[0:00] appeals for case number 2020-01

[0:06] my name is dara spencer and i am the

[0:09] chair of the chesapeake beach board

[0:11] of appeals tonight's hearing is being

[0:15] conducted

[0:16] virtually each member of the board is

[0:19] participating

[0:20] remotely the hearing is being

[0:24] live streamed and will be published on

[0:27] youtube

[0:29] for those persons logged on to this

[0:32] meeting

[0:34] or uh

[0:40] on the call you'll have an opportunity

[0:43] to speak ask questions

[0:46] and comment for the record

[0:49] at the appropriate time i will ask for

[0:51] your comments

[0:54] so let me take a roll call element of

[0:57] the members

[0:59] and call this hearing to order

[1:04] mr david ferguson are you here

[1:07] i'm here miss kelly stewart

[1:11] are you here

[1:18] mr jody home star are you here

[1:26] miss jane ruttke are you here

[1:29] yes i am and i would like to

[1:33] welcome you jane as the new member

[1:37] thank you darth to the board of

[1:39] appearance

[1:42] okay uh let it be recorded that we have

[1:44] a quorum

[1:47] also with us sharon hume

[1:51] who is the town clerk and secretary to

[1:53] the board of appeals

[1:55] frederick sussman who is the attorney

[1:58] for the board of appeals

[2:00] and christopher jacoba

[2:04] which is the town planner and zoning

[2:07] administrator

[2:09] the purpose of this hearing is to

[2:11] consent to consider

[2:13] two requests from the calvin county

[2:16] board of education

[2:18] the board of education is proposing to

[2:20] develop

[2:22] 7900 old bayside road in order to

[2:25] replace

[2:26] beach elementary school with a new

[2:29] school building

[2:31] the first request is for a special

[2:35] exception in order to use the property

[2:38] of seventy nine hundred old bayside bill

[2:43] for a public school the second request

[2:46] is the variance the applicant

[2:50] would like to modify the zoning

[2:52] ordinances

[2:54] maximum height limit so that the new

[2:57] school building can exceed the limit of

[2:59] 35 feet

[3:02] we will hear the special exception case

[3:06] first only after we've heard all the

[3:09] evidence on the special exception

[3:12] and any public comment will we take up

[3:16] the variance case once we've heard all

[3:19] the testimony on

[3:21] the variants including public comments

[3:24] we will close the hearing and move into

[3:27] deliberations

[3:28] it is my intention that we decide both

[3:32] matters this evening

[3:36] before we begin testimony

[3:39] i like to ask mr sussman to swear in

[3:42] everyone

[3:44] who intends to offer comments and

[3:46] testify at this

[3:48] evening's hearing on either

[3:51] the special exception and or the

[3:54] variance

[3:55] so if you wish to speak to the board

[3:57] this evening

[3:58] on these matters please prepare now

[4:02] to be sworn in

[4:06] so if anybody who would like to or

[4:08] intend

[4:09] to speak to the board tonight would

[4:11] raise your right hand

[4:13] i will administer the oath

[4:17] do you follow solidly swear or affirm

[4:20] under the penalties of perjury that the

[4:23] testimony

[4:24] you are about to give and the responses

[4:27] and statements

[4:28] you are about to make will be the whole

[4:30] truth

[4:31] and nothing but the truth and signify

[4:34] by saying i do i do

[4:39] well the record reflects that many

[4:42] people have

[4:44] indicated they intend to testify and

[4:46] have taken the oath

[4:51] thank you madam chair okay

[4:54] now i'd like to ask the board secretary

[4:57] sharon hume to confirm that this meeting

[5:00] was properly notified

[5:02] and advertised as required by town code

[5:08] yes the pop pro the property was posted

[5:11] on july 27th

[5:13] uh in three areas on the property um

[5:17] advertised in the southern maryland

[5:18] newspaper beginning uh

[5:20] on the july 24th edition and then ran

[5:24] for

[5:24] three weeks thereafter uh the adjacent

[5:27] property owners were notified by

[5:29] certified mail by letter dated july 31st

[5:34] okay good these documents will now be uh

[5:39] recorded as exhibits

[5:43] now let's begin with the application

[5:45] [Music]

