CITY OF HARBOR SPRINGS Zoning Board of Appeals April 13, 2011

Transcription

1 CITY OF HARBOR SPRINGS Zoning Board of Appeals Chairperson Henry Pfeifer called the meeting of the Harbor Springs Zoning Board of Appeals () to order at 5:30 p.m., at the City Council Chambers, 160 Zoll Street, Harbor Springs, MI. 1. Roll Call and Verification of Quorum Present: Absent: Anne Burrows, Henry Pfeifer, Alan Hegedus, Bob Thoma Maddy Heinz and Kristin McDonald. None Also Present: Tim Grimm, Raoul LePage, Bill Waldron, Jackie Waldron, Mark Selewski, Jeff Granger, Mark Rondel. 2. Approval of minutes and decision from the March 9, 2011 meeting. Burrows noted an error on page 2 paragraph 5. It should read Burrows asked is there a plan B, Burrows also noted on page 2 paragraph 7 Proposed should read proposed. Motion by Burrows, second by Thoma, to approve the March 9, 2011 minutes as amended. Motion approved. 3. Consideration of a variance rehearing request from William and Jackie Waldron, 153 Zoll St. Chairperson Pfeifer explained the rehearing process and then asked the Waldron s for the reasons a rehearing should be granted. Mr. Waldron thanked the for the rehearing opportunity and stated he should have been at the original hearing to be able to provide the with more details. Mr. Waldron noted the basis for his rehearing request was the current did not know a previous passed a similar variance for the property in Mr. Waldron also noted the stake placed to show the location of the proposed addition was not in the correct location. Pfeifer stated the approval of the 1997 variance was not binding on the current.

2 Page 2 Pfeifer also noted the City Council recently expanded the required side yard setback in this district from 8 feet to 10 feet. McDonald noted the 1997 variance approval was to construct the existing sun porch along the same line as the proposed new addition. Hegedus stated Mr. Waldron is saying he was misrepresented at the last hearing. Waldron stated he would like the opportunity to tell the why he designed and placed the proposed addition the way he did. Burrows stated she thought the location of the stake was immaterial as was the variance granted in Pfeifer agreed with Burrows and noted the setback was increased since Motion by Heinz, second by Thoma to grant a rehearing of the March 9, 2011 variance request to the Waldrons. Ayes Hegedus, Thoma, McDonald, Heinz Nays Burrows, Pfeifer Motion approved. 4. Rehearing of the March variance request for Bill and Jackie Waldron. Chairperson Pfeifer read the request: The purpose of the hearing is to hear a variance request from William & Jackie Waldron for property located at 153 Zoll St. Harbor Springs, Michigan, an R-M Zoning District. The owners are requesting a variance to construct a residential addition. The proposed new addition would have a five foot seven inch, (5 7 ) north side yard setback. The Zoning Administrator has determined that the required side yard set back is ten (10) feet, pursuant to Article6, Section , 2e. Chairperson Pfeifer opened the hearing for public input. Tim Grimm noted that a letter of support for the variance was received from Madge Kosequat.

3 Page 3 Mr. Waldron expressed his appreciation for the opportunity for a rehearing and explained the reasons why they needed to expand the living area of the existing 1,600 square foot home noting the living room was small for family gatherings. Mr. Waldron stated they had gone over various layouts for an addition and thought the proposed addition was the most practical. Mr. Waldron stated that moving the existing garage would take up too much green space and would require additional paved driveway and be very expensive. Chairperson Pfeifer noted that there was a time limit for the presentation. Mr. Waldron noted that there was no back door on the existing sun porch and stated the property works well now and the only thing that makes sense is enclosing the existing porch and adding to it without a jog in the roof and wall line. Waldron also stated the proposed addition would not be able to be seen from any side of the property. Mrs. Waldron noted the some of the neighbors that border the parcel were at the meeting in support of the variance request. Neighbor Rauol LePage stated his support of the request noting the rear yard of the Waldron parcel was wonderfully spacious and you could mess it up by placing the existing garage further back in the rear yard. He said he thought the plan was reasonable. Mark Rondel, neighbor to the north, stated his support for the proposal and noted his thoughts on zoning codes in general stating the zoning codes were an erosion of freedom. Chairperson Pfeifer stated Mr. Rondel should go to the City Counsel with his comments and noted the zoning code exists and is the law. Hearing no further comments Chairperson Pfeifer closed the public portion of the meeting and asked the Board for their comments. Thoma asked if the Waldron s had considered moving the entire wall of the addition and existing porch back to meet the setbacks. Waldron stated that he thought that would not work. Burrows stated that even though the addition cannot be seen now if the hedge were removed in the future it would be seen. Pfeifer asked if anyone could see a practical difficulty.

4 Page 4 McDonald stated the non conforming location of the house on the lot is the practical difficulty noting the home is small for the neighborhood on a large lot. Pfeifer stated the garage could be moved to allow the construction of an addition without a variance. Heinz stated that moving the garage was not practical. Hegedus stated that moving the garage was a lot to do. Thoma stated that in the past variances were granted because of roofline problems. Hegedus stated he thought a jogged roof line would be a practical difficulty that would arise from the strict enforcement of the code. Mark Selewski, builder, noted if they slide the addition over to meet the required setback it would take away from the home and cost considerably more to build. Pfeifer noted the house was built prior to zoning, that architecture should not be considered and he noted the City had just increased the setback for the neighborhood from 8 feet to 10 feet. Heinz stated she thought the green space in the rear yard should be preserved. Hegedus stated he thought a variance for this parcel would not be disrespectful of the change in the code from 8 feet to 10 feet. Pfeifer noted that there were additional comments from the audience and reopened the hearing to public comment. Fred Simons suggested that moving the existing garage back 20 feet would provide the space to add to the home without a variance. Waldron stated that the cost of moving the garage would be too much. McDonald stated that moving the garage would cost too much, the variance request was reasonable and a strict application of the code would be unfair. Pfeifer closed the hearing to public input and asked for any further comments from the Board, hearing none he asked for a motion.

5 Motion by Hegedus, second by Heinz to approve the request. The practical difficulty noted is the non-conforming lot width, the non-conforming placement of the house prior to zoning and the need to make the eave line consistent with the existing eave line. Ayes Heinz, Hegedus, McDonald, Thoma Nays Pfeifer, Burrows. Motion carried. 5. Adjournment. Motion by Heinz, second by Burrows, to adjourn the meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals at 6:15 pm. Henry Pfeifer, Chairperson Tim Grimm, Zoning Administrator