okay. 495 00:40:50,710 --> 00:40:52,910 Yeah, I'll be going to come up here and I'll see. 496 00:40:53,290 --> 00:40:54,910 What will be the problem? 497 00:40:55,370 --> 00:41:00,290 Or else it doesn't pick up in the wreck in the transcript? 498 00:41:01,050 --> 00:41:03,290 I'm Deborah Brian. I'm Frank Schiff, I'll start. 499 00:41:04,110 --> 00:41:06,410 All you want to do is he's supporting it. 500 00:41:06,410 --> 00:41:06,790 Okay. 501 00:41:06,990 --> 00:41:08,010 200, sunny side traffic. 502 00:41:09,990 --> 00:41:11,590 Thank you. 503 00:41:12,610 --> 00:41:12,870 Okay. 504 00:41:13,370 --> 00:41:14,890 So we've gone through the public portion. 505 00:41:15,090 --> 00:41:17,450 We've heard letters of support. 506 00:41:17,450 --> 00:41:24,970 No letters in opposition. So let's close the public portion open the deliberation portion. First we'll get Mary's recommendation 507 00:41:24,970 --> 00:41:31,470 Steph recommends approval on both instances. The pool meets the condition of use criteria. 508 00:41:35,070 --> 00:41:36,190 And the 509 00:41:36,190 --> 00:41:46,670 The wall height is just a little bit over three feet on this short side. I mean, it's well over eight feet on the the downside of it, but that won't be visible from a joining property owners 510 00:41:46,670 --> 00:41:51,530 It's going to be in a basement well, so because of those two reasons I recommend approval. 511 00:41:52,330 --> 00:41:58,310 Okay, why don't we just to keep this clean, do this in two separate steps. 512 00:41:58,590 --> 00:42:03,750 So let's do, let me move to divide the question, anybody have the opposition to that. 513 00:42:03,990 --> 00:42:05,710 Football then we'll do the law. 514 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:08,180 You okay with that? 515 00:42:08,180 --> 00:42:08,540 I'll second. 516 00:42:08,980 --> 00:42:10,300 Okay, all of favor. 517 00:42:10,820 --> 00:42:11,300 Okay. 518 00:42:11,300 --> 00:42:15,640 Okay, so let's do the pool, which is just a conditional use, kind of motion on the pool. 519 00:42:16,140 --> 00:42:16,780 I make a motion. 520 00:42:17,340 --> 00:42:21,440 Okay, so we have a motion in a second on the conditional use for the pool, any discussion? 521 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:25,940 Good eye. 522 00:42:25,940 --> 00:42:27,160 Press forward. 523 00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:29,460 What's the color? 524 00:42:30,340 --> 00:42:31,220 Approved eye. 525 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:33,860 Hi. 526 00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:34,420 Hi. 527 00:42:34,660 --> 00:42:34,860 Okay. 528 00:42:35,100 --> 00:42:36,980 Conditional use on the pool is approved. 529 00:42:37,240 --> 00:42:39,760 So now, can I have a motion on the wall? 530 00:42:39,940 --> 00:42:41,540 I'll make a motion set for you for a while. 531 00:42:41,780 --> 00:42:42,140 Second. 532 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:45,120 So we have a motion in a second on the wall, any discussion? 533 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:46,140 I mean, it seems straightforward. 534 00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:47,780 I did have one question. 535 00:42:47,780 --> 00:42:51,740 Okay, how do we make sure nobody falls into that hole? 536 00:42:51,980 --> 00:42:53,640 That's a web feed deep. 537 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:54,780 That's the purpose of that. 538 00:42:56,820 --> 00:42:58,560 I can answer that question. 539 00:42:59,180 --> 00:43:00,920 It's going to be the short side. 540 00:43:01,020 --> 00:43:03,360 It's going to be a wall that's three feet above grade. 541 00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:08,160 And then similarly, there's a building code requirement that they 542 00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:13,340 has to be a wall and or combination of railing that's 42 inches. 543 00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:15,160 So there's a railing on top of the wall. 544 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:15,540 Correct. 