[Music]
all right hello uh everybody uh this is
a call to order for the chese beach
board of appeals 700m April 8th
2024 as always we begin with a roll call
um I will state board members names they
will announce that they are present uh
Mr Richard Burch present Mr Paul dhy
present Miss Amy Everett present I am Mr
Jody honar we have a quorum um so we
only have one case uh here today but
there is something that I would like
to say before we begin um this is only
the second case we've at least in my
tenure we've heard of a
misinterpretation or alleged error uh
before this board so I'd like to verify
something before we get started um
briefly what we're expecting here is to
show that the wording of the zoning
ordinance and or other laws were misin
uh misapplied or misinterpreted um
stating specifically which sections were
incorrectly applied or um is the applic
applicant prepared to present on this
yes sir all right in that case we can
begin uh so we are going to hear case
20241 to consider an application from BX
and property purchasers
LLC uh Carl buckheister is that you yes uh who's the owner of real property
known as 40111 14th Street Chesapeake
Beach Maryland for a decision on
interpretation or alleged error of
Article 5 section 29020 parking and
loading uh subsection a general
regulations applying to the required off
street parking facilities uh point 7 the
location of parking space the applicant
is requesting of chesap Beach uh zoning
board of appeals A variation from the
requirements of 29020 A7 restricting
parking within the front setback for
private residences uh so what we'll be
doing here today in terms of order of
presentation will be uh following the
what's documented in our rules of
procedures attachment a uh we start with
the appellant testimony and evidence
including any Witnesses um um followed
up by Town staff testimony and evidence
with Miss Franklin um and third would be
testimony and evidence by the person or
entity whose rights are impacted by the
appeal this would be any members of the
public in attendance or any letters
received uh which I will read uh at Theo
time if we have any um this will fi
finish this with any summary statements
anyone wants to give at which point we
will close the public hearing and begin
deliberations that said I will pass it
to the petitioner Mr Buck Heiser of pin
properties purchasers
LLC lell thanks for seeing me today um I
uh I have one picture uh I don't know
when the picture was taken that was in
the report that the town uh submitted um
I have one picture that's closest to uh
the date that I settled it's from uh
October 6
um it's in black and white but I'd like
to submit it I think you'll see that
there was not existing vegetation in
fact it was a concrete sidewalk and then
slabs of concrete on each side so I'd
like to submit
that
so this that's the
settlement statement on my 11 that's the
last picture I have exterior of the
house
well we probably should go back to um
the affidavit the publication affidavit
which I usually read in the
beginning so what you mind doing that
I'm so sorry announce that we posted
public okay in the matter of the
application from for tuin property purch
purchasers
LLC I cause to be published in the
southern Maryland News newspaper a
notice of this April 8th 2024 public
hearing on case number
2024-25 and April 5th notice was
provided to the Planning Commission on
February 27 2024 on March 8th 2024
notice was provided by registered mail
to the appli and adjoining property
owners the property was posted by the
public works department on March 15
2024 my
mistake so we want to add turn this into
or you can add it as a supplement to his
uh original application that works will
be calling
for I also like to submit another
photograph that was just taken today um
the picture that was in the report uh
did not I don't know if this uh means
anything but the uh vegetation on the
neighbor side is is still existing it's
poor quality photo but I think you'll
get the gist um to the right of the
house this would be taken around
this okay that's
good
okay and if you could please sit at the
microphone so that we'd be able to hear
you there you
go
is
the final thing I'd like to submit is
the inspection
report please the the final piece I'd
like to submit is the inspection report
done by American Property Consultants on
December 15th in the report it cited
that the inspector uh noted the
um uh Stone but that was not noted in
his inspection report um there was one
exterior item uh that he noted and three
or four interior items that he noted so
I would like to submit that as
well
what are we getting from this he he
didn't note that but there's a picture
of it is that what you're saying so in
the report from ches be Beach it said
that the inspector noted the stones that
were put down in the inspection report
and he did not note that in the
inspection report for the rental
license
for
e
you can continue so um my point in
putting down the stones was um first of
all I thought it would look a lot better
um the it it just that concrete was
really nasty looking and the grass that
was in front of the house a small
section and I wanted it to benefit my
tenants to have it's off street parking
the majority of that block there's five
houses and they're decent Siz single
family houses and there's one driveway
amongst the five houses on the other
side of the street on my block is four
houses and three driveways so I live in
North Beach U two houses down from
Neptunes and I don't have a driveway so