[5:46] before i turn to the town planner for a

[5:49] summary

[5:50] i'd like mr sussman to take a moment to

[5:53] explain

[5:54] what special exceptions and variances

[5:57] are

[5:58] and what criteria we will use to make

[6:01] our decisions

[6:04] thank you madam chair first we have

[6:07] what's known as a special exception is a use that the

[6:14] count council has determined is

[6:16] appropriate

[6:17] and compatible in a particular zoning

[6:20] district

[6:21] as well as certain criteria are

[6:23] satisfied

[6:28] in deciding to approve or deny a special

[6:31] exception

[6:32] the board applies standards that are set

[6:35] forth

[6:36] in section 290-12-d

[6:40] of the zoning ordinance each standard

[6:44] must be satisfied and the applicant

[6:47] has the burden of proof there are

[6:50] six standards which i will read to you

[6:53] now

[6:54] number one the establishment

[6:57] maintenance and operation of the special

[7:00] exception

[7:01] will not be detrimental to or endanger

[7:05] the public health safety or general

[7:07] welfare

[7:09] number two the special exception

[7:13] shall be such that it will be harmonious

[7:15] in character

[7:17] as well as appropriate in appearance

[7:20] with

[7:21] and will not be injurious to the use

[7:25] and enjoyment of other property in the

[7:27] neighborhood

[7:29] for the purposes already permitted nor

[7:34] they canceled mine what was that i

[7:36] thought it was bernie

[7:38] i know but i thought it was coming out

[7:40] of bernie's throat

[7:42] uh can somebody abuse themselves please

[7:48] so as i was saying the uh

[7:52] the youth will not be injurious to the

[7:55] youth and enjoyment of other property in

[7:57] the neighborhood

[7:58] for the purposes already permitted nor

[8:00] substantially diminish

[8:02] and impair property values within the

[8:05] neighborhood

[8:07] three the establishment of the special

[8:10] exception

[8:10] will not impede the normal and orderly

[8:14] development

[8:15] and improvement of surrounding

[8:17] properties

[8:18] for the uses permitted in the zoning

[8:21] district

[8:22] number four the establishment

[8:26] and operation of the special exception

[8:29] will not adversely impact the capacity

[8:33] and or safety of the town infrastructure

[8:37] such as roads water and sewer drainage

[8:40] and things of that nature

[8:43] fine the special exception shall be such

[8:47] that pedestrian and vehicular traffic

[8:50] associated with such use

[8:53] will not be hazardous to or unduly

[8:56] conflict

[8:57] with the existing and anticipated

[8:59] traffic

[9:00] in the neighborhood and finally number

[9:03] six

[9:05] the establishment maintenance and

[9:07] operation

[9:08] of the special exception are consistent

[9:11] with the town of chesapeake beach

[9:13] comprehensive plan

[9:15] so those are the six criteria that the

[9:18] board

[9:18] has to consider and make positive

[9:21] findings on

[9:22] in order to grant a special exception

[9:25] now let me turn for a moment to a

[9:27] variance is a modification

[9:32] to the strict application of the

[9:35] dimensional standards

[9:36] of the zoning ordinance there are times

[9:40] when an applicant

[9:41] faces significant limitations

[9:45] in the ability to develop land because

[9:48] of the lay of the land or

[9:50] some other physical condition of these

[9:52] plants such as

[9:54] shape or topography and cannot meet the

[9:57] dimensional standard

[9:58] or finds that trying to meet the

[10:00] standard

[10:01] he or she would experience a hardship

[10:06] the zoning ordinance provides or allows

[10:09] for the

[10:10] standard to be modified or varied

[10:14] but in order for the board to approve a

[10:16] variance an

[10:18] applicant must prove and the board must

[10:20] find

[10:22] that certain standards are met for a

[10:24] very

[10:25] for a variance there are five standards

[10:28] that must be met

[10:30] first that the granting of the variants

[10:34] will be in harmony with the general

[10:36] purpose

[10:37] and intent of the zoning ordinance

[10:40] and shall not be injurious to the

[10:43] neighborhood

[10:44] or otherwise detrimental to the public

[10:46] welfare

[10:48] number two that the granting of the

[10:51] variance

[10:52] will not permit the existence within the

[10:55] zoning district of any use which is not

[10:58] permitted

[10:58] in that district number three

[11:02] that there are special circumstances or

[11:05] conditions

[11:06] fully described in the board findings

[11:08] applying to the land

[11:10] or buildings for which the variance is

[11:12] sought

[11:14] which circumstances or conditions are

[11:16] peculiar to the land of buildings

[11:19] and do not apply generally to land or

[11:22] buildings

[11:23] in the neighborhood and that the

[11:25] circumstances or conditions

[11:27] are such that the strict interpretation

[11:30] of the provisions of the zoning chapter

[11:33] would deprive the applicant of the

[11:36] reasonable use

[11:37] of the lander building number four

[11:42] that there exists unnecessary hardship

[11:45] if the hardship unnecessary hardship

[11:48] if the hardship is general that is

[11:51] shared

[11:52] generally by lander buildings of the

[11:54] neighborhood relief

[11:56] should be properly obtained only by

[11:59] legislative action

[12:01] by the town council or by court review

[12:05] of the attack on the validity of the

[12:08] zoning ordinance

[12:10] and finally number five and again i

[12:13] would ask

[12:13] somebody who uh has their uh

[12:17] mic on to please mute

[12:20] that the granting of the variance is

[12:22] necessary for the reasonable use of the

[12:25] land

[12:25] or building and that's invariance

[12:29] as granted by the board is the minimum

[12:32] variance

[12:32] that will accomplish the purpose so

[12:36] those

[12:36] five standards must be found by the

[12:38] board

[12:39] in order to grab the variance thank you

[12:44] we're going to take up the special

[12:46] exception

[12:48] first so in a moment i will ask mr

[12:51] jakubiak

[12:53] to summarize the special exception

[12:55] requests

[12:57] after we have had an opportunity to ask

[13:00] chris questions

[13:02] i will ask the applicant to introduce

[13:04] those members

[13:05] who will be offering testimony and to

[13:08] present the case

[13:10] on the special exception i want to

[13:13] repeat

[13:14] that i would like to hear the case

[13:18] for the special exception first

[13:21] once we've heard the applicant's case

[13:24] for the special exception

[13:26] we will hear from anyone who may wish to

[13:28] testify

[13:29] on behalf of or in opposition to

[13:33] the special exception then i will close

[13:37] the testimony on

[13:39] the special exception and we'll start

[13:42] again but this time

[13:43] with the variance after we finish the

[13:46] presentation of

[13:48] evidence and the public comment on the

[13:51] variants

[13:53] we will formally begin our deliberate

[13:55] deliberations

[13:57] and decide each matter if

[14:02] there is no objection from the board

[14:05] i'd like to ask the town planner staff

[14:10] uh be entered into the record as

[14:13] an exhibit

[14:16] okay mr jacobiak please summarize the

[14:19] special

[14:20] exception application

[14:25] okay thank you um first i'd like to ask

[14:27] holly uh who i believe is posting

[14:30] tonight's meeting if she could share the

[14:34] screen allow me to share the screen

[14:35] so i can place an exhibit on

[14:39] your monitors

[14:42] sure you should be able to share

[14:49] uh well right now it says uh host

[14:51] disabled

[14:53] attendee screen sharing

[14:59] okay go ahead

[15:10] okay

[15:12] can everyone see the aerial photograph

[15:17] showing the school and the neighborhood

[15:20] yes indeed okay yes

[15:24] now especially the members thank you

[15:28] the um the application for a special

[15:32] exception

[15:34] uh is required under the zoning

[15:35] ordinance to redevelop

[15:37] this property it's currently the home as

[15:40] you know

[15:41] to beach elementary school which is

[15:43] about 65 000 square feet

[15:46] of building coverage uh

[15:49] it's located at the inner section

[15:54] bayside road and bayside road

[15:58] at 7 900 bayside and um i wanted to

[16:01] point out a couple of features

[16:03] that are relevant to tonight's

[16:04] discussion first the

[16:06] front of the school property along

[16:09] bayside road is largely devoted to

[16:13] recreational uh

[16:16] activities there's tennis courts there's

[16:18] a small

[16:20] park in a little grove of trees

[16:24] it's generally recognized as an open

[16:25] space amenity for

[16:27] the town i wanted to mention that there

[16:29] is a sidewalk

[16:30] along bayside road it's a five-foot

[16:34] sidewalk it exists today

[16:36] has been there for many many years there

[16:38] is no sidewalk

[16:40] on the east side of bayside road

[16:44] and there is no sidewalk south of old

[16:47] bayside road

[16:49] there is no sidewalk on old bayside road

[16:52] either those are existing conditions

[16:55] um i also wanted to point out that

[16:59] the site is 17 acres in size

[17:05] but a major part of the site is

[17:09] simply undevelopable or couldn't be

[17:12] developed without substantial impact to

[17:15] the environment

[17:17] this forested area is part of the

[17:20] property

[17:21] there are steep slopes here and there

[17:24] are wetlands

[17:26] here's the marsh that um

[17:30] characterizes the town and you can see

[17:33] the the railway trail

[17:37] just north of the site over the marsh

[17:42] uh here's e street which is almost at

[17:45] the

[17:45] just beyond the edge of the property and

[17:47] here's the water tower site

[17:49] which stands at about 135 foot tall

[17:52] um and will remit

[17:55] will always remain a prominent feature

[17:58] in this

[17:58] the uh landscape

[18:04] side of the town so i i mentioned the

[18:07] sidewalks only to

[18:08] indicate to you that they're not very

[18:11] adequate just yet

[18:12] but the project itself is going to make

[18:14] a major contribution

[18:15] to improving the situation um the school will be providing a

[18:23] sky a sidewalk connection from

[18:26] bayside road all the way through the

[18:29] frontage of the property

[18:31] um and i know that the applicant will

[18:34] make

[18:35] an extraordinary presentation like he

[18:37] did in front of the planning commission

[18:39] a couple weeks back

[18:40] and he will show you where that sidewalk

[18:42] on

[18:46] and how it works to separate kids

[18:50] from buses and kids from vehicle traffic

[18:53] um you might also wonder about how

[18:56] kids from south of

[19:02] uh enter the school site

[19:05] for the time being there is no sidewalk

[19:07] here but there is a sidewalk proposed

[19:10] as part of the safe routes to school

[19:12] project which is a state

[19:14] funding program in cooperation with

[19:16] towns to develop

[19:17] sidewalks uh it's certainly

[19:20] our hope when i say that i mean me as

[19:23] staff in the planning commission

[19:25] that is looking at improving walkability

[19:28] in chesapeake beach

[19:30] it is our hope that sidewalks will

[19:33] eventually be built that will connect

[19:35] the neighborhood to the school

[19:38] the planning commission thinks it's

[19:40] important

[19:43] at least have the ability to walk to

[19:45] school and

[19:46] so that's a part of this project that i

[19:49] think these

[19:50] the applicants have gone a long way to

[19:52] helping us

[19:53] realize and you'll see that in a few

[19:56] moments

[19:58] um there are a number of standards as

[20:02] mr sussman mentioned that have to be met

[20:05] and it's up to the applicant to prove to

[20:07] you that each of those

[20:08] standards are met but i'd like

[20:12] you to keep in mind that this site has

[20:14] been a school

[20:16] site since 1953

[20:19] and over time it has

[20:23] been expanded and morphed into its

[20:26] current configuration

[20:28] there have been a number of additions to

[20:29] it over time

[20:31] the current capacity of the school is

[20:35] about 471 students and

[20:38] over time that the actual enrollment has

[20:40] exceeded capacity

[20:42] uh and i am not aware of there being any

[20:45] significant impacts of that school site

[20:48] on adjoining properties or in health or

[20:50] safety or public welfare

[20:51] these things that our standards ask us

[20:54] to look at

[20:56] the proposed school will have a capacity

[20:59] of uh

[21:06] 474 or actually i can't remember right

[21:08] now i'll have to look

[21:10] um to verify that but it's going to be

[21:12] roughly 500

[21:13] roughly 100 students more um

[21:18] and then looking through the staff

[21:19] report

[21:21] 578 578 thank you thank you

[21:25] so i i um

[21:29] i wanted to mention that however the

[21:31] school building itself

[21:32] in terms of its footprint on the

[21:34] landscape is going to be about ten

[21:36] thousand square feet smaller

[21:38] um and in part that's a reflection of

[21:41] the fact that

[21:42] it's difficult to build a new school

[21:46] on a site that's constrained

[21:48] environmentally

[21:50] and keep the students in school while

[21:52] you're doing it

[21:53] so the proposal will be to maintain

[21:58] the existing buildings or building while

[22:00] the new school is being built

[22:02] and um it's a fact that

[22:05] there's not much room

[22:09] on this site to do school uh

[22:13] that is your traditional suburban

[22:15] sprawling school

[22:17] and uh in response to those conditions

[22:19] uh the

[22:20] architecture and engineering team took a

[22:22] pretty innovative approach to address

[22:25] site conditions and and to minimize the

[22:27] impact of

[22:28] the new building on the town on streets

[22:32] on the neighborhood and

[22:38] standards that have to be met um

[22:42] so regarding standard one i just want to

[22:44] take a quick summary and i know the

[22:46] applicant will present

[22:47] this information too but many ways on

[22:51] divorcing but they will say

[22:54] the the use will not be detrimental to

[22:58] or endanger the public health or safety

[23:01] uh regarding uh standard one as i

[23:09] mentioned the school has existed since

[23:10] 1953

[23:12] um and ingress and egress

[23:15] have not appeared to create any safety

[23:16] concerns the current proposal that

[23:18] you'll see tonight

[23:19] um addresses a lot of access issues

[23:23] and seeks to separate pedestrians from

[23:27] vehicles

[23:28] um regarding standard two uh the

[23:31] special exception will be harmonious in

[23:33] character as well as appropriate in

[23:35] appearance appearance

[23:37] and will not injure the enjoyment of

[23:39] property in the neighborhood

[23:42] i wanted to mention that the

[23:43] illustrations that you have in your

[23:45] package

[23:47] are designed to indicate that the

[23:48] building will use materials and

[23:50] architectural styles and motifs

[23:53] with local precedent they're drawn from

[23:56] chesapeake beach in the

[23:57] existing built environment

[24:02] and the applicant i'm

[24:05] fairly certain will take time to

[24:07] demonstrate how their proposed building

[24:10] while it will be taller in places than