545 00:43:19,490 --> 00:43:25,970 The wall is the railing, so it's creating that guard rail between falling over. 546 00:43:26,030 --> 00:43:27,730 So it's going to still refeed above the door. 547 00:43:27,730 --> 00:43:32,710 So it's basically hip-hide, and if somebody falls over, they just fall into that hole. 548 00:43:33,450 --> 00:43:40,350 Well, it's within the height of a standard guard rail, which is 36 inches, so I mean, that 549 00:43:40,350 --> 00:43:43,090 technically should keep both people from falling in there. 550 00:43:43,510 --> 00:43:44,550 It's our building code. 551 00:43:44,770 --> 00:43:45,650 It's 42 inches. 552 00:43:45,650 --> 00:43:52,230 So yes, if somebody flips over the 42 inch railing, they would fall into the base of my wall. 553 00:43:52,470 --> 00:43:55,370 Well, three feet is not 42 inches, so my missing size is correct. 554 00:43:55,750 --> 00:43:59,030 No, it isn't. It's 42 inches, so it's three and a half feet. 555 00:43:59,090 --> 00:43:59,790 I was very happy. 556 00:44:01,650 --> 00:44:02,370 Thank you. 557 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:07,140 Any other questions or discussion? 558 00:44:12,790 --> 00:44:16,870 It sounds like it's three feet to the naked eye from the outside. 559 00:44:19,830 --> 00:44:22,070 And they've complied with the railing requirement. 560 00:44:22,070 --> 00:44:28,790 No, it's 42 inches from the ground on that side, not three feet. 561 00:44:28,790 --> 00:44:30,510 Okay, three to that. 562 00:44:34,300 --> 00:44:36,300 Any other discussion or thoughts? 563 00:44:36,580 --> 00:44:39,800 I think that should be part of the motion. 564 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:41,200 Make it three feet. 565 00:44:41,340 --> 00:44:44,140 Make it 42 inches, whatever the code is. 566 00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:46,740 Well, they ask for three feet, but that's. 567 00:44:46,740 --> 00:44:49,580 It's the required invariances that it's over to cheat. 568 00:44:50,380 --> 00:44:50,480 Okay. 569 00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:56,800 Yeah, and it's got, but it has to marry. It's going to be 42 inches. If we approve the variance, it's going to be 42 inches. 570 00:44:56,980 --> 00:44:59,980 Can't we just approve it? Correct. You can't trump. You can't trump the... 571 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:06,660 It's greater than three feet. It's greater than three feet. Right. Yes. And it is over three feet. It's going to be 42 inches. 572 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:11,760 And I think we just agreed it. I think we just approved it as it's proposed. That's fine. Right. 573 00:45:11,860 --> 00:45:21,000 How do I make it for you? That's fine. Okay. Any other questions or discussion? No. Okay. We have a motion in a second. So why don't we vote? 574 00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:24,280 Hi. 575 00:45:25,060 --> 00:45:25,380 Hi. 576 00:45:26,420 --> 00:45:26,680 Okay. 577 00:45:26,860 --> 00:45:27,120 It's approved. 578 00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:27,760 It's submitted. 579 00:45:29,340 --> 00:45:30,060 Thank you. 580 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:37,320 Last case tonight is 82638, 4412, Chickering Lane, for variants for retaining wall 581 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:39,320 over 3 feet and night. 582 00:45:49,220 --> 00:45:50,580 Is it still your name for the record, sir? 583 00:45:52,420 --> 00:45:52,660 Hi. 584 00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:57,020 I'm Justin Donovan with Richard Williams Architects. 585 00:45:57,800 --> 00:45:58,100 Yes. 586 00:45:58,100 --> 00:46:04,180 up here. Okay. I'm Justin Donovan with Richard Williams Architects. We're working with 587 00:46:04,180 --> 00:46:13,680 Derek landscape architects here representing Todd and Eony Leary. We're requesting 588 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:22,060 a variance for a retaining wall over three feet. If I could start by looking at 589 00:46:22,060 --> 00:46:30,000 vicinity map, maybe page two, Mary, we can see the lot is in a regular flag shaped 590 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:38,460 lot of moderately steep terrain rising over 180 feet from chickering lane to the rear 591 00:46:38,460 --> 00:46:52,040 of the lot. So very steep lot, the building existing building, existing house, we've 592 00:46:52,040 --> 00:47:02,540 of the existing house and a relatively small clearing at the top of this wooded hillside. 