it's off street so I know I just wanted
to like avoid any kind of um conflict
with neighbors um because off Street you
can you can park anywhere so my
intention was uh to to avoid that
um I
uh it worked out well
that the um the woman who ended up
renting this property is related
to uh her daughter lives right next door
and she only has one vehicle so it's not
so much of an issue um but you know in
the in the future if it's a uh it's a
two-bedroom it's it's very possible that
it would be multiple multiple vehicles
and I
just would want to cut down like any
kind potential for conflict or them
parking in the alley that's blocked off
so that was my intention with that I
believe that it does look better now
than it did um so that's that's about
the gist of what I have to say guys
thank you
um okay uh we'll go ahead and go to uh
Miss Franklin uh the town planner
um oh we can yeah does anyone have
questions at this time or do we want
to oh it is that area that front area in
front of the setback is it being used
for parking not currently no no sir she has one vehicle so she just um parks
in front of the house there's one spot
in front of the house that could be used
for a vehicle but she does not knows
in or would someone in the future knows
in yeah I would like for them to be able
to have that option yes sir okay how far
is that setback I know you have you also
have
the concrete blocker right so car
wouldn't roll into the house or whatever
right what is that entire length you
have for your front yard
then you can ballpark it we're not going
to hold you
to um approximately I would say eight or
nine
feet
just a question any other houses along
that area
use I'm going to just use vertical park
instead of horizontal right so off
Street any other none of everybody uh
parks in in front of the house if they
don't have a driveway and some use the
alley but but do I
notice I'm not sure how relevant this is
but the house next to yours has gravel
in front of the uh watch in the setback
area most of the properties do sir I
didn't count that but the majority of
them do I'm just looking at this
picture that's in the uh planner's
report
any further
questions
um I will say before we go on I'm
not so the type of hearing or hearing is
when when there's a rule in the zoning
code that says you can do this or you
can't do this and someone says no that
like you've totally misapplied that in
this case um
and I'm not entirely sure if we're there
because so so this board has the power
to act as if we're planning and zoning
we can we can kind of take on their
mantle of
responsibilities um but unless we're
saying exactly which rules were
misapplied and What needs to change um
this
isn't I mean this doesn't feel like an
error because we don't say we're not
saying this rule in the zoning code is
being applied you know um and I told
Fred told me not to talk about this but
I don't feel like I have a choice um we
typically hear things called variances
which are more along the lines of
Neighbors coming in and saying hey
there's something strange about my lot
that doesn't apply to everybody else in
the neighborhood can you bend the rules
in this case because my property has
this thing um because otherwise so the
so it thus far has fallen into those two
categories either it's you know the
rules applied wrong or just bend the
rules a little bit um
and part of the bending of the rules a
little bit means we can we there has to
be a specific case on this specific
property that makes it different from
all the Neighbors in the region so if
all the neighbors had a thing where they
wanted to say we want to allow parking
in the front lot of our yard it wouldn't
be under the purview of this board I
don't believe it would actually have to
be a change in the zoning ordinances and
you know the board's higher higher than
this um
so yeah yeah um that's my summary of of
what I think is going on but I don't I
don't want to shortcut it if if we
um if I'm misinterpreting things um and
I'm happy I think next will give the
town a chance to respond but I just want
to make sure that's that's clear that
I'm not actually sure if the board has
the power in this scenario to to to
Grant you the relief I think you're
requesting um okay that said uh I will
pass it to
uh Town staff Miss Franklin um Miss
Franklin this is her first time I
believe presenting before this board so
it typically what we ask of town staff
is is Miss Franklin submitted a report
which I believe you've seen as well
um if you would give a brief summary of
your report in as much or little detail
as you like um and typically after
you've done that we ask you to make a
recommendation to the board uh based on
the information you have so um
that uh Miss Franklin okay thank you um
so you all have my staff report and the
town staff noticed the violation when
they went to inspect for um for the
rental license but they didn't note it
necessarily they just noticed that it
was there um and that's how we knew
there would be a permit required
um
the other properties um may or may not
have permits or variances for what they
have um that's not really a factor in
determining um whether there was an
error in the interpretation here so
you'll see in my staff report that I
show the existing condition which yes
there is concrete but there's also a
vegetated space between the concrete and
the road um which is I'm I'm trying not
to use the word critical but this is in
the critical area and so that storm
water
flow between the street and the property
um trying to keep storm water on the