[24:12] the current building

[24:13] uh has been designed to fit compatibly

[24:16] uh within this residential neighborhood

[24:22] regarding standard three the

[24:25] establishment of the special exception would not impede the

[24:28] normal and orderly development

[24:30] of surrounding properties um as you know

[24:32] the area is largely developed now there

[24:36] are houses on

[24:37] old bayside road and there are houses on

[24:40] 15th street uh they exist today

[24:43] and the school has existed there in a

[24:46] harmonious way more or less

[24:48] uh for many decades and we don't

[24:51] anticipate that

[24:52] changing uh with the just a change in

[24:54] the configuration of the building in the

[24:56] site

[24:58] regarding standard four

[25:03] the establishment and operation of the

[25:05] special exception will not adversely

[25:07] impact the capacity and safety of the

[25:09] town

[25:10] infrastructure uh roads water sewer and

[25:12] drainage

[25:19] the water and sewer systems are

[25:22] more than adequate to serve the the

[25:25] school

[25:27] um in fact

[25:30] while i my my belief is having looked at

[25:33] this is that the actual

[25:34] usage of water and sewage may be

[25:37] at least the water demand will be um

[25:42] maybe less than the current school

[25:44] because all the fixtures will be modern

[25:46] and

[25:46] energy or water conservation fixtures

[25:51] the impacted aerial roads will be

[25:55] not be materially different than

[25:58] the current usage buses will have a

[26:01] special one-way route

[26:03] from an in to antu bay old bay side road

[26:06] for drop off and pickup

[26:08] there won't be buses lined up on old

[26:11] bayside road

[26:13] there's also going to be a fairly

[26:15] extensive sidewalk network along the

[26:17] perimeter of the property

[26:22] number five this special exception will

[26:25] be such that pedestrian and vehicle

[26:27] traffic

[26:28] uh would not be hazardous to or unduly

[26:31] conflict with the existing

[26:33] and anticipated traffic in the

[26:35] neighborhood

[26:37] the only reservation i have about this

[26:39] and this is something that i will

[26:40] certainly take up with the

[26:41] um the engineer is that the current

[26:44] sidewalk

[26:45] ends um the sidewalk that's proposed by the

[26:51] applicant

[26:52] ends about 130 feet or so short of

[26:56] an intersection so it kind of stops mid

[26:58] block

[26:59] just before it gets to

[27:03] e street and because of that that's an

[27:06] issue and um we would like to coordinate with

[27:10] the

[27:10] school to ensure that that connection

[27:13] gets

[27:14] built in a reasonable time and that's

[27:16] something that i like to coordinate

[27:18] between our town engineer

[27:19] and the the applicant's engineer so that

[27:22] we're all in the same

[27:24] wavelength uh and we're all marching in

[27:27] the same direction about getting that

[27:28] sidewall

[27:29] accomplished in a reasonable time that

[27:32] sidewalk

[27:33] all the way to e street is actually part

[27:34] of the safe safe routes to school

[27:37] plan that we're working with the state

[27:39] highway administration on

[27:41] and the last standard is about the

[27:43] comprehensive plan

[27:45] um and uh

[27:48] the established maintenance and

[27:49] operation of this special exception are

[27:51] consistent with the comprehensive plan

[27:53] chesapeake beach well the plan calls for

[27:56] school at this site obviously and hasn't

[27:58] departed from that

[27:59] through a number of iterations of the comprehensive plan

[28:07] social science being connected to it it

[28:10] shows a park and recreational resource

[28:12] being made

[28:13] out of the school so that the school

[28:15] continues to be a a

[28:16] park we have a map in the comprehensive

[28:18] plan that shows p for park right on the school property and i'm

[28:21] happy to say that the school is actually

[28:23] showing that very thing and in that

[28:25] respect it's retained that

[28:27] character that the current school has

[28:29] the tennis courts up in the front

[28:32] um park and open space and in fact

[28:36] from my standpoint as a urban planner

[28:39] i've i see that the schools actually

[28:41] improved upon that

[28:43] part of the town's character

[28:47] by actually expanding the accessibility

[28:50] of that open space and

[28:51] building upon it and i'm certain that

[28:53] the applicant will

[28:54] discuss that today the one part that

[28:58] these schools um i

[29:01] still need to address and i and as

[29:04] indicated to me

[29:05] and to the planning commission its

[29:06] willingness to address

[29:08] is connecting these school property

[29:11] to the rails or to the fishing creek

[29:14] trail project

[29:15] um and that's a something of vital importance

[29:21] to the comprehensive planet of town and

[29:23] i'm very confident that uh we'll take

[29:25] that issue up when this matter goes back

[29:27] to the planning commission

[29:29] but i wanted to hire that like that to

[29:31] you um

[29:32] and if you have any questions about the

[29:33] applicant on that specific point

[29:35] uh you could certainly that can

[29:37] certainly be a discussion tonight

[29:40] although it does not need to be because

[29:41] i feel the applicant has

[29:44] indicated a clear willingness to to

[29:47] close the window on that issue

[29:50] and work with us to at least identify

[29:53] where that

[29:54] alignment might be in the future or best

[29:56] could be to connect the school property

[29:58] to the town's fishing creek railway

[30:01] trail

[30:03] so in summary on the special exception

[30:08] oops

[30:12] sorry trying to get there

[30:19] on the special exception request the applicant proposes to completely

[30:26] redevelop

[30:27] this property the building

[30:30] mass that is located here now in the

[30:33] front

[30:34] will largely be shifted to this area

[30:37] where my where i'm circling here um

[30:40] and much of this area will be devoted to

[30:44] open space and

[30:45] recreational amenities um

[30:49] the impact to the natural environment

[30:52] will be substantially minimized there's

[30:54] very little incursion into

[30:56] the critical area buffer or wetlands

[30:59] and to the extent there is any incursion

[31:02] into the wetlands

[31:03] the town has already found that those

[31:06] con incursions which are quite minimal

[31:08] actually

[31:09] amounting to about 10 to 13 000 square

[31:12] feet

[31:13] are necessary for the project they

[31:15] actually repair stormwater management

[31:17] outfall which will improve the

[31:18] environmental condition

[31:21] and and these incursions or cutouts of

[31:24] the

[31:24] natural area are actually consistent

[31:27] with the plan

[31:28] because any tree that is removed will be

[31:32] replaced within the buffer any shrubs or

[31:34] natural vegetation

[31:36] will be replaced essentially in the same

[31:38] location where they're removed

[31:40] but certainly within the official

[31:42] critical area buffer

[31:43] and we've been in contact with the

[31:46] critical area commission now

[31:47] already and uh we've gotten guidance

[31:50] from them

[31:50] and i feel confident that the final plan

[31:53] will implement the critical area

[31:54] regulations

[31:56] um just fine uh so that's my summary uh dr spencer

[32:04] if there's no objection from the board

[32:06] i'd like the town

[32:08] plan and staff report entered into the

[32:10] record

[32:11] as uh an exhibit

[32:15] hey mr jacobiak please summarize the

[32:18] special exception

[32:20] oh well i i know i i did a

[32:24] well just to summarize um the

[32:28] i believe the applicant has met the

[32:29] criteria for the special exception

[32:32] and while my presentation is

[32:35] simply focused on an existing map i

[32:37] wanted to save

[32:38] the actual plan documents for the

[32:40] applicant to present

[32:42] which i'm certain he's ready to do

[32:45] okay are there any questions from the

[32:47] board

[32:51] none here as well no

[33:05] okay let's hear from the applicant on

[33:09] this

[33:10] matter

[33:16] there if i may share my screen this is

[33:18] ron ilkovich

[33:19] sei architects representing calvert

[33:21] county public schools

[33:24] i'm getting a message that the host has

[33:26] disabled attendee screen sharing

[33:37] let me know when you see my screen

[33:40] someone could let me know that'd be

[33:41] great we see it

[33:44] awesome great uh if it's all right i'd

[33:46] like to

[33:48] make a presentation of the project in

[33:49] its entirety and then break down the

[33:51] special exception

[33:52] first and the variance but just to keep

[33:55] the presentation consistent

[33:57] i'll just i'll run through the entire

[33:59] project and explain it all because i

[34:00] think there are pieces

[34:03] of the project and the presentation that

[34:05] address both the special exception and

[34:07] the variance

[34:09] uh if that's okay uh as was outlined

[34:12] ahead of time chris you did a great job

[34:15] we're here to present the our

[34:17] preliminary plan for the replacement of

[34:18] the beach elementary school

[34:20] on its current site which includes the

[34:22] school

[34:23] as well as site improvements around the

[34:25] school and associated with the school

[34:28] and we're here to request that special

[34:29] exception to allow us to redevelop the

[34:31] site

[34:32] in its current existing use as a

[34:34] elementary school in the medium density

[34:36] residential zone

[34:37] and after that we're going we're here to

[34:40] also request

[34:41] a variance to exceed that 35 height foot

[34:43] height limitation

[34:45] before i begin i want to share a little

[34:47] bit about the process

[34:48] that we went through to get here you can

[34:51] see that there are many

[34:52] attendees to this meeting and many of

[34:54] those represent

[34:55] what we call our stakeholder advisory

[34:57] group

[34:58] the process that we took to get here was

[35:00] extremely collaborative

[35:02] it included both a feasibility study as

[35:04] well as a schematic design process

[35:06] and a lot of those members of that

[35:08] stakeholder group many of whom i

[35:10] again are on the call today are

[35:12] dedicated community members

[35:14] school administrators teachers parents

[35:16] people who grew up in the community

[35:19] all of whom participated in the process

[35:21] and i want to really emphasize

[35:23] that the the results of that process

[35:26] that you're going to see before you

[35:27] today

[35:27] are really result of the impact and the

[35:30] input that those people brought to that

[35:32] commitment that they made to be part of

[35:34] that stakeholder advisory group

[35:35] so i can't thank everybody enough for

[35:37] their involvement in this project

[35:40] another influence in the project and a

[35:42] stakeholder group is a town of

[35:43] chesapeake beach

[35:45] we took very much into consideration the

[35:47] 2040

[35:48] vision plan and that was a guide to our

[35:50] stakeholder group

[35:51] and we found amongst the stakeholder

[35:53] group that many of the goals

[35:55] and the ideals of that 2040 vision were

[35:57] the same goals and ideals that we had

[35:59] for our project

[36:00] the the idea of how we fit into the town plan the scale of the town

[36:05] the uh the environmental impact and the

[36:08] importance of the bay

[36:09] and the environment and the local

[36:11] ecology that had to both the town

[36:13] as well as to the school committee uh so

[36:16] before you have our kind of an analysis of the

[36:20] existing condition

[36:21] on the bottom right corner sorry i'll

[36:23] start at the top right

[36:25] this is one of the most special school

[36:27] sites i think we've ever had a great

[36:29] opportunity to work on

[36:30] uh you can see from the project site

[36:33] within a quarter mile so a five minute

[36:35] walk of the waterfront of the chesapeake bay

[36:37] as well as the fishing creek site

[36:40] within a half mile walk a 10-minute walk

[36:42] we cross the bridge into downtown

[36:44] chesapeake beach so

[36:45] the idea of the semi-urban environment

[36:48] the local ecology

[36:49] those are all pieces that make

[36:51] chesapeake beach elementary school what

[36:52] it is

[36:53] and something that we really want to

[36:54] celebrate in our project

[36:56] uh also was mentioned the idea of the

[36:59] interconnectivity of the town and this

[37:01] is a major emphasis of that 2040 vision

[37:03] as well

[37:04] so whether it be through pedestrian

[37:06] pathways or bicycle pathways you can see

[37:08] how that

[37:09] project site of the chesapeake beach

[37:10] elementary school is really integral to

[37:12] that interconnection of that town

[37:14] uh in a different way other than just

[37:16] driving to everywhere that you go

[37:18] as we move into the site we see some of

[37:21] the impacts that the

[37:22] existing conditions give us and although

[37:25] the site is 17

[37:26] acres in size as chris mentioned a lot

[37:29] of that is steep topography

[37:31] we have wetlands uh buffers as well

[37:34] as forest buffers for that forested area

[37:37] behind the school

[37:38] uh we also have the existing uh zoning

[37:41] setbacks which we are respecting with

[37:43] the project

[37:44] uh sorry environmental buffer offset

[37:47] setbacks as well as the existing

[37:49] building

[37:50] and the existing building will remain in

[37:52] place while we are

[37:54] under construction remain in operation

[37:56] while we're under construction

[37:57] uh and one thing i may point out here is

[37:59] that existing building has a large

[38:01] number of portables and outbuildings

[38:03] associated with it which really

[38:04] demonstrates the need for this project

[38:07] eliminating all those those portable

[38:09] classrooms and bringing those children into a proper elementary

[38:13] school environment

[38:14] is really important to all of us as

[38:16] community members

[38:18] all of those things together really give

[38:20] us a very limited building area

[38:22] and you can see that identified within

[38:24] this bubble on the diagram

[38:26] before you and for that reason we're

[38:29] looking for that special exception and

[38:30] also sharing that as the constraints of

[38:32] the site and the hardships that the site

[38:34] uh offered to this project

[38:39] sorry um i mentioned the idea of the

[38:42] existing school building remaining in

[38:43] place

[38:44] as a result we're limited to that

[38:46] building area to the west of the

[38:47] existing school building

[38:49] and we'll be implementing this project

[38:50] in such a way that it can be built on

[38:52] the site

[38:53] while the existing building's still in

[38:54] operation and you can see a phasing diagram here in which the

[38:58] existing building would be constructed

[39:00] once it can be constructed and occupied

[39:02] the new the once the new building is

[39:04] constructed and occupied sorry the

[39:05] existing building and portables can be

[39:07] demolished and removed

[39:08] and the remainder of the site in the

[39:10] final phase be completed

[39:12] intended for school year of 2023.

