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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning and Zoning Commission-Minutes-2/14/2000 Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 1 of 9 The regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission was called to order by Chairman Hart at 7:00 P.M. on February 14, 2000. Roll Call: Present: Rob Rutherford, Luann Edwards, William Tyler, Jim Fletcher, Mike Collins, Tom Hart Bryan Hill Barry LeBaron, Tom Niederauer, Clayton Husband Absent: Staff: Invocation: Commissioner Edwards Approval of Minutes: January 24, 2000 Commissioner Edwards moved to approve the minutes. Commissioner Tyler seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Rutherford, Edwards, Tyler, Collins, Fletcher, Hart Noes: None 1. PUBLIC HEARING - A Special Use Permit requested by Shawn Mackey for private horse stables for domestic use in an R-20 zoning district on 3.747 acres located at 4613 Patterson Lane. Case S-00-001 Tom Niederauer presented the case to the Commission. Commissioner Edwards asked if staff knew what kind of fire protection was available at this property due to the configuration of the lot and where is the closest fire hydrant. Mr. Niederauer did not know the location of the closest fire hydrant. Chairman Hart opened the public hearing. Those present wishing to speak were: Shawn Mackey, applicant, informed the Commission that the closest fire hydrant was located approximately 100 feet away from his home and pointed out the location. He said that he was trying to improve the barn by tearing the old barn down and replacing it with a barn constructed of stone and wood. He said that he only received positive comments about his proposal. He said that the barn would be used for his private use only and not as a business and he currently has two horses. Mr. Mackey said that the old barn was on the property prior to his moving to 4613 Patterson Lane and the new barn will be placed toward the center of the lot. Mr. Niederauer said that a fire hydrant is required to be within 500' of a residential dwelling rather than the 300' distance he told them earlier. He said that the 300' distance is for a commercial building. There being no one else present wishing to speak, the public hearing was closed. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 2 of 9 Commissioner Fletcher said that the request to deviate from the 900 square foot limitation is founded since he is tearing down the old building which is larger and replacing it and improving the appearance of the property, the size would be grand-fathered. Commissioner Fletcher moved to recommend approval of the special use permit for Case 5-00-001 including the size of the barn requested to be 1,600 square feet. Commissioner Rutherford seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Rutherford, Edwards, Tyler, Collins, Fletcher, Hart Noes: None 2. TABLED ITEM - A Special Use Permit requested by Paul Kramer, for private horse stables for domestic use in an R-20 zoning district on 2.46 acres located at 4809 Bill Simmons Road. Case S-99-085 Commissioner Fletcher moved to remove the item from the table for discussion. Commissioner Collins seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Rutherford, Edwards, Tyler, Collins, Fletcher, Hart Noes: None Tom Niederauer presented the case to the Commission and discussed the agreement reached by Mr. Kramer and his neighbors, and he displayed pictures of the surrounding properties. He said that an ordinance has been written to reflect the agreement. Commissioner Edwards asked Paul Kramer, applicant, which neighbors he had an agreement with since they were not attached to Mr. Kramer's letter in the packet. Mr. Kramer said that he received a letter of agreement from Mark Lohse who is directly north and agreed upon Mr. Lohse's dimension limitations. He said that the neighbor to the north on Bill Simmons was satisfied with the limitation of three horses, and the neighbor to the south, gave him a letter. Mr. Kramer said that the neighbor across Bill Simmons, Mr. Maass, also gave him a letter. He said that he spoke with Mr. Makey and he told him that the neighbors at the end of the street did not object since most of them had barns on their property. Mr. Kramer said that he spoke to the Vincents twice and he gave them a form letter to respond with their objections and did not receive a reply. He said that if the Commission would look at the Vincent property, they have a metal structure next to their house that is approximately equivalent to the size barn he is asking for. Mr. Kramer said that he tried to compromise by placing the barn in an alternate location from his first request and limited the number of horses. He said that if the Commission would stand on the corner of Bill Simmons and Glade they could see eight barns. Mr. Kramer said that the height of the barn will be approximately 22 to 23 feet high. Commissioner Fletcher moved to reopen the public hearing. Commissioner Fletcher Collins seconded the motion. The motion passed by an "Aye" voice vote. Those present wishing to speak were: ~___._.,_,_,.'