property is important in the critical
area and that's part of why we want to
make sure we're reviewing all the
permits ahead of time and that's part of
what I am saying when I'm saying there's
vegetation removed um
so when this first came in I wanted to
make sure that I checked for all
possible exceptions to 20
992a parking loading 7 location of a
parking space um and I went through all
our requirements and there really wasn't
a way to give an exception for parking
in the front yard
so simply put it says parking for
private residences in residential
districts shall not be located within
the front setback area between the
principal structure in the SE Street um
I feel I felt like that was pretty
straightforward was unable to find an
exception and so that is why I
denied recommended the
denial and that would
be that would be your recommendation
would would deny oh you sorry I wasn't
sure to go right into that so so yes my
recommendation would be to deny the
request for an error in interpretation
um unless there I don't think there's an
error in this
interpretation
any members of the board have questions
for Town
sta not questions um Sarah directly but
I do have some comments I can hold until
later
um we can during deliberation yeah yeah
maybe I jump the gun as well
um okay uh yeah let's hold that we'll go
into deliberations pretty shortly
um uh with that um would any members of
the public member of the public like to
come and state your name who you
represent if yourself um and we need to
squore people
in doing the
[Music]
honors I do good evening would you like
me to sign in uh yes if you would and
you can just sayate your
name here my name is Kathleen
bural and I live at 7409 B Street which
is a few blocks from uh Mr Buck heiser's
property
uh I just wanted to say I go buy this
property every day I'm very familiar I
knew the former owner to the property
and um my comment is uh everybody does
park on the street there and I do
believe you can get two cars in front of
that house I think the way it's been set
up now with these concrete barriers and
the gravel uh it's starting to look like
rental property neighborhood it's a it's
a residential neighborhood and it's
unsightly because both of those Vehicles
whether they're being used currently
right now um the the renter right now is
parking on the street but they've
already added these concrete barriers
they've added gravel um as if this was
already approved and if those vehicles
are going to park in front of that home
they are either going to pull all the
way into
almost under the windows um on either
side of the I guess the the PCH to walk
inside the house and I think I I think
it looks very uh unsightly myself um you
know the cars will back right up to the
window so I I just wanted to note that
and as uh Mr Buck Heiser said nobody
else on that parking uh nobody else
parked that way on the street uh and and
there is the house across the street
does have a driveway but that's that's
part of the community of the
neighborhood I live up on B Street where
parking is even more constricted um but
with my neighbors we all when I have
company or um I have an event at my home
sometimes people park over at the school
they walk across the street but as far
as the issue of a conflict with the
neighbors uh I I don't see that we're neighbors we understand that
parking is is uh at a premium here and
uh we work it out when there's an event
you can park in front of my house or I
can park in front of your house but I I
just think with the way it's been set up
with the gravel and those concrete
barriers it it's starting if every house
on the street now we're starting to look
like a rental neighborhood and not a a
community so thank you for your
time see no other public members um
Sharon I believe we've received one
public comment on this is that
correct and this would
be uh dated March
24 from uh Miss Patrick Mahoney is that
correct yes uh so we received this uh
through the town hall which was then
sent with our the information on this
case to board um I will read that out
loud
um dear chese Beach Board of Appeals uh
as an adjacent property owner I'm
writing to ask that you oppose the
request for variance uh from protection
property purchasers case
20241 uh as you well know granting of
variance is an exception to the rules in
this case the residents in neighbor uh
neighborhood would be harmed from both
an aesthetic and negative property value
perspective we have lived across the
street from uh 411 14th Street for 30
years we have a tidy respectable block
allowing for parking within the front
setback will give the entire block a
deteriorating declining look now once in
30 years has a resident of that property
not been able to parallel park on the
Town Street in front of their residents
not once I realize and appreciate that
the new owners of the property are
landlords and not full-time residents
possibly the small town look of our
block isn't the same concern that
full-time residents uh for many decades
have I ask uh you to respect and support
our quote small town charm and deny the
applicants uh request for a variance in
case
2024
4 uh 406 14th
Street so I believe should correct me
are there any others is that
just um okay uh so that is the end of
public comments the last section before
we close is any summary statements or
additional statements you'd like to make
it this time Mr Bist or anybody in this
room really um the floor is open if
you'd like it if not we can
continue uh well I would just like to