[39:16] moving into the site itself i want to

[39:18] share a little bit about what our

[39:20] process looked like

[39:22] knowing where the building really had to

[39:23] go the only buildable area of the site

[39:26] we started with this diagram

[39:27] on the top left it took the idea of how

[39:31] does the site now relate to the building

[39:33] and how does the site also relate to the

[39:35] town in that

[39:36] town master plan and with the building

[39:38] in this location

[39:40] we identified areas of program in the

[39:42] building that would relate directly to

[39:44] program in the site

[39:45] and in doing so we developed a series of

[39:47] these five zones

[39:48] across the site of the building there's

[39:50] obviously the building area

[39:52] and that's the school building zone to

[39:54] the west of the school building zone

[39:56] is the service and play areas for the

[39:58] school kind of a private more private

[40:00] uh controlled play area for the school

[40:02] and that relates directly to the gym in

[40:04] the cafeteria zone that would be in the

[40:06] school

[40:06] and being this far on back on the site

[40:08] it's also the ideal place for service

[40:11] to the building on the front of the site

[40:13] it would relate to the entry sequence

[40:15] the secure entry

[40:17] gathering places outdoor learning areas

[40:19] in the front of the site

[40:20] from a staff from a town standpoint a

[40:23] town planning standpoint

[40:24] what we wanted to avoid was the idea of

[40:27] building a huge parking lot with a

[40:29] school behind it and presenting that

[40:31] kind of image

[40:32] and chris spoke very eloquently about

[40:34] the idea where the school

[40:35] we really wanted to envision it or give

[40:37] it the image of a park

[40:39] and a school within a park and for that

[40:42] reason we put the transit zone so the

[40:44] parking the drop off area and the bus

[40:46] loop behind what we're calling a public

[40:48] green

[40:49] so the face of the school from bayside

[40:51] road would would be this public green

[40:53] and then the school would occur behind

[40:55] that public green

[40:56] we then went into the implementation of

[40:58] that idea

[41:00] how we would zone the building out with the program of the school the

[41:04] playgrounds the play areas the play

[41:06] fields and the existing tennis court

[41:08] to end up with the design that you see

[41:10] on the top right of your screen here

[41:13] and i'll just explain the design from east to west

[41:16] from old bayside road we intend to

[41:18] provide a park-like setting

[41:20] again the existing tennis courts will

[41:21] remain the the project is designed such

[41:24] that a lot of the

[41:25] significant trees in this front area

[41:27] those large trees will

[41:28] also remain once our project is complete

[41:31] and behind that

[41:32] a play field uh and a natural trail kind

[41:34] of a green

[41:35] front to the building so parkland motif

[41:38] uh

[41:38] once we get beyond that into what we're

[41:40] calling the transit zone

[41:41] the parking lot and the bus loop really

[41:44] exists in an area where it's not the

[41:45] first thing the most prominent thing

[41:46] that you would experience from bayside

[41:48] road

[41:49] likewise on old bayside road we want to

[41:52] develop a green buffer zone

[41:54] buffering the building and any hard

[41:56] surfaces from old bayside road

[41:58] and create kind of this meandering

[42:00] pathway which is our sidewalk

[42:02] system connecting the two corners of our

[42:03] site here

[42:05] moving back to the building the media

[42:07] center the administration

[42:09] uh all relate to outdoor learning

[42:11] environments and i want to point out

[42:12] that by putting the administration proud

[42:14] on the southeast corner of the building

[42:16] it provides us an ideal security posture

[42:19] this is a little bit higher on the site

[42:21] and from this position it can surveil

[42:23] the entire

[42:24] front of the site as well as anybody

[42:26] coming from old bayside road

[42:27] so anyone who comes to the building

[42:29] they'll see you coming before you get to

[42:31] the front door

[42:32] that surveillance uh is a very important

[42:35] component of the school security system

[42:38] and then on the back of the site is all

[42:39] our kids play areas the schools play

[42:42] field

[42:42] related to the gym the outdoor

[42:44] playground areas related to the

[42:46] cafeteria on that

[42:48] site uh circulation through the site was

[42:51] also a critical component

[42:52] particularly for safety reasons in our

[42:54] design process

[42:56] you'll notice that with the sidewalk

[42:58] system coming in in all three major

[43:00] corners of the building

[43:01] a pedestrian student can walk to the

[43:04] front door

[43:05] without ever crossing any piece of

[43:07] traffic so whether you're you're

[43:10] coming into park or you're coming in to

[43:11] drop a child off or if the bus

[43:14] is coming to drop kids off once you get

[43:16] on that site you're able to access the

[43:18] front of the school and that front door

[43:19] without ever crossing traffic which is a

[43:21] significant

[43:22] safety uh item that we tried to

[43:25] incorporate into the design of the

[43:27] school

[43:28] likewise the circulation is also

[43:30] intended to segregate

[43:32] uh vehicle traffic parent drop-off and

[43:34] the bus

[43:35] loop circulation patterns in their

[43:37] entirety so right now those patterns

[43:39] overlap so

[43:40] parents drop off with school buses and they all

[43:43] enter interface with one another the

[43:46] idea now is that any parent dropping off

[43:48] student will do so

[43:50] essentially where they come into the

[43:51] parking lot now only we've developed a

[43:53] very

[43:54] long neck for those parents to stack

[43:55] along and they would drive down this

[43:57] lane

[43:58] and drop off directly on the sidewalk

[44:00] again the intent here

[44:02] is multiple one is any student who is

[44:04] dropped off or picked up by a parent

[44:06] does so directly from a sidewalk and

[44:08] never crosses traffic to get to that

[44:10] safety point

[44:11] the other is safety of the vehicles on

[44:13] bayside road

[44:15] creating this long neck means that no

[44:16] one is stopped on old

[44:18] on stopped on bayside road waiting to

[44:21] enter the site

[44:22] and potentially be an issue for a car

[44:24] cresting the hill coming downhill

[44:26] southbound on on bayside road getting

[44:28] that traffic off of bayside road is a

[44:30] safety measure that we're hoping to

[44:32] implement

[44:33] for the safety of bayside road

[44:36] also keeping buses off of bayside road

[44:39] and having them enter the site as they

[44:40] currently do on

[44:41] old bayside road helps the movement of

[44:44] traffic on bayside road northbound and

[44:46] southbound

[44:47] the bus loop will be reconfigured on the

[44:50] site

[44:50] kind of in its current location but now

[44:53] a little bit deeper into the site so

[44:54] that we can get appropriate turning

[44:56] radiuses

[44:57] radii i apologize and we can now park

[45:00] eight buses nose to tail

[45:01] along the sidewalk directly so kids

[45:04] getting off the bus

[45:05] again will never cross traffic between

[45:07] the bus and walking

[45:10] a significant safety measure in the safe

[45:13] access to the school site

[45:18] um looking at that diagram and where

[45:20] we're really stuck

[45:21] into the site and where the building

[45:23] really has to be really led to that

[45:26] uh difficulty of fitting all of our

[45:28] program

[45:29] in the footprint permitted and that's

[45:31] why we will be asking later this evening

[45:33] for that variance to exceed the 35 feet

[45:36] but it also offered us some

[45:38] opportunities which i'll share with you

[45:41] one was as we surveyed the existing

[45:43] building and we got up on the roof

[45:44] we could we recognized that from a

[45:46] higher vantage point we could actually

[45:48] see the bay

[45:49] uh particularly in the winter when the

[45:50] leaves of the trees are down and

[45:52] likewise we could see into the ecology

[45:54] to the north

[45:55] uh down towards fishing creek and we

[45:57] think from a pedagogical standpoint for

[45:59] a school the way it's so connected to

[46:01] its local environment and ecosystem

[46:03] is a great advantage that beach

[46:05] elementary school will have that no

[46:07] other elementary school could even dream

[46:08] of

[46:09] so really reinforcing the opportunity to

[46:11] take advantage of those natural

[46:13] resources

[46:14] as a as a learning opportunity for our

[46:16] school was very

[46:17] uh great opportunity that our

[46:21] stakeholder advisory group wanted to

[46:23] take take advantage of

[46:24] the other neat thing that came through

[46:26] that process was the lighthouse

[46:28] inspiration and the motif of the

[46:30] lighthouse

[46:30] and that this school could kind of be

[46:32] that beacon on the hill uh once it's

[46:34] it once it's finally built uh in our in

[46:37] the design

[46:38] uh likewise if any one of you have

[46:41] walked this site you know that it

[46:42] continues to climb in elevation as you

[46:44] get from

[46:44] east to west on the site we started 62

[46:48] feet above sea level and end up

[46:49] 72 feet above sea level just over the

[46:52] small distance of our school

[46:54] and as a result our school will be

[46:55] designed to kind of step up with the

[46:57] site

[46:58] that's important also from a massing

[47:00] standpoint in that we're always trying

[47:01] to keep the building as down

[47:03] in and low in the site as possible not

[47:05] to overwhelm uh the adjacent community

[47:07] and i'll show you a little bit more

[47:08] about that later in our presentation

[47:12] uh i know it's not germane to the

[47:15] five and six uh topics of the special

[47:17] exception of variances

[47:19] but i just want to share with you some

[47:20] of our goals and some of what we're

[47:22] trying to accomplish

[47:23] and what the the true goal is to

[47:26] address the learning needs of those uh

[47:29] 570 students at

[47:30] beach elementary school not just for

[47:32] today but for tomorrow

[47:34] so we really talk a lot about what we

[47:36] call 21st century learning

[47:38] and next generation learning and these

[47:40] are learning

[47:41] theories in which we really try to

[47:44] address the learning needs of

[47:45] every student so when i went to school

[47:48] there was a teacher in the front of the

[47:50] room with a chalkboard and that teacher

[47:52] spoke to 35 students all of whom had to

[47:54] pay attention sit straight and sit up

[47:56] straight and watch that teacher we've learned

[48:00] over the years that

[48:01] students don't really learn best in that atmosphere

[48:04] some children learn best by themselves

[48:06] some students learn best when they're

[48:08] moving around

[48:09] some students learn best when they're

[48:10] doing projects some learn in small

[48:13] groups and some learn individually and

[48:15] some

[48:15] learn good well in a long large

[48:18] group of 20-some students so for that

[48:22] the diagrams that you see before you

[48:23] which are the basis and the the theory

[48:26] of the school

[48:26] are really such that the classrooms

[48:28] relate to collaboration spaces where

[48:30] other activities can occur

[48:32] and the collaboration spaces in turn

[48:34] relate to small group learning areas

[48:36] like resource rooms

[48:37] where students who need a acoustically

[48:40] separated space or a quiet space to

[48:42] learn

[48:42] uh do best in a smaller environment than

[48:44] a full-size classroom

[48:46] so really the intent here is to take

[48:48] care of the needs of all chesapeake

[48:49] beach students today and into the future

[48:52] regardless of their learning needs

[48:54] uh but in addition the great opportunity

[48:57] for those collaboration spaces and the

[48:58] classrooms to have those views to have

[49:00] that connection to the ecology

[49:02] to have that connection to the town was

[49:05] really a great advantage uh that we

[49:07] couldn't not

[49:08] take it take uh into accord into the

[49:11] design of our project

[49:14] so with that some of the challenges that

[49:16] our site offered us

[49:17] uh here we see a section north south of

[49:20] our three-story building

[49:22] and where it sits on our site and a

[49:23] number of things i want to point out

[49:25] uh chris did discuss about the four

[49:27] station as well as the steep topography

[49:30] that really pins us in

[49:31] to a very small developable area

[49:34] so you can see that pretty dramatically

[49:36] on the right side here

[49:37] on the left on the west side i mean on

[49:40] the left side of the image

[49:41] we see old bayside road and what i

[49:43] really want to point out is that as

[49:45] old bayside road moves from east to west

[49:47] you can see in the distance on this top

[49:49] right image

[49:50] it rises pretty dramatically in fact it

[49:52] rises faster than our site and our

[49:54] building will

[49:56] and you can see that from old bayside

[49:58] road in many cases our building will be

[50:00] down below old bayside road so it will

[50:03] never

[50:03] sit prouder the finished floor elevation

[50:06] than old bayside road

[50:07] and not really overwhelm the scale of

[50:09] the site so we're trying to keep that

[50:10] three to three story building

[50:12] uh in the appropriate scale of the

[50:14] community likewise some of the adjacent

[50:16] buildings uh the residential buildings

[50:18] do the same

[50:19] so the visual impact of our building is

[50:21] significantly diminished

[50:23] uh despite the the height that we're

[50:25] requesting

[50:26] in addition i talked a little bit about

[50:28] the green buffer zone and you can see

[50:30] where that exists

[50:31] between old bayside road and the school

[50:33] itself and that's that really lovely

[50:35] meandering walkway that that takes you

[50:37] from the east edge of the site to the

[50:38] west edge of the site

[50:40] through the project of course nothing