_M""'__'___"_~_"_~ ,_",__,_,_",,_,__~~_.,_.__,___,~___"'~"_'~'_M_____'"...- ------ Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 3 of 9 Linda Vincent, 4811 Patterson Lane, she submitted pictures in relation to what they look at on Mr. Kramer's property and pictures of their property. She said that her neighbors with barns have been there for 23 years and the City has changed the codes and ordinances. If any of the neighbors or herself wanted to change anything, they are grand-fathered and would have to come before the Commission. She said that this action directly impacts their property. Ms. Vincent said that she has a new petition that was signed by 10 out of 14 neighbors that lists restrictions and guidelines. She said that they are not opposed to a barn, but they want certain limitations for the neighborhood. She said it may not be Montclair Parc, but it is their residence. She said that Mr. Kramer purchased the property solely for the use of horses as he has stated in a letter of intent. She said that she would like to see the neighbors request carried out since it protects their neighborhood. Ms. Vincent said that the summary from staff at the last meeting agenda stated that the wishes of area homeowners should be the most important factor in the decision to grant this use or not. She said that the Commission may set limits to the special use permit. Ms. Vincent said that Mr. Kramer chooses not to live on the property, or smell the odors from the horses and yet the property is in their front yard and she wants guidelines established. Commissioner Fletcher asked Ms. Vincent what guidelines she would like established. She said that they requested a maximum of three horses because Mr. Kramer has stated that in the future his son may want a horse. She said that the City guidelines in the R-20 district is a maximum building size of 900 square feet and they would agree to a 1,548 square foot structure if Mr. Kramer would be kind enough to move it farther back where it would where it is not directly in front of their third acre. She said that they were more than fair with Mr. Kramer and asked him to not place his trailers and live stock equipment openly with the exception of one horse trailer. She said that Mr. Kramer is building a huge building and he should be able to store all of the equipment inside the building. In response to Commissioner Fletcher's questions, she said that she is in agreement to the applicant's requested three horse limitation. She said that the building size would not be a major concern if it were relocated an additional 25 feet further back on the property. Tom Niederauer asked Mr. Kramer to clarify the intended size of the barn as there are conflicting numbers in the materials. Mr. Kramer said that the size of the barn he is requesting to build is 1,584 square feet. Mr. Niederauer said that staff would amend the recommendation and the ordinance to reflect 1,584 square feet. Commissioner Fletcher asked Mr. Kramer if he would have a problem with a 100' set back. Mr. Kramer responded that he would have a problem with it. Mr. Kramer said that he bought the property with a long term plan to build a residence on it and his intention was to tuck the barn into the area deemed "dead space" in the right hand corner and he amended his plan to accommodate the neighbor to the north. He said that the barn was moved back from 30 to 40 feet and now he has moved it to 60 feet. Mr. Kramer said that he believed that the building line on the street is 30 feet and he moved it to 60 feet and has now agreed to 75 feet from the street. He said that he will not be able to build the house he wants if he has to move the barn further on the lot. He said that in all fairness it is not like the barn is located on the street as he is twice away from where the building line is required. He said that the Vincents house is located probably as far back from the street in their direction, and by moving it back to where the neighbor to the north is agreeable, he cannot compromise any more, because it removes the option of building a large home on the property. Mr. Kramer said that he is not hiding the fact that he is currently using the Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 4 of 9 property for a play area and has approximately $300,000 invested in it. He said that he will have $350,000 invested when the barn is built and he does not want to take away the option of building a large house someday for himself or someone else in order to recover his investment. He said that he believed that 75 feet was a reasonable compromise and 25 additional feet would not make that much of a difference. Commissioner Fletcher said that he believed that he believed Mrs. Vincent was concerned with the potential problem with odors associated with the barn being located closer to her