593 00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:07,660 So next slide shows the existing site plan. 594 00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:12,420 We see the existing building, let's get it in a slated for demolition. 595 00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:18,900 It's around the footprint, by the way, is around 7,000 square feet. 596 00:47:18,900 --> 00:47:30,940 There's an existing fountain to be removed to remain as an existing detached garage building number two swimming pool item number three and existing 597 00:47:31,900 --> 00:47:34,260 retaining walls that are 598 00:47:34,740 --> 00:47:42,680 much higher than than three feet at the back and it's they're holding the hill side back creating this open 599 00:47:44,140 --> 00:47:46,760 You know building building site 600 00:47:46,760 --> 00:48:03,480 The next slide shows our proposed footprint, and the whole idea here is we've designed a house that is a more compact footprint that is built at the edge of the buildable site, 601 00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:15,560 We're avoiding removal of trees, but we're really, we've designed a house and garden at the 602 00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:23,540 top of this beautiful, you know, we're light and opening and garden or at a premium. 603 00:48:24,700 --> 00:48:30,180 We've really tried to, instead of occupying that open space with the house, we're just building 604 00:48:30,180 --> 00:48:38,360 at the edge following the existing contours, but yes, number three there identifies the retaining 605 00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:39,100 wall. 606 00:48:41,460 --> 00:48:49,480 Maybe the last site plan there again. This is the retaining wall that is greater 607 00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:58,700 than three feet. And it allows circulation to the front entry, and we'll see a couple renderings. 608 00:48:58,700 --> 00:49:06,840 I guess, yeah, we can look at the next proposed elevation, we'll have to zoom out to see 609 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:12,720 the retaining wall here, 11 feet, 4 inches at max height. 610 00:49:13,020 --> 00:49:18,860 This is facing checkering lane, but it's quite a distance up the hill, not visible from 611 00:49:18,860 --> 00:49:19,600 checkering lane. 612 00:49:20,940 --> 00:49:28,000 And technically it's the front of the house, but really the next image, the east elevation 613 00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:36,860 is the arrival elevation that we see a section cut through the 11 foot floor tall wall. 614 00:49:37,380 --> 00:49:48,900 Yes, that's the front door and next we'll see a rendering of the proposed house and the 615 00:49:48,900 --> 00:49:49,580 site wall. 616 00:49:51,890 --> 00:49:55,990 This would be from the driveway as you're ascending and going up the hill. 617 00:49:55,990 --> 00:50:03,610 Next view is you're arriving and here we are the parking court, motor court and we're seeing 618 00:50:03,610 --> 00:50:11,910 that wall and it creates a entry garden for the front entry. 619 00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:26,360 It might be the version of our PDF but let's see the next image might not be in the order 620 00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:33,160 We're expecting if we, you want to jump forward to the site plant rendered site plan? 621 00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:36,560 Let's do that. 622 00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:39,960 Let's advance to the colorful site plan. 623 00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:43,700 Or maybe you want to look at the existing photos. 624 00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:53,480 And day landscape architect. 625 00:50:55,540 --> 00:50:56,020 So, 626 00:50:58,620 --> 00:51:03,740 I had kind of wanted to expound upon what you were saying on the survey, could you go to the existing survey? 627 00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:05,940 Mary, please? 628 00:51:06,980 --> 00:51:07,480 Yeah, right here. 629 00:51:08,020 --> 00:51:13,660 I actually did a little math and I thought it was interesting that the house sits approximately 630 00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:16,940 778 feet from jickering lanes. 