[50:43] can compete with the height of the water

[50:44] tower which is at the highest point of

[50:46] the site

[50:47] and you can see in scale and comparison

[50:50] of our building to that water tower here

[50:52] but also very importantly in the graphic

[50:55] uh

[50:55] we tried to to put the the building in

[50:59] scale on site three-dimensionally so

[51:01] that you can see how the water tower

[51:02] really does dominate the site

[51:04] the other piece i want to bring up is

[51:06] that when you're on old bayside road

[51:08] if you see the line of the ridge of the

[51:11] adjacent houses across the street

[51:13] because the building is set back further

[51:15] on the site and because the building is

[51:17] set

[51:17] down into the site as much as possible

[51:20] it's not really competing with the

[51:22] height of the ridge in a

[51:23] three-dimensional

[51:24] uh viewpoint so that was very important

[51:26] for us in

[51:27] our design to be good neighbors uh

[51:29] particularly because many of our

[51:31] stakeholder group were community members

[51:33] uh and and and uh people who grew up

[51:37] here again

[51:39] so images here are the the

[51:42] aerial image of the school itself these

[51:45] are the

[51:46] three houses directly across the street

[51:48] they in fact sit

[51:49] higher than our property uh because

[51:51] those at the east end

[51:52] are above uh the topography of our site

[51:56] and hopefully if you recall the site

[51:58] plan uh house two three and four we'll

[52:00] actually be looking out into that

[52:01] parkland

[52:02] uh in the front of the site the other

[52:05] building adjacent neighbor

[52:06] that i want to point out is the daycare

[52:08] center which is to the northeast corner

[52:10] of the site

[52:11] and that's picture image one here on the

[52:13] top left

[52:14] and it's an important image because i

[52:17] want to

[52:18] kind of reiterate how our idea was to

[52:20] put a parkland on bayside road with a

[52:23] school set further back

[52:24] so two things happen in our relationship

[52:27] to that neighbor

[52:28] one is they are significantly uphill

[52:30] from us

[52:31] as a result the ridgeline of that

[52:33] building is actually

[52:34] from a three-dimensional standpoint

[52:36] higher visibly than the bridge line of

[52:38] our building

[52:39] even at its higher height likewise our

[52:42] building is set back

[52:43] and this is a fine balance that we tried

[52:45] to play where

[52:46] we're really trying to demonstrate that there's a beautiful new 21st

[52:50] century school

[52:51] on the site but also to create that

[52:53] green buffer which was so important

[52:55] in our discussions as that front area

[52:57] and the face that we place to the to the

[52:59] community

[53:00] as we develop the site and again i

[53:03] talked about how on old bayside road we

[53:05] have the same idea

[53:06] with the green buffer zone against the

[53:08] existing building as well as the way

[53:10] that

[53:10] the road rises uh a little bit faster

[53:13] than the site rises and our building

[53:14] doesn't sit

[53:16] that much higher than the road in that

[53:18] elevation

[53:20] um we hope to provide additional

[53:22] amenities in addition to the green zone

[53:24] in the park as well

[53:25] and chris mentioned some of the

[53:28] trailhead ideas and how we want to

[53:30] integrate

[53:30] fishing creek trail and we talked about

[53:33] that at the planning commission hearing

[53:35] and since then we've been able to take

[53:37] an opportunity so there's some new

[53:38] information on this slide in front of

[53:40] you

[53:40] to start to explore how we might make

[53:42] those connections uh so i'm sharing that

[53:44] for the first time here

[53:46] but i'll talk about the circulation on

[53:48] site uh in particular

[53:50] i talked already about the the parent

[53:53] drop-off and the parking loop

[53:56] and how that is brought off of bayside

[53:58] road to protect it

[54:00] i talked about the uh bus loop which

[54:03] will now go from three ingresses and

[54:05] egresses to only two so we're gonna take

[54:07] one of those

[54:08] uh throats away we're going to create

[54:11] appropriate turning radii

[54:12] and and visibility for the bus loop but

[54:15] on here also

[54:16] is a diagram showing three three

[54:20] levels of pedestrian

[54:24] circulation on the site one is the most

[54:26] formal

[54:27] which is a series of 10 foot wide

[54:29] sidewalks which take you directly in

[54:31] very straight lines

[54:32] from the bus or the parent drop off

[54:34] directly to the front door

[54:36] so that's a very clear formal

[54:37] distinction to make sure that those kids

[54:39] are able to move in and out

[54:41] of their circulation sequence

[54:43] appropriately the second

[54:45] is a series of five foot sidewalks which

[54:48] are a little bit more playful and

[54:49] meandering

[54:50] and they're intended to create to

[54:52] connect to both the safe routes to

[54:54] school system

[54:55] to be part of the uh bicycle circulation

[54:58] path that is ultimately envisioned for

[54:59] the plan

[55:00] of the town and it's a little bit more

[55:03] uh

[55:04] meandering through the site to

[55:05] differentiate itself from that more

[55:07] formal

[55:07] walkway and we also talk about a even

[55:10] less a third level down

[55:12] of of walkway pathways which is more of

[55:14] a nature trail kind of pathway

[55:17] identified in these dots here and what's

[55:20] new in the diagram here

[55:21] is we started to envision how we might

[55:24] now connect our school

[55:26] to that fishing creek trailway that will

[55:29] one day connect us all together and we

[55:32] identify two different variants of that

[55:34] connection

[55:35] one is we'd like to take advantage of

[55:37] that trailhead

[55:38] in our learning environment so in this

[55:41] location where it's directly adjacent to

[55:43] our front plaza and learning and outdoor

[55:45] learning

[55:45] environment we'd like to develop that

[55:47] trailhead as an outdoor classroom

[55:49] and a classroom in which students can

[55:51] learn about

[55:52] stormwater management and how it affects

[55:54] the bay and how it affects their local

[55:56] ecology

[55:57] also perhaps learn about what they're

[55:59] going to see as they walk down that

[56:01] trail and enjoy

[56:02] the experience and learn about their

[56:05] direct ecology and environment so

[56:06] creating that outdoor classroom

[56:08] becomes part of our pedagogy as well as

[56:11] part of our trail head connection

[56:14] at the other end of our trail we'd like

[56:15] to look at some sort of marker

[56:18] whether it be a trail rules or something

[56:20] playful or a sensory trail or something

[56:22] that identifies that you are now

[56:24] entering that walkway down to uh fishing

[56:27] creek and what you might learn

[56:29] along the way as you take that walk

[56:31] whether you're part of our school

[56:33] or just a community member who's taking

[56:34] that walk and connecting the two pieces

[56:36] so we're just now beginning to explore

[56:38] how we might connect that in

[56:40] a more friendly or pedestrian way this

[56:43] school itself will also provide

[56:45] additional amenity to the town in

[56:48] addition to being a great school

[56:49] environment

[56:50] if you know the teachers and the

[56:51] principal and and the folks who

[56:55] are so passionately involved in this

[56:56] school you know the great service they

[56:58] already provide

[56:59] to their students in addition we want to

[57:02] provide

[57:02] a public function to the building itself

[57:04] as well

[57:05] and the gym is being designed to be

[57:07] oversized to accommodate community use

[57:10] in the gymnasium you can see in this top

[57:13] right diagram the size of the existing

[57:15] gym

[57:15] and the size of the new gym which will

[57:17] be a full sized

[57:18] basketball court gym accommodated there will also be a community office

[57:25] and a community

[57:26] storage room to support any community

[57:28] functions that occur within that gym

[57:30] and this public area of the building is

[57:32] designed such that it can be closed off

[57:34] from the existing school so that the the

[57:37] school in the evening is completely

[57:39] secure from what will essentially

[57:40] function as a community center for

[57:42] evening and off-hour use

[57:45] another opportunity that the school has

[57:47] for community use

[57:48] is this cafeteria space whether it's for

[57:51] homeowners association meetings

[57:53] community presentations

[57:54] or performances

[57:57] it's designed in such a way that the

[57:59] stage addresses the cafeteria in this

[58:01] trapezoidal shape

[58:03] it really works two ways one for a

[58:05] smaller audience

[58:06] in the trapezoid it really provides

[58:08] ideal acoustic

[58:10] ideal view lines for evening use or

[58:13] performances

[58:15] but we're also planning to incorporate a

[58:17] folding partition which will now

[58:18] open that up to the gymnasium allowing

[58:21] for extremely large much larger group

[58:23] activities so whether it's a holiday

[58:26] concert

[58:26] or a a rented out

[58:30] or or borrowed out for public use for a performance or an event

[58:34] this we hope that this will become a

[58:36] great venue and community amenity

[58:38] uh much beyond just the school's use of

[58:41] the of the facility

[58:44] uh imbalancing our project with the

[58:46] environment

[58:47] is a critical focal point of our project

[58:49] as well

[58:50] our project will be built to a lead

[58:52] silver standard

[58:54] when completed and seen here just some

[58:56] of the

[58:57] implementation that you'll see from the

[58:59] outside of the building

[59:00] of how we're starting to address those

[59:02] components

[59:03] one is our solar orientation uh being

[59:06] east to west we get ideal

[59:08] solar orientation we we have one broad

[59:10] south face and one broad north face so

[59:12] we can control

[59:13] solar heat gain and lighting but the

[59:15] other nice thing about

[59:17] identifying our building in this uh

[59:19] arrangement

[59:20] is that the shadow lines with with our

[59:22] building facing east west are all onto

[59:24] our site

[59:25] a lot of times when a building is built

[59:27] the shadow it casts on its neighbors

[59:29] can be an issue uh for for impact to the

[59:33] neighbors

[59:34] uh being that that our neighbors are

[59:36] mostly to the south of us we really have

[59:38] no opportunity to cast a shadow on any

[59:40] of them

[59:41] also the stormwater management which is

[59:43] the concept is currently in

[59:44] for how we're addressing that across the

[59:47] site is not only something that we can

[59:48] make a very beautiful amenity across the

[59:51] site

[59:51] we also anticipate using it as you see

[59:53] here in our bottom left image

[59:55] as part of our learning environment and

[59:57] really

[59:59] conveying the idea of my environmental

[1:00:01] stewardship to our students

[1:00:03] uh particularly when they get to see the

[1:00:06] result of that stewardship directly on

[1:00:07] their local environment

[1:00:09] is was a really strong uh discussion

[1:00:12] point among our stakeholder group

[1:00:14] in the elevations we also took

[1:00:16] significant measures to

[1:00:18] make sure that our project is consistent

[1:00:20] with the architecture and ideals of the

[1:00:23] region and the town but also break the

[1:00:25] scale down of the building

[1:00:27] understanding that we're in a medium

[1:00:29] density residential zone

[1:00:30] we take a number of architectural moves

[1:00:32] to break the massing of our building

[1:00:34] down

[1:00:35] majority of our building the east side

[1:00:37] and the west side will not be

[1:00:39] above the 35 foot minimum but despite

[1:00:42] that

[1:00:43] understanding that we're putting a

[1:00:44] school in a community we took measures

[1:00:46] to break down the building by

[1:00:48] changing the facades and planes so that

[1:00:50] we get shadow lines

[1:00:51] and break down the massing change of

[1:00:53] materials to break down that massing as

[1:00:55] well

[1:00:56] we also implement a design strategy that

[1:00:59] we call local symmetry

[1:01:00] so rather but and what that means is

[1:01:02] rather than designing

[1:01:04] a building where all the windows are

[1:01:06] equally spaced across the entire facade

[1:01:08] that would make this entire facade feel

[1:01:10] like one big piece

[1:01:12] by designing windows and in groupings so

[1:01:14] that they're

[1:01:15] in smaller groupings that you identify

[1:01:17] as separate little pieces

[1:01:19] that is what we refer to as a local

[1:01:21] symmetry and starts to break that facade

[1:01:24] down even further so our idea is to

[1:01:26] really

[1:01:27] articulate the building to make the

[1:01:29] scale of the building consistent with

[1:01:30] the scale of the community it's in

[1:01:33] uh from a design standpoint that then

[1:01:35] starts to

[1:01:36] migrate into the materiality of the

[1:01:38] building and how that building looks and

[1:01:40] addresses

[1:01:41] both the community as well as you know

[1:01:43] present the appropriate front

[1:01:45] uh to people arriving at the school

[1:01:48] and understanding that this is a

[1:01:50] state-of-the-art

[1:01:52] 21st century learning environment and

[1:01:54] i'll give you just a little insight on

[1:01:56] two different options that we're playing

[1:01:58] with right now in that materiality

[1:02:01] one is what we call our landscape

[1:02:02] palette it's one that

[1:02:04] looks to have our building meld into the

[1:02:06] landscape a little bit

[1:02:08] very and not contrast with the landscape

[1:02:10] so natural materials between the

[1:02:12] masonry's and the and the woods and

[1:02:14] the metal uh roofing perhaps or stone

[1:02:17] and and wood pallets are really what

[1:02:20] we're trying to look at

[1:02:21] in the landscape palette and likewise we

[1:02:24] are looking

[1:02:24] at another palette that we're calling

[1:02:26] the lighthouse palette and this is one

[1:02:28] that

[1:02:28] starts to employ the the nautical