property. Mr. Kramer responded that his horses will be outside 95% of the time. He said that the barn is for the purpose of having a feed room, a tack room, and a place to stay in bad weather and consequently, the barn will not be a problem with smells as they will keep it clean. He said that the barn will be an attractive addition to the neighborhood. He said that the patio will face to the south. He said that the doors to the east and west sides will be cedar garage doors that will look very barn like. The north side will have one door to the wash rack and the neighbor to the north had no objection. Commissioner Fletcher asked Mrs. Vincent is the aesthetic view or the potential smell of the barn her objection to having the barn built 75 feet from the property line. She said that as long as the barn is not bright red she does not have any objection to the 75 foot location as long as it is a neutral color. She said that from the pictures, it is a large structure and it is wide open from her view point. She said that a $50,000 investment is nothing in comparison to the value of the acreage and homes in the area. Commissioner Fletcher said that Mrs. Vincent has an advantage over him in his neighborhood because she has a beautiful view of the rural atmosphere and a barn is part and parcel of living in that area. He said that he thinks the barn will be attractive for the neighborhood. Commissioner Rutherford asked Mrs. Vincent to clarify what her objection is to the barn. She said the view, the smell, everything it is going to bring. She said that without restrictions, Mr. Kramer can't go on with the deed and the use can go on to someone else and with the size of the barn, someone else could lease space for boarding horses. She said that she did not believe that Mr. Kramer intended to use it this way, but without restrictions they don't know about the next person. Danny Vincent, said that he has some of the same concerns, but there are other issues like parking trailers. He said that 75 feet off the road is a problem because eventually there will be a line of houses down Patterson Lane and with the way the property slopes, they need to be approximately 60 feet off the property line. He said that there will become a house, a house, a house, then a barn next to the street. Mr. Vincent said that the barn on his property has been there for at least 10 years prior to him purchasing the property and is located to the very back of his property. He said that the other barns on the street are sitting in the middle of the property, not next to the road. He said that a 1,548 sq. ft. barn with a 300 sq. ft. porch is an excessive size barn for this property that is in an R-20 zoned area and 900 sq. ft. is what was put into the ordinance. Mr. Vincent said that the barns in the area and the barns on his property could not be put in today without the approval of the Commission and the City has gone forth with the Master Plan to protect them and to take Colleyville to the next level. He said that Mr. Kramer did not live on the property. Mr. Vincent said he wondered what would happen if he bought a couple of lots in Montclair Parc without the in.tention of living there, put his shop on it and parked a few flat bed trailers on it with a boat and a few round pens. He said that the two neighborhoods are zoned exactly the same. He said that it isn't right to comparing the structure to what is already in the Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 5 of 9 area because they were built a long time before he got to the neighborhood and his parents owned property since 1976. Mr. Vincent said that horses bring lots of smells, dust and just last night his property was a pit from the horses running up and down along his property. He said that the City needs to keep moving forward and he doesn't want people to think that if they move to this junky neighborhood, they can put up this kind of stuff. Mr. Vincent said that he does not want to look at a 1,548 sq. ft. barn across the street from him. He said that it will not do anything for the tax base of the City, nor improve the property values in the area, and it will perpetuate it always being horses and barns. He said that if that is the direction the Planning and Zoning Commission thinks it should go in, then they should approve the request as is. He said that he'd like to go to Highland Park right now and see how many horses and barns he'd find over there. He said that he is concerned that Mr. Kramer wants to put his John Deere tractor, a flat bed for the tractor, and park his horse trailers on the property, and he doesn't think that he should have to look at Mr. Kramer's utilities all the time in the open. He said that Mr. Kramer has done nothing to improve this area and the barn will not be an addition to the neighborhood as stated by Mr. Fletcher as it is nothing but a barn that houses animals. He said that the barn does not bring families. Mr. Vincent said that no matter how it is