say that the
um the pro the condition of the property
before we renovate it it
was not very good condition and I feel
that we improved it tremendously uh both
from the exterior and inside to add
value to uh to everybody in that
community
um I didn't come prepared with pictures
prior to the renovation but it it was in
very poor condition and we um we spent a
lot of time and money to improve it and
I believe we did
that all right thank you um seeing no
more um I move to close or I will
entertain a motion to close the public
hearing do I have a second or motion
still move second I second it all right
the public hearing is closed at this
point uh the board will Talk Amongst
ourselves for you all to hear um and uh
we'll ask questions if rise but please
don't jump to uh to interrupt or
anything like that um all right where do
we want to start you had you had
something you wanted to say and want you
open up yes um so going into this I
thought this was a case about
parking and and I'm at a bit of a disadv
Advantage because I don't have the
application in front of
me but what I'm hearing now is it's not
about parking it's about the
gravel am I incorrect in that
regard issue
is whether this parking in the front
yard happen to be that Park P
Parking I
think is that stated in the
application I don't have that in front
of me the decision on interpretation or
alleged error States owner
recently purchased and renovated
property there is no parking space
tenant parks on street that is what's
written in that
section feels so the the appellant I
heard the appellant say that there's no
one parking in that space currently
although there's nothing to prevent
someone from doing it in the
future um and I didn't hear anything
that stated that the gravel was put down
with the intent of allowing
parking so I'm confused as to what this
case is about what is is it about
parking or is it about just laying
gravel down I think it's about parking
in the area in front of the house front
of the house but but
there's within the front set but I don't
hear any any testimony or any
words that say that was the intention of
laying down the gravel yeah it's
definitely I think a gray space like you
can I think probably put gravel in your
front yard if you want to do it and I
see at least in this one
picture the property the property next
door has
Stone in down in the front set back the
specific area that this house resides in
has criteria that has to be met if
you're going to be renovating the
Landscaping aspect of it because of the
drainage and the critical area that it's
in so just putting in stone or changing
the Landscaping would then have to have
a benefit there's a
10% given it has to have a benefit when
you redo that and and so the pictures I
saw that the appellant showed of the
property at the time of closing or
shortly around that
time um the front yard looked pretty
ragged I mean I didn't see much there
and that would lead me to believe well
there's flood control here because
there's
vegetation um I I can ask a question
yeah so is there a reason why that
wasn't mentioned in your application in
the first place or for us because I
think a lot of us had an idea of what it
looked like from what Google Maps or
something else have as this report shows
and I forget the date that that picture
was from but somewhere in the middle
you're showing us a picture of concrete
right which should have been there for a
while if it was broken up I showed a
picture from October 6th which was the
last picture I had prior to when I
settled on it which was October 11th
correct I think part of the confusion
that we all have is that's the first
time we've seen that picture we saw
grass and some concrete but not that
much concrete and then we saw the gravel
and so I think some of us are right
isn't that part of the confusion is what
are we compare what apples and oranges
are we comparing here and where's this
conversation and
also is gravel less conducive to flood
control than a bare lot with broken
concrete let's let's pause and ask Town
staff we've said at least one thing
wrong by me so why don't you go ahead
and correct what I said wrong and then
answer Paul with regards the
conductivity gravel constitutes an
impervious surface and and when so
gravel constitutes an impervious surface
when you're increasing the impervious
surface on your lot in the critical area
you have to mitigate that by reducing
storm water runoff and improving storm
water quality by 10% um we usually
address that on the individual Lots with
plantings um between the street and the
impervious surface to reduce the impacts
on the town storm water systems so
there's that piece and if this was
something that was going to be granted
in a different scenario than the one
we're looking at it would actually have
to go potentially to critical area
before it could be approved the concrete
I'm not sure you know I don't know what
it looked like in October I don't know
if the grass was just dead in October um
and I think part of the issue is
the pre-existing condition isn't
actually it doesn't
actually affect that 10% rule so when
you're increasing the impervious surface
and you're you're redeveloping you're
pulling out that you're going to have
to increase your or storm water runoff
idea of the critical area rules is that
overtime um the impacts of flooding are
lessoned for the whole
community so my this was presented as a
parking area to the town in the original
application
so it simply is not allowed as a parking
area in a straightforward