[1:02:32] vernacular

[1:02:32] that is so consistent throughout the

[1:02:34] downtown of chesapeake beach

[1:02:36] in our architectural as well both in the massing and the shape of our

[1:02:40] building but also in the materiality

[1:02:42] with the standing seams the vertical uh

[1:02:45] lines through the building that that

[1:02:46] connotate that vertical uh siding

[1:02:49] components

[1:02:50] so a lot is going into developing our

[1:02:52] design in such a way that it is

[1:02:54] consistent with the architecture

[1:02:56] and the feel of the of the community

[1:02:59] um so with that i'm going to end the

[1:03:02] kind of the formal presentation

[1:03:04] since we are looking at the special

[1:03:05] exception first i'll conclude

[1:03:08] this part with just how we address the

[1:03:10] six requirements of the special

[1:03:12] exception

[1:03:13] um one is that i believe we believe that

[1:03:16] as the applicant that the project will

[1:03:18] not be detrimental or endangered to the

[1:03:20] public

[1:03:21] uh hopefully i was able to convey how

[1:03:23] far we went to really

[1:03:25] articulate the the safety on site and

[1:03:28] the safety and connections to the

[1:03:30] ultimate safe routes to school project

[1:03:32] uh our design is striving to be

[1:03:34] harmonious with the regional and town

[1:03:36] character both in its massing

[1:03:38] its materiality and the way we're

[1:03:40] addressing the site of the town

[1:03:42] of the of our the way we're addressing

[1:03:44] that green space

[1:03:46] uh to the to the town itself uh we we

[1:03:48] don't think we'll be an impedance to the

[1:03:50] development of json properties

[1:03:52] in fact all the adjacent properties are

[1:03:54] already developed

[1:03:56] uh we don't believe also as chris

[1:03:58] indicated that we will have an adverse

[1:04:00] impact to local public facilities in

[1:04:03] fact

[1:04:04] i'm hoping that we will provide a public

[1:04:06] amenity to the community at large

[1:04:09] and great effort was taken to evaluate

[1:04:11] the pedestrian and vehicle traffic

[1:04:13] uh both in immediate implementation and

[1:04:15] how we

[1:04:16] uh articulate that through our site and

[1:04:19] of course to the ultimate

[1:04:20] uh goal with in that 2040 vision once

[1:04:23] the safe routes to school project

[1:04:24] and the interconnected town is developed

[1:04:27] we hope to just literally click in right

[1:04:29] to that plan

[1:04:30] when it's ultimately envisioned and seen

[1:04:33] through

[1:04:34] so also having implemented the goals of

[1:04:36] the town's 2040 vision

[1:04:38] and the fact that this is our always

[1:04:40] been a school and plan to be a school

[1:04:42] we hope that you find that the project

[1:04:44] is consistent with that comprehensive

[1:04:46] plan as well

[1:04:47] uh so in conclusion those are the six

[1:04:50] criteria of the special exception

[1:04:52] which uh we're happy to answer any

[1:04:54] questions and take any comments that you

[1:04:56] may have

[1:04:57] appreciate your time this evening

[1:05:05] are there any questions from the board

[1:05:20] i do have one question uh this is jody

[1:05:22] hunstar um i

[1:05:24] i'm wondering about the word uh existing

[1:05:27] in your plans does does something like

[1:05:29] existing tennis courts mean that it is

[1:05:31] going to be untouched by your uh project

[1:05:35] or is that just a conceptual thing that

[1:05:37] the tennis courts will

[1:05:38] stay in the right place like are you

[1:05:40] planning on making any modifications or

[1:05:42] changes there

[1:05:43] we're not and i think that is maintained

[1:05:45] right now by parks and recs not the

[1:05:47] school system

[1:05:48] so our intention is to leave that in its

[1:05:50] current condition thank you

[1:05:56] mr jacobiak do you have any questions

[1:06:00] of the applicant

[1:06:10] you're muted chris

[1:06:13] i'm sorry and thank you whoever said

[1:06:15] that i appreciate that um

[1:06:19] yes i have one question and i also have

[1:06:21] two

[1:06:22] things i'd like to mention uh first is

[1:06:25] the the applicant referred to rand

[1:06:28] referred to the

[1:06:29] 2040 vision what that

[1:06:33] is is a vision

[1:06:36] statement that the planning commission

[1:06:39] has put together

[1:06:40] as part of the current comprehensive

[1:06:43] planning process

[1:06:45] it reflects what the planning commission

[1:06:47] is is um

[1:06:48] as understood as the um

[1:06:53] the priorities of the town and it's it's

[1:06:55] drafted in a way to encompass

[1:06:57] the results of a series of public

[1:06:59] meetings and a survey that

[1:07:00] the planning commission conducted so

[1:07:03] it's not official yet because it hasn't

[1:07:05] been adopted

[1:07:06] it would be adopted when the new

[1:07:08] comprehensive plan gets adopted

[1:07:10] of course it may change it may be

[1:07:12] refined over time

[1:07:14] and it's a draft right now but to date

[1:07:16] it really does

[1:07:17] accurately reflect where the town uh

[1:07:21] citizens are thinking when they engage

[1:07:24] with the planning commission

[1:07:26] and candidly it's not a huge departure

[1:07:29] from

[1:07:29] the current comprehensive plan so iran

[1:07:32] is spot on and i it does appear that this project does

[1:07:37] really seek to reflect those um

[1:07:40] those elements in that vision

[1:07:44] second the um planning commission met on

[1:07:46] this project

[1:07:47] because the zoning ordinance says that

[1:07:50] the board of appeals

[1:07:51] refers special exceptions to the

[1:07:54] planning commission

[1:07:55] for a recommendation and the planning

[1:07:58] commission

[1:07:59] did review this two weeks ago and they

[1:08:01] did make a recommendation

[1:08:03] and their recommendation was that the

[1:08:05] board of appeals approved

[1:08:07] this special exception um and i'll give

[1:08:11] you the recommendation on the variance

[1:08:13] uh later the last thing i i

[1:08:16] would just ask the applicant and

[1:08:18] specifically ran

[1:08:19] iran could you uh just for the record

[1:08:22] and for the

[1:08:23] board's benefit explain who you are as

[1:08:26] an architect

[1:08:27] what your degree is and uh your

[1:08:30] professional qualifications because i

[1:08:32] think it helps round out the discussion

[1:08:34] and adds a context for your testimony

[1:08:38] certainly so my name is ron ilkovich i i

[1:08:41] represent

[1:08:42] calvary county public schools is my

[1:08:43] client i'm an architect

[1:08:45] my firm is small enamored ilkovich

[1:08:47] architects and i'm principal

[1:08:48] and president of that firm but

[1:08:52] really and i appreciate you bringing

[1:08:53] that up i i represent

[1:08:55] not only the school system but the

[1:08:57] stakeholder advisory group that really

[1:09:00] participated in this process uh because

[1:09:02] it is a collaborative process

[1:09:04] uh certainly what i would dream up in my

[1:09:06] bubble is very different than what gets

[1:09:08] worked out together when we all

[1:09:10] collaborate my personal

[1:09:12] uh cv i i'm

[1:09:15] local to the area i grew up here in

[1:09:17] state of maryland

[1:09:18] montgomery county i went to school at

[1:09:21] the university of maryland for my

[1:09:22] undergrad

[1:09:23] achieved my bachelor's of science last

[1:09:26] century

[1:09:27] and my masters of architecture as well

[1:09:29] from the university of maryland

[1:09:31] in 1998. i've been

[1:09:34] at this position and i've been in this

[1:09:37] firm for 24 years

[1:09:38] this month in my current firm

[1:09:42] and i've been principal of the firm for

[1:09:44] 12 years

[1:09:45] so those are my personal background

[1:09:48] story

[1:09:50] i've been working with calvert county

[1:09:52] public schools

[1:09:53] since 1996 my first project that i did

[1:09:56] with calvary county public schools

[1:09:58] was dow elementary school and i've had

[1:10:00] the great pleasure to work with calvert

[1:10:03] county public schools

[1:10:04] pretty consistently ever since then and

[1:10:06] it's been just a great relationship

[1:10:08] uh and and one that i'm and has produced

[1:10:11] projects

[1:10:12] like dale elementary school like calvert

[1:10:14] high school like the vocational center

[1:10:16] uh that i i consider cornerstones of my

[1:10:20] career and i'm extremely proud of so

[1:10:23] i've long since appreciated working in

[1:10:25] calvert county

[1:10:26] and i also appreciate the seafood to be

[1:10:28] quite honest

[1:10:34] no further questions from me uh

[1:10:38] okay um

[1:10:42] now we'll hear from the public sharon

[1:10:45] has anyone signed up to speak

[1:10:48] on the uh no

[1:10:56] okay uh is there anyone on this call

[1:10:59] that would like to speak on this matter

[1:11:01] and ask questions of the applicant

[1:11:04] and so now is your time

[1:11:07] yes this is mike schissler principal of

[1:11:09] the school i i just want to share as

[1:11:11] ron's alluded to several times

[1:11:13] this has been a multi-year process

[1:11:15] getting to this point and i want to say uh i continue to be amazed

[1:11:20] at what ron and his firm have done

[1:11:23] with the plans and with the ideas that

[1:11:25] they've collected from us

[1:11:27] uh and they continue to uh

[1:11:30] improve on them i mean just tonight he

[1:11:32] shared again with you ideas

[1:11:34] that they took from the planning and

[1:11:35] zoning hearing that we had a few weeks

[1:11:37] ago

[1:11:38] and have incorporated them uh into the concept especially the

[1:11:42] connection to the fishing creek trail

[1:11:45] and i just want to say for for

[1:11:46] everyone's benefit again just uh

[1:11:48] for a point of transparency um when

[1:11:51] mayor wall got the trail um you know the

[1:11:54] idea started with bruce wall and it took

[1:11:56] 10 years to get there

[1:11:57] that we still have a ways to go um the

[1:12:00] school system can

[1:12:01] certainly work what's on its property

[1:12:03] and work on improving a trail

[1:12:06] but uh the the town or the whomever is

[1:12:08] going to follow up with the trail

[1:12:10] is going to have to you know build

[1:12:11] another access across fishing greeks and

[1:12:13] have to build

[1:12:14] um a boardwalk through the marsh or

[1:12:16] around the marsh

[1:12:17] to connect with our school property in

[1:12:19] so those are several steps that um

[1:12:21] have to be done before we do make that

[1:12:23] connection so

[1:12:24] once this the school is finished in the

[1:12:26] summer of 23 doesn't mean that that

[1:12:28] trail connection is going to be finished

[1:12:30] although it would be you know great that

[1:12:32] it's in the pipeline with other efforts from other groups and

[1:12:35] committees so

[1:12:36] but again i want to thank dr spencer and

[1:12:39] all your

[1:12:40] appeal board members tonight and again i

[1:12:43] just want to say that

[1:12:44] ron and company have done a fantastic

[1:12:46] job in our opinion

[1:12:49] thank you thank you

[1:12:56] okay does the applicant have any

[1:12:59] cross-examination of any speaker

[1:13:03] no ma'am if noah

[1:13:06] closed this part of the meeting and now

[1:13:08] we will turn our attention

[1:13:11] uh to the variance let's start again

[1:13:15] with mr

[1:13:16] jacobia

[1:13:21] i can be very brief now because i think

[1:13:24] there's a

[1:13:25] nice presentation already of the

[1:13:26] building um

[1:13:28] but the applicant is requesting a

[1:13:32] 23 foot variance

[1:13:36] to the 35 foot

[1:13:40] maximum height standard in order to make

[1:13:43] the building

[1:13:44] 58 feet tall so um

[1:13:48] currently the zoning ordinance caps

[1:13:49] building height at 35 feet

[1:13:52] in the residential medium density zone

[1:13:55] buildings can exceed 35 feet

[1:13:57] well the roofs can pop out over 35 feet

[1:14:00] but

[1:14:01] essentially it's a 35 foot maximum

[1:14:04] height

[1:14:05] the applicant is proposing a portion of

[1:14:08] the building to

[1:14:09] go 23 feet higher than that so that

[1:14:13] the total maximum height will be 58 feet

[1:14:17] and i believe i've got that right so um

[1:14:19] that's the request um and you remember that uh

[1:14:25] fred sussman the attorney has reviewed

[1:14:27] with you the standards for granting a

[1:14:29] variance

[1:14:31] and the variance standards are

[1:14:33] essentially

[1:14:34] related to the existing site

[1:14:39] and the impact of the variants on adjoining properties so

[1:14:47] what the applicant has to demonstrate is

[1:14:49] that

[1:14:50] there's something unique about this

[1:14:52] property the physical

[1:14:54] aspects of this property that require

[1:14:56] them

[1:14:57] to exceed the maximum height limitation

[1:15:01] you simply can't come to the board of

[1:15:02] appeals and ask for a variance just

[1:15:04] because you want one

[1:15:06] you have to point to a physical

[1:15:08] condition

[1:15:09] that limits your ability to comply with

[1:15:13] the strict

[1:15:14] code right and uh as a zoning

[1:15:16] administrator or

[1:15:18] as the planning commission we have to

[1:15:19] apply the code strictly

[1:15:21] but an applicant come can come to you

[1:15:24] and ask for relief and

[1:15:28] i i go through this because i know most

[1:15:30] of the members right now are relatively

[1:15:31] new

[1:15:32] on the board of appeals and you haven't

[1:15:33] seen many variances

[1:15:35] but the applicant can come to you and

[1:15:37] ask for relief and they have to point to

[1:15:39] something unique about their property

[1:15:41] that suggests

[1:15:42] they can't comply with the standard um

[1:15:45] so i think what i'm doing is shaping the

[1:15:47] testimony that i think ran has to

[1:15:49] provide you

[1:15:50] uh he's gonna probably talk about the size of the lot the

[1:15:53] presence of the existing school the uh

[1:15:57] conditions of the environment like steep

[1:15:59] slopes and wetland buffers and the

[1:16:00] forest buffer

[1:16:02] and and the fact that there's not much

[1:16:03] land left to build on and

[1:16:06] as a result variance is requested so you

[1:16:09] can build it up a little higher and the

[1:16:10] kids can continue to go to school

[1:16:12] which is pretty important um those are