631 00:51:16,940 --> 00:51:19,700 you really can't see it from the road. 632 00:51:20,240 --> 00:51:24,020 And as Justin pointed out, it is 182 feet 633 00:51:24,020 --> 00:51:27,480 from the road all the way to the highest point, 634 00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:30,120 which equals roughly 18 stories, 635 00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:33,680 which I thought that was an interesting little exercise. 636 00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:38,380 So it's a really very steep site heavily wooded. 637 00:51:38,380 --> 00:51:41,060 And I wanted to point out, as Justin mentioned, 638 00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:43,280 the only flat area that we have to work with 639 00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:44,900 is where that existing house was. 640 00:51:44,900 --> 00:51:47,880 It was such a big footprint by reducing the footprint. 641 00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:51,400 It's really opened up some flat area to create more garden space. 642 00:51:52,100 --> 00:51:53,760 So we're really excited about that. 643 00:51:55,990 --> 00:51:57,570 And here's some just existing photos. 644 00:51:57,730 --> 00:52:02,330 You can see this is from Chickering Lane at the entry. 645 00:52:03,050 --> 00:52:06,070 You really can't see when the trees are lived out, 646 00:52:06,070 --> 00:52:08,830 especially you can't see anything up there. 647 00:52:09,410 --> 00:52:11,870 These are just some other views as you come up the driveway. 648 00:52:12,290 --> 00:52:15,950 This one over here on the right is important because that's 649 00:52:15,950 --> 00:52:21,130 Basically where the house is going to be sitting on that slope, and you can see where that wall 650 00:52:21,130 --> 00:52:27,070 is going to be going right there where Mary's pointer was, so you can see how much grave 651 00:52:27,070 --> 00:52:28,570 we're working with right there. 652 00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:46,100 And this is the existing pool. It's pretty dated. It pretty much overflows every time it has water in it, or rains. And so our intent is to just renovate the pool, but we're keeping it in the same square footage and just renovating the pool. 653 00:52:46,620 --> 00:52:56,640 And these are some examples of the walls. The Tennessee Philstone walls that we're going to keep and we're working within. So just so you get a sense of some of the existing walls on the site. 654 00:52:56,640 --> 00:52:57,060 And 655 00:53:01,960 --> 00:53:07,760 then if you could go to that the master plan, Mary, I think it's Z0.0. 656 00:53:15,430 --> 00:53:18,830 Remember if it was, is it last? 657 00:53:26,160 --> 00:53:31,080 Well, there is a colored rendering somewhere. If you can keep flipping through, 658 00:53:42,020 --> 00:53:43,120 it's at the very end. 659 00:53:45,740 --> 00:53:46,580 Here it is. 660 00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:49,100 Yeah. Okay. 661 00:53:52,700 --> 00:53:57,600 In just a general overview, we're really not asking for anything here. 662 00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:03,240 I just wanted to give some context how we're utilizing that flat space that was created 663 00:54:03,240 --> 00:54:06,480 by the existing house and creating more garden space. 664 00:54:07,700 --> 00:54:12,700 We are working within the bounds of the existing walls, thus minimizing disturbance. 665 00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:29,160 And we are also renovating the existing pool and I wanted to kind of reiterate some points that Justin made about the wall that we're asking for, which is here. 666 00:54:29,300 --> 00:54:32,820 We're asking for a wall that's higher than three feet. 667 00:54:33,660 --> 00:54:38,180 I would say it's arguably a continuation of the house. 668 00:54:38,620 --> 00:54:42,920 The house itself is acting as a retaining feature, 669 00:54:43,260 --> 00:54:45,980 and the wall is necessary to hold up the entrance 670 00:54:45,980 --> 00:54:47,080 to get to the front door. 671 00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:50,800 So basically it's kind of a continuation of that 672 00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:55,400 as the house opens up to the lower story as it meets back up. 673 00:54:56,120 --> 00:54:58,020 And so we basically just need to fill this area 674 00:54:58,020 --> 00:54:59,540 so they can get to their front door. 675 00:54:59,540 --> 00:55:06,080 And as the gray drops off, it basically feathers out to be zero and height at that point. 