interpretation um and that's what I
think we should stick with for
this that's my my advice is to stick
with what is actually in front of us I
don't know if I'm stepping overstepping
there say that that answer your question
Paul no not
really again I don't have the
application in front of me does the
application the application requesting a
parking
area I think it's more that the the work
was done so this was an after the fact
was it done to allow parking that is
what was
stated stated today it sounds like is to
replace existing parking is it stated in
the application I heard the app the the
appellant here say
that that there's no one parking there
now and I mean it references A7 which is
the section for location of parking
space what are we looking where be on
page one at the top handw written line
at the bottom so the like bottom
paragraph that first
the applicants
um statement is that the owner recently
purchased so the applicant is asking for
parking
yeah
apparently is is that the case yes sir
okay so my
bad um so so it's application for a
parking
space now my uh although I will ask
about when you mention it's the gravel's
impervious um I mean asphalt's
impervious uh concrete's impervious but
gravel has voids that allows water to
flow
through it it depends on how deep the
gravel is um so there's there's probably
ways to address it um but I didn't
actually go into a critical area
interpretation in the denial because it
was violating a basic piece of the
zoning
ordinance yeah I I mean I already kind
of stated at beginning is said I'm not quite sure what we can do here
um because there's no part of the zoning
code that was misapplied in this case um
the rules are the
rules
and this particular front lot doesn't
allow um for parking in the in the
setback and there's there's no kind of
statement that this rule was misapplied
in this case it applies to all the
houses in the neighborhood and you know
I'm assuming the ones with driveways
went through their own permiting process
to get you know whatever the process is
for them so you know a distinct
situation um I just I don't think
there's anything we can do here without
saying what would happen if this was a
variance case I think our conversation
could go in all sorts of directions
right now but this isn't a variance case
this is whether there's an error is
there an error in 29020
A7 that was not applied and I think
regardless of what was there before and
what's there now that's really
our the only thing we need to answer I
also I'll say that
uh the the question of vegetation and
the gravel is a separate issue
parking if we're focusing simply
on ordinance
2902a then I don't know that we have
anything to say about gravel and
vegetation yeah if this was a I want a
variance for a park space you know maybe
we could make some considerations and
tradeoffs to improve the prvious cious
surfaces whatever but that yeah that's a
not really not really what's going
on even then it's
a the high
bar um to hit that the there there are
some criteria that need to be met for
variance that I think would also make
that discussion of high
bar we're not just here to discuss that
although
um it kind of begs the question of uh
what what measures do you take to
prevent it from becoming a parking space
right and that's not yeah I'm yeah I
don't know if we there's no enforcement
mechanism and at least not with this
board so I think we'd have to to punt
that and let Town procedure wait for a
violation find somebody parking there
the town has a way to
manage code
violation
is there any
um any other directions we want to take
this before we figure out what we want
to do open
floor okay um sorry I cut you
off um in that case um I think from the
sound of the
board um I'm going to call for a vote to
deny this request outright
um um okay so
um
uh so to the
board um let's have an up down
vote um as to whether or not to deny
this request I will go uh around the
board members and and ask for approve or
deny statement
um to oh sorry I'll will ask whether you
would like to deny this yes or no um Mr
Richard Burch yes yes you wish to deny Mr Paul dhy this is an application
to allow parking I deny it okay Miss Amy
ever Den I all right thank you that is
three of five we have
a agreement um in which case we direct
Mr susman to draft documents stating the
board's decision to deny
um this
request
um yeah okay um if there's nothing else
um at this time uh we'll get back
together and write up some paperwork but
I don't think there's any urgent urgency
to um to getting that paperwork to you
guys um with that um I believe we're
ready to adjourn at this time I'll
entertain a motion to
adjourn I'll make that motion can I ask
one thing yeah so the uh the parking is
denied with the um with the white stone
that is
existing the town has told me that I
have to get that up is that yeah this
board doesn't this this is like this is
the board that allows flexibility and
the rules of zoning so almost everything
else as to as to the kind of the
downstream consequences of of any
decision is kind of out of our hands
whatever the normal whatever the town
said is what would have to happen with
regards the stone and the concrete and
the the front part of the property um
yeah I I would say that um you know if
that comes up I would like to know I'd
like to see citations of which
ordinances are are violated by that
stone being
there all right um uh did we I write a
motion to adjourn do I have a second all
in favor I all right we're adjourned
thank thank you everybody thank
you