[1:16:14] the essential things

[1:16:16] the last thing is that the applicant has

[1:16:18] to say that

[1:16:21] he would experience a hardship if you

[1:16:24] couldn't get this variance

[1:16:26] and of course you could imagine what a

[1:16:28] hardship might be that the applicant

[1:16:29] would experience the the lot is such

[1:16:31] that

[1:16:32] physical conditions prevent you from

[1:16:34] building uh

[1:16:36] a low building and as a result um

[1:16:40] there's a hardship that's felt in this

[1:16:41] case the hardship may be public

[1:16:44] rather than just simply private in the

[1:16:46] sense that

[1:16:47] uh a school's uh an essential element of

[1:16:50] the community and certainly supported by

[1:16:52] the community and

[1:16:53] while in today's world

[1:16:57] we're all learning from home at some

[1:16:59] point the kids are going to go back to

[1:17:01] school

[1:17:01] and they need a place to study and learn

[1:17:03] in

[1:17:04] and missing that opportunity will

[1:17:07] certainly provide a hardship

[1:17:09] to the residents of chesapeake beach so

[1:17:12] i just summarized quickly the six seven

[1:17:15] standards that the variance

[1:17:17] requires and um and that dr spencer

[1:17:24] concludes my my quick summary unless the

[1:17:27] board members have any questions

[1:17:33] okay if there are

[1:17:37] no more questions

[1:17:41] i will close the discussion

[1:17:46] and the board will go into deliberation

[1:17:48] and decide quote

[1:17:51] madam chair madam chair fred sussman

[1:17:54] the applicant has to make his

[1:17:55] presentation regarding the variance

[1:17:59] thanks so

[1:18:04] i'll i'll in in my uh

[1:18:08] in my discussion on the variance i'll

[1:18:09] simply just address the five

[1:18:11] points that are the points of

[1:18:12] deliberation that were

[1:18:14] presented at the beginning of the

[1:18:16] meeting

[1:18:18] as well as kind of summarized in chris's

[1:18:21] presentation earlier

[1:18:23] one is addressing item one i believe our

[1:18:27] variance is in harmony with its

[1:18:28] surroundings

[1:18:29] uh we hope to improve the public welfare

[1:18:32] in town just with the redevelopment of

[1:18:33] the school but also with the re

[1:18:35] development of the site and we hope we

[1:18:38] were able to demonstrate that

[1:18:40] it's consistent with that town vision

[1:18:42] and the town ideals and the architecture

[1:18:45] of the town

[1:18:47] number two it's the continued use of the

[1:18:49] site of the if

[1:18:51] number two is about the use permitted by

[1:18:54] the zoning

[1:18:55] and with the special exception that we

[1:18:57] were requesting earlier this evening

[1:18:59] that is an acceptable use uh item number

[1:19:02] three

[1:19:03] is the special circumstances and the

[1:19:05] site limitations and i've brought that

[1:19:07] slide again up on the screen

[1:19:08] uh to just reiterate the the limited

[1:19:12] area of the site that's available for

[1:19:14] construction

[1:19:16] between the steep soap the buffer

[1:19:18] setbacks the wetlands

[1:19:20] and the existing school that must be

[1:19:21] retained in operation during our

[1:19:23] construction process

[1:19:25] uh those are the special circumstances

[1:19:27] and the physical limitations of the site

[1:19:30] the hardship of course is at the 35 feet

[1:19:32] which is really

[1:19:34] intended for residential construction

[1:19:36] because this is the medium density

[1:19:38] residential zone

[1:19:39] really doesn't address the needs of a

[1:19:41] multi-story elementary school

[1:19:43] and the footprint that's available for

[1:19:45] us construction

[1:19:47] on because of those site limitations

[1:19:49] really requires us

[1:19:51] to go to a multi-story elementary school

[1:19:53] and particularly in this case to a

[1:19:54] three-story elementary school

[1:19:56] to accommodate the program the hardship

[1:19:59] of course

[1:20:00] is that if we can't build this building

[1:20:02] vertically

[1:20:03] we cannot accommodate the quantity of

[1:20:05] spaces in classrooms and therefore not

[1:20:07] can accommodate the capacity uh

[1:20:10] of that the building requires to serve

[1:20:13] the needs of the population the students in and

[1:20:15] around the town of chesapeake beach

[1:20:18] so that that is really our hardship that

[1:20:20] we can't meet the

[1:20:21] needs so to address item number five we

[1:20:24] hope you find our variance

[1:20:26] requests as reasonable and of course

[1:20:28] necessary to accomplish the goals of our

[1:20:30] project

[1:20:31] so just in summary that's the the

[1:20:33] request that we're making

[1:20:35] uh directly related to the five

[1:20:37] questions

[1:20:38] that we've been asked to answer for that

[1:20:50] this is the second time that i've

[1:20:53] watched this presentation um

[1:20:56] and i'm really very impressed

[1:21:01] but that's a personal note i need to now

[1:21:03] take it back to the board

[1:21:05] and we need to deliberate uh so

[1:21:12] um

[1:21:15] i think that you need to uh see whether

[1:21:18] any of the board members or mr jacobiac

[1:21:20] have any questions uh for the applicant

[1:21:24] and also if there are any members of the

[1:21:26] public who would

[1:21:27] like to speak on this part of the

[1:21:29] application

[1:21:32] okay we'll do

[1:21:36] mr yakubiak do you have any comments

[1:21:44] yes the only one i wanted to mention

[1:21:46] that the planning commission offered a

[1:21:48] recommendation on the variants as well

[1:21:50] even though they they weren't required

[1:21:52] to by the ordinance they did

[1:21:54] recommend approval of the variants they

[1:21:57] made that part of their motion

[1:21:59] when they approved this special when

[1:22:00] they recommended the special exception

[1:22:04] and that's all i have to comment on

[1:22:09] anyone else

[1:22:12] madam chair uh dave ferguson here i

[1:22:15] would

[1:22:16] just like to ask whether any of the

[1:22:19] residents

[1:22:20] in that neighborhood have expressed

[1:22:22] concern about the height

[1:22:37] well um i can take and take a stab at

[1:22:40] that

[1:22:40] i've not heard anything and we haven't

[1:22:42] received any comments

[1:22:44] um in the mail or phone calls at the

[1:22:47] town hall as far as i know

[1:22:49] certainly sharon could uh help answer

[1:22:52] that question too

[1:22:53] but typically i would hear about it um

[1:22:55] and the property has been posted

[1:22:58] extensively so sharon

[1:23:02] yeah no there's been no comment good

[1:23:08] uh this is sushita warner with calvert

[1:23:10] county schools if i may add

[1:23:12] um we made the presentation

[1:23:16] initially to the board of education

[1:23:20] goodness it's probably been a little bit

[1:23:22] over a year ago

[1:23:24] uh when we went about uh embarking on a

[1:23:27] feasibility study

[1:23:29] and we were looking at a variety of

[1:23:31] options

[1:23:32] for beach elementary school and at the

[1:23:35] time

[1:23:36] the three-story option was certainly one

[1:23:39] of the items

[1:23:40] or one of the schemes that was presented

[1:23:44] out in the public and it was covered in

[1:23:46] the local papers a long time

[1:23:48] ago and we have heard nothing but

[1:23:50] positive comments so i just wanted to

[1:23:52] put that out there

[1:23:53] for everybody great

[1:24:01] anyone okay

[1:24:04] um madame chairman this is jan rutkay um

[1:24:07] i have a question regarding

[1:24:10] the vision for the town that includes

[1:24:14] enhanced walkability and i'm impressed with the fact that ran

[1:24:21] has already uh offered up several ideas

[1:24:25] as to how the school property might

[1:24:27] potentially

[1:24:28] connect to what will be a future

[1:24:32] walkway and board wastes and boardwalk

[1:24:35] system

[1:24:37] i think my question might be to chris

[1:24:40] perhaps

[1:24:41] is that since this is important to the

[1:24:44] town

[1:24:45] um is this something ran

[1:24:48] is this something that we have your

[1:24:51] commitment

[1:24:52] on doing

[1:24:55] i mean is it actually it seems like it's tentative at this point maybe i'm

[1:25:00] wrong

[1:25:01] about that i mean the sidewalk system

[1:25:04] that we're proposing

[1:25:05] is part of our design

[1:25:08] okay so so depending upon how you

[1:25:12] choose to eventually at some point in

[1:25:16] the future connect the school ground

[1:25:18] uh with uh walkways boardwalks and that

[1:25:21] sort of thing

[1:25:22] you're committed that that will be a

[1:25:23] part of your plan correct so

[1:25:26] a number of components one is the safe

[1:25:29] walks to schools

[1:25:30] project our project connects sidewalks

[1:25:33] to every corner

[1:25:35] um i think chris also highlighted his

[1:25:38] report how we're also planning

[1:25:39] crosswalks

[1:25:40] at the major intersection of bayside and

[1:25:42] old bayside to connect to the

[1:25:44] interconnected town sidewalk system uh

[1:25:47] and the components that i spoke of

[1:25:48] earlier of the connection down to

[1:25:50] fishing creek

[1:25:51] we really want to make that gateway and

[1:25:54] then connect that

[1:25:55] at a future time great okay that was

[1:25:58] uh i'm a member of the walkability

[1:26:00] committee and that was something that

[1:26:02] was of uh tremendous focus and interest so

[1:26:06] good thank you and and jan if i can just

[1:26:10] to build on that point

[1:26:11] um it would be extremely difficult

[1:26:14] within the scope of

[1:26:15] the school's project and budget to lay

[1:26:18] out

[1:26:19] the specific alignment for an extension

[1:26:22] to fishing creek trail

[1:26:24] at this point and being involved

[1:26:29] 15 years ago in the first trail linkage

[1:26:32] that we built

[1:26:34] that process is quite extensive and

[1:26:36] involves the

[1:26:38] many state agencies um and uh

[1:26:41] it will take a lot of time and uh the

[1:26:43] town needs to know

[1:26:44] where the alignment is going to be where

[1:26:46] we'll enter uh

[1:26:47] this neighborhood if you will before we

[1:26:50] could even ask the school

[1:26:51] uh right but they have indicated to work

[1:26:54] with us and would go back to planning

[1:26:56] commission we'll have a firmer idea

[1:26:57] about

[1:26:58] roughly where those connections were

[1:27:00] going to be and we even heard from the

[1:27:01] principal tonight

[1:27:03] um about the general support for the

[1:27:06] interconnection here and that's that's

[1:27:08] so uh gratifying

[1:27:10] and uh it's nice to see this long-term

[1:27:12] plan coming to fruition

[1:27:13] slowly but surely over time

[1:27:17] thank you chris uh madam chair if i made

[1:27:20] this is fred sussman again

[1:27:24] uh i think that we should make sure that

[1:27:27] the applicant

[1:27:28] offered for the record the all the

[1:27:31] application materials and supporting

[1:27:33] documents

[1:27:34] they've been referred to and they've

[1:27:36] been provided to

[1:27:37] the various commission members but i

[1:27:39] think we should have on the record

[1:27:41] uh a request to have those application

[1:27:44] materials made

[1:27:45] a part of the record so uh

[1:27:48] mr ilkovitz if you would make that

[1:27:50] profit

[1:27:53] uh yes absolutely

[1:27:58] sharon

[1:28:00] you're still with us correct

[1:28:08] yes she is i believe she might be muted

[1:28:10] let me just

[1:28:13] no i'm yeah

[1:28:18] yes i'll entered into the record the

[1:28:21] application

[1:28:22] and the supporting document thank you

[1:28:25] sharon

[1:28:27] uh-huh thanks fred

[1:28:32] is there anything else before we

[1:28:35] go into our deliberation

[1:28:46] okay madam chair may i before you go to

[1:28:50] deliberations

[1:28:53] this is fred sussman yes

[1:28:56] okay uh we've uh dealt with a number of

[1:29:00] applications before together

[1:29:02] in uh i don't know if we had any of the

[1:29:04] past year but certainly within

[1:29:06] the past two years and the way we've

[1:29:08] handled them

[1:29:09] is that the board what it deliberates

[1:29:12] uh may come to a tentative decision

[1:29:16] and makes a motion directing or

[1:29:19] requesting

[1:29:20] me as the board's attorney to prepare a

[1:29:23] resolution

[1:29:24] uh to reflect the board decision i

[1:29:27] do that and it comes back to you as a

[1:29:30] board

[1:29:31] for uh review and final approval

[1:29:34] so i would recommend that whatever way

[1:29:37] the board ultimately decides to want to

[1:29:39] go on

[1:29:39] these two applications then we follow

[1:29:41] the same process

[1:29:43] that the motion be that the attorney be

[1:29:46] directed or requested

[1:29:47] to prepare a resolution to do x y and z

[1:29:57] thank you

[1:30:08] can i hear the board's opinion

[1:30:12] this is the way that we've been doing it

[1:30:14] and i recommend that we do now

[1:30:16] but i'd like to hear from the board

[1:30:19] because we have new members on now

[1:30:29] board members dave ferguson here i agree

[1:30:33] with

[1:30:34] the process but in the past we've had to

[1:30:37] meet in purple

[1:30:38] in person uh i would recommend that we

[1:30:41] instead do another virtual meeting or

[1:30:45] telephone conference to discuss

[1:30:48] your resolution

[1:30:51] and and then we could each

[1:30:54] come by town hall individually and sign

[1:30:58] it

[1:31:00] i don't have any problem with that but

[1:31:02] on the board

[1:31:04] uh have to consider the resolution

[1:31:07] in a uh in a public meeting and

[1:31:11] it could certainly be a virtual meeting

[1:31:13] as we're doing here today

[1:31:15] or it could be a meeting done by

[1:31:16] teleconference as long as proper notice

[1:31:19] is given

[1:31:20] uh so i don't have any uh issue with

[1:31:22] what you're

[1:31:23] suggesting uh but we were doing this uh

[1:31:25] a year or two ago

[1:31:26] there was no need for virtual meetings

[1:31:28] we were actually meeting in person

[1:31:31] so in today's environment certainly for

[1:31:33] the foreseeable future

[1:31:35] i think business is going to continue to

[1:31:37] be conducted

[1:31:38] the way we're doing it today no

[1:31:41] go ahead go ahead and eat

[1:31:45] well well i think what we need to agree

[1:31:48] to

[1:31:48] hear um

[1:31:50] [Music]