676 00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:08,360 So the gray just drops off. 677 00:55:08,420 --> 00:55:14,240 And I did try to look at doing it in three foot increments to tear us this out. 678 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:17,420 And as we did it, it just kept chasing the grade. 679 00:55:17,520 --> 00:55:20,440 And it seemed way more complicated than it needed to be. 680 00:55:20,460 --> 00:55:24,440 So we felt like it would be less disturbance to just build a tall wall, 681 00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:29,200 get it over with, and just not disturb the grade more than necessary. 682 00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:31,800 So, that's kind of where we landed on that. 683 00:55:32,660 --> 00:55:36,580 So, I think that's it. 684 00:55:37,400 --> 00:55:38,100 Thank you. 685 00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:39,440 Questions for the applicant? 686 00:55:49,130 --> 00:55:50,390 Close the applicant portion, 687 00:55:50,630 --> 00:55:52,650 anybody in the public wish to speak to this application? 688 00:55:55,570 --> 00:55:56,350 Any letters, Mary? 689 00:55:56,610 --> 00:55:58,910 No, I didn't receive any letters for against. 690 00:55:59,150 --> 00:56:00,910 Okay, let's close the public portions. 691 00:56:02,170 --> 00:56:03,490 Start the board portion, Mary. 692 00:56:03,550 --> 00:56:04,610 What's the staff recommendation? 693 00:56:05,710 --> 00:56:07,250 Staff recommends approval. 694 00:56:07,250 --> 00:56:32,510 So I had long discussions with the applicants on this, about the argument that it was part of the building itself, and I tend to be very conservative with my interpretation of the zoning code, and so I looked at it as kind of, that it's not really part of the house structure itself that it's like an apartments to it, they could have constructed stairs to get up to the front porch, therefore I said it did require just a safe, did require the variance approval. 695 00:56:33,570 --> 00:56:42,490 This site is not visible from the chickering nor I believe any of the joining property owners 696 00:56:42,490 --> 00:56:45,770 have been up to the site in the dead of winter and it's still not visible. 697 00:56:47,470 --> 00:56:52,750 I think the applicants have worked really well trying to use the existing building envelope 698 00:56:52,750 --> 00:56:57,570 that's already been flattened as opposed to doing mass creating on this site. 699 00:56:57,570 --> 00:57:02,090 I don't have an issue with the small portion of this retaining wall. 700 00:57:02,830 --> 00:57:07,630 Again, in a massive scale, it looks like it's part of the house itself. 701 00:57:08,370 --> 00:57:15,830 So I don't think that they are using the retaining walls in change of grade to try to 702 00:57:15,830 --> 00:57:18,910 deviate from the natural character of that site. 703 00:57:19,990 --> 00:57:20,810 Thank you. 704 00:57:21,830 --> 00:57:22,090 Motion. 705 00:57:22,810 --> 00:57:23,570 I mentioned a break. 706 00:57:25,030 --> 00:57:26,110 Motion in a second. 707 00:57:26,110 --> 00:57:36,330 discussion? I feel like it's well done and it's a part of the site is a hardship. I think 708 00:57:36,330 --> 00:57:41,910 they minimize the impact as much as they can and preserve it as it's facing not taking 709 00:57:41,910 --> 00:57:47,410 down and increasing it's not that I think it's respectful of the site and feel it's a good solution. 710 00:57:47,410 --> 00:57:51,290 I agree. Other comments or discussion? 711 00:57:53,950 --> 00:57:58,570 Okay, let's hear some. Let's vote Carter. 712 00:57:58,850 --> 00:57:59,450 Hi. 713 00:57:59,710 --> 00:58:00,270 I vote aye. 714 00:58:00,990 --> 00:58:01,110 Hi. 715 00:58:02,150 --> 00:58:02,450 Okay. 716 00:58:04,130 --> 00:58:04,750 That's done. 717 00:58:05,350 --> 00:58:06,590 Mary's at the last item. 718 00:58:07,250 --> 00:58:08,990 Yes, that concludes our meeting for this evening. 719 00:58:09,610 --> 00:58:10,230 Thank you very much. 720 00:58:10,510 --> 00:58:11,670 Thank you. 721 00:58:13,070 --> 00:58:16,910 Motion to adjourn, second, all in favor, aye.