[1:31:52] is the resolution is preparation of the

[1:31:55] resolution

[1:31:57] um and we can talk later about how

[1:32:02] um we follow up with what has to be done

[1:32:06] what's your opinion on the resolution

[1:32:08] again i'm in agreement with david

[1:32:14] out well with fred sorry

[1:32:21] to have fred our attorney prepare

[1:32:25] a resolution and then we

[1:32:28] decide how we will sign it

[1:32:32] given today's environment

[1:32:38] each of us went to the

[1:32:43] town hall to sign

[1:32:46] uh that would be an issue how do we

[1:32:51] handle that

[1:32:56] yes i could always do a docusign

[1:33:01] um and send it to each one assigned that

[1:33:05] way

[1:33:06] okay which i have done

[1:33:11] in this covet uh

[1:33:14] us being home and doing meetings

[1:33:17] virtually

[1:33:18] through the council i have done through

[1:33:21] the docusign for them to sign

[1:33:24] documents

[1:33:27] dr spencer i like that idea because uh

[1:33:30] it may reduce the time it takes to get

[1:33:33] this

[1:33:34] decision official uh and anything we can

[1:33:36] do

[1:33:37] uh to give the school board clear

[1:33:39] direction on what your decision is

[1:33:42] um as quickly as possible would be

[1:33:45] i'm certainly preferred by everybody

[1:33:48] involved

[1:33:50] so if it means expediting the opinion

[1:33:53] the resolution and the signing let's see

[1:33:56] what we can do because i know the

[1:33:57] applicants want to get in front of the

[1:33:59] planning commission soon for

[1:34:00] a site plan review and you know that

[1:34:03] process

[1:34:04] is another step uh that has to take

[1:34:08] place

[1:34:10] thank you okay

[1:34:27] is there anything else before we do

[1:34:30] you know i'm i'm i'm hesitating here now

[1:34:34] um

[1:34:37] fred what are we looking at in terms of

[1:34:40] time

[1:34:42] uh probably uh two weeks

[1:34:48] yeah perhaps a little bit sooner but

[1:34:51] this is going to be a

[1:34:53] relative a little bit more detailed

[1:34:55] resolution

[1:34:56] and i do have other uh commitments and

[1:34:58] priorities to other clients

[1:35:00] so i understand that there's a little

[1:35:02] bit of urgency and i'll do what i can

[1:35:05] uh but you know if you're saying you

[1:35:07] know uh what's

[1:35:08] uh the timetable i would say uh i would

[1:35:11] get done within two weeks

[1:35:13] and sooner if possible

[1:35:17] mr sussman dave ferguson here did i

[1:35:20] understand

[1:35:21] you that we need to have a public

[1:35:24] meeting to approve the resolution

[1:35:28] and sign it yes uh not to sign it but at

[1:35:30] least

[1:35:31] uh improvement to prove it

[1:35:35] it's business of the uh commission of

[1:35:38] the upside

[1:35:39] of the board yeah if we have to have a

[1:35:42] public meeting

[1:35:43] we have to advertise it what is it

[1:35:45] sharing three weeks

[1:35:47] prior uh

[1:35:51] no um two weeks would be sufficient

[1:35:54] two weeks okay so perhaps after our

[1:35:57] deliberate

[1:35:58] deliberations we could uh you know

[1:36:02] go ahead and uh set a date for the next

[1:36:06] meeting

[1:36:06] uh if mr sussman thinks he can you know

[1:36:09] have it prepared by then and

[1:36:12] you could go ahead and advertise the

[1:36:14] meeting

[1:36:15] so that that clock is running

[1:36:20] makes sense

[1:36:24] uh this is suchita warner may i ask a

[1:36:26] question

[1:36:27] uh i just wanted to find out

[1:36:31] in terms of the time frame uh and chris

[1:36:34] please jump in if you would

[1:36:36] uh in terms of the next planning

[1:36:38] commission meeting

[1:36:39] certainly we're anxious to be able to

[1:36:43] make our next presentation which i

[1:36:44] believe is sometime in september is the

[1:36:46] next planning commission meeting

[1:36:48] uh and then we also have a clock that

[1:36:52] we're trying to move towards

[1:36:54] in terms of design development and with

[1:36:56] the state

[1:36:57] um you know as far as submission and starting the design development

[1:37:02] process

[1:37:03] so i guess my question is

[1:37:06] uh is that um the resolution

[1:37:10] the process of the resolution is that

[1:37:12] set in stone or is there any way

[1:37:15] to be able to take up um

[1:37:18] the motion and uh accept the the variance and the special exception

[1:37:23] tonight just trying to

[1:37:25] the voice and the voice rules require

[1:37:28] that there be a written resolution

[1:37:30] and they contain findings of facts and

[1:37:32] conclusions of law yeah just as this is

[1:37:35] an administrative hearing

[1:37:36] administrative process so uh at least

[1:37:40] you will know uh tonight presumably

[1:37:43] if the board has directed me to prepare

[1:37:46] a resolution

[1:37:47] to approve the special exception and or

[1:37:49] variant or

[1:37:50] to deny it at least you'll know that

[1:37:53] and the next planning commission meeting

[1:37:55] is september 23rd

[1:37:58] and um

[1:38:02] there's you know we like to have the

[1:38:04] agenda set

[1:38:06] a couple weeks in advance uh we could

[1:38:09] certainly place this on the agenda for

[1:38:11] site plan review

[1:38:12] and obviously there's a risk there that

[1:38:15] something

[1:38:17] could conceivably happen in the

[1:38:18] resolution not be signed

[1:38:20] but i would expect that this resolution

[1:38:23] would be signed

[1:38:24] by the 23rd of september

[1:38:30] thank you i actually should say

[1:38:32] factually

[1:38:33] to be fashionably correct the next

[1:38:35] meeting is is august 26th

[1:38:38] but you're not going to make that agenda

[1:38:40] obviously that's next week

[1:38:42] um but uh the the next meeting where we

[1:38:45] can actually have this on the agenda

[1:38:46] this

[1:38:47] is the 23rd of september

[1:39:00] if the board

[1:39:06] votes to to approve

[1:39:12] then directs

[1:39:15] you fred to do the resolution

[1:39:19] is that acceptable yes that's uh

[1:39:22] essentially i thought that's what we

[1:39:23] were talking about yeah because i i

[1:39:26] think i i

[1:39:30] you know i think that's where we are

[1:39:40] uh i'd like to hear from from the board

[1:39:44] you know um

[1:39:54] before i make my comments i'd like to

[1:39:57] hear

[1:39:57] from the board i'd like for us to really

[1:40:03] make our decision uh that's

[1:40:06] what i had hoped to do tonight

[1:40:14] and i think we need to uh

[1:40:17] we need to do that so

[1:40:20] moving forward special exception

[1:40:27] uh jody hunsar here um the reasons given

[1:40:30] seem to fit with the requirements and i

[1:40:33] support moving forward with the special

[1:40:35] exemption

[1:40:43] dan i agree

[1:40:46] i think they they meet the requirements

[1:40:49] and i think it's a great looking plan i

[1:40:52] think it makes sense in every way

[1:40:55] david i agree

[1:40:58] uh we have a recommendation from the planning and zoning commission that

[1:41:06] it be approved

[1:41:07] and uh i think the uh

[1:41:11] stakeholders support it and

[1:41:16] ron has made a great uh presentation

[1:41:20] so i'm i'm in full agreement

[1:41:26] jody

[1:41:29] yes in agreement

[1:41:35] okay um

[1:41:38] that special looks

[1:41:43] moving now to the variance

[1:41:47] madam chair

[1:41:50] do you are we gonna formally vote or are

[1:41:53] we just discussing right now

[1:41:55] yeah we're discussing that we're

[1:41:57] following your recommendation okay i see

[1:42:04] are we i do have a question dars are we

[1:42:07] is the public still with us are we in

[1:42:10] this meeting by ourselves or

[1:42:13] just out of curiosity

[1:42:19] yes i i can tell you there's 25

[1:42:21] participants to the call

[1:42:22] um and unmuted unless they've muted

[1:42:25] themselves

[1:42:26] okay

[1:42:34] dan was that a an issue no i just wasn't i haven't done this

[1:42:40] before so i wasn't sure

[1:42:41] what at what stage we were i guess

[1:42:44] that's what i'm saying whether it was

[1:42:45] our

[1:42:46] meeting together to just make the

[1:42:48] decision or or what

[1:42:52] okay we've gone through the again

[1:42:54] special exception what about the

[1:42:56] variance

[1:42:58] uh jody hunsar speaking again it seems

[1:43:00] that all conditions are

[1:43:02] satisfied um i i believe it's in the

[1:43:04] interest of the board to vote this

[1:43:08] forward

[1:43:10] david ferguson here i agree

[1:43:14] i believe it should be approved

[1:43:18] and this is jan rutkay and i i concur

[1:43:27] okay with with that uh

[1:43:31] is fred still with us yes i am mountain

[1:43:34] chair

[1:43:36] um

[1:43:41] based on

[1:43:44] the feelings of the award

[1:43:51] i'm requesting that you prepare

[1:43:53] [Music]

[1:43:54] a resolution madam chair i think you

[1:43:58] need to take a formal vote of the board

[1:44:01] and i would suggest that you entertain a

[1:44:03] motion

[1:44:04] from a member of the board to direct

[1:44:07] the attorney to prepare a resolution

[1:44:11] that uh grants these requested special

[1:44:15] exception

[1:44:16] and the requested variance

[1:44:20] all right we'll do the formal vote um

[1:44:22] [Music]

[1:44:24] as you're indicated about

[1:44:32] the first vote would be on these

[1:44:36] special exceptions

[1:44:46] jam i vote yes

[1:44:50] to approve david ferguson

[1:44:55] i vote yes approve

[1:45:00] jody holmster yes

[1:45:16] and that motion included uh specif

[1:45:19] specifying that uh

[1:45:21] fred sussman would write the opinion a

[1:45:23] resolution right

[1:45:25] just for the record make it clear yes

[1:45:28] okay uh

[1:45:42] variant

[1:45:45] i vote to approve

[1:45:49] david ferguson i vote to approve

[1:45:57] jody i vote to approve

[1:46:10] okay

[1:46:18] fred what do we need from you now or to

[1:46:20] give you

[1:46:22] nothing madam chair i've been here i've

[1:46:24] read all the materials i

[1:46:26] have them and i have on my note from

[1:46:28] tonight's hearing

[1:46:29] so i have enough uh to prepare a

[1:46:32] uh resolution for you madam chair did

[1:46:36] you vote

[1:46:36] on either of the two motions no

[1:46:40] okay

[1:46:45] so i think that would conclude uh the

[1:46:48] business of the board on

[1:46:50] the application yeah

[1:47:03] thank you very much for your time and

[1:47:05] your evening appreciate everybody's

[1:47:07] attention

[1:47:08] and care for the project well thank you

[1:47:11] i mean i can't you know

[1:47:12] you all done a wonderful job

[1:47:17] thank you all thank you for taking the

[1:47:19] time to hear our presentation

[1:47:21] we're excited about the project

[1:47:25] it's an exciting project

[1:47:30] thank you dr spencer thank you holly

[1:47:32] thank you all the board members

[1:47:34] appreciate your time and effort you're

[1:47:36] welcome

[1:47:40] the meeting is adjourned

[1:47:48] thank you

August 19, 2020 Board of Appeals Hearing

Transcript