painted, it is a wooden barn with a composition roof, period. Shawn Mackey, 4613 Patterson Lane, said that he did not believe that the R-20 zoning district was designed for this area since all of the lots have acreage. He said that he does not believe they should have to adhere to a regulation for a 20,000 sq. ft. lot when they have much more land. He said that personally, he would not want to live in Highland Park and that is why he moved where he is. Mr. Mackey said that Mr. Kramer has made some improvements already, and granted he does not live across the street. He said he sees that the problem is that the Vincents want to keep the property empty and it will be built on someday. He said that Mr. Kramer is zoned that he can put any type of house on the property he wants and can divide the property into four or five lots with several houses across from the Vincents eventually. Mr. Mackey said that he would rather see a house and a barn on the property, than several houses. He said that he is proposing to build a 1,600 sq. ft. barn on his property and that is not an excessive size for a barn. That is the current size of his barn that he is replacing. Mr. Mackey said that there is not room for a trailer to be parked in a 1,600 sq. ft. barn and a part of having a horse friendly community is having trailers and such associated with the barn. He said that nobody wants to see junk in the area and he believes that is not Mr. Kramers intent since he has a nice fence and will build a home on the property. Mr. Mackey said that if the Vincents wanted to keep the property across from them clear, they should have bought the place. Allison Paxton, 4701 Bill Simmons Road, said that her concern is that the property will ultimately be used in a commercial way. She stated her concern that someone will not be doing what Mr. Mackey is doing by replacing something old with something new, but bring something new of substantial size beyond the norm laid out by the City at 900 sq. ft. into the area. She said that she would like the Commission to restrict the use of the barn for personal use. Mrs. Paxton said that if Mr. Kramer had build a home and then a barn to accommodate his children's horses, there would be less concerns from the neighbors. She said that she and others who signed the petition have concerns that the house on the front of the office is already being used for Mr. Kramer's commercial office. Mrs. Paxton said that they have watched the activity and have no reason to believe that the house is going to remain a personal family use situation. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 6 of 9 Commissioner Edwards asked staff if there were other ordinances in place that cover business activities on residential property and manure problems from live stock and if staff has the right to enforce those restrictions? Barry LeBaron responded that many concerns that people have are addressed in the Nuisance Ordinance regarding use. He said that there are provisions in the Zoning Ordinance that allow commercial type of use like a commercial boarding stable or riding school are only allowed in an AG zoning district. Private horse stables are allowed in three different zoning districts by right and allowed in two additional districts with a special use permit which is what the applicant is asking for. Commissioner Edwards said that her understanding of the 900 sq. ft. restriction as stated in the Accessory Building Ordinance is for an R20 district with a typical lot of 20,000 sq. ft. and the Commission is given the flexibility to look at something larger in a situation like this case where there is acreage involved. Barry LeBaron said that one of the reasons they are given the ability to provide for a special use permit in this situation is because it is not a typical R-20, but is asking for a use that might require a building that is larger than norm. Commissioner Edwards asked how this area became R-20? Barry LeBaron said that he does not know the history of the zoning of this area, but all of it is zoned R-20 even though most lots are estate size lots. Mr. LeBaron said that one of the concerns staff has with tying the special use permit to only the present owners and voiding it upon sale of the property is that we need to be careful about what the intent of the zoning is. He said that if the zoning goes so far as to takes the value of property without due compensation, such as a special use permit for a nursery where there are outdoor activities such as display of flowers and plants with no buildings and restricting it to when the property sells, the special use permit is void. In this situation, the owner has not put an investment into structures, so such a clause may be appropriate. A temporary special use permit for a concrete batch plant would be desirable to terminate when the use is no longer needed. But when a special use permit is given when someone is making an investment based on the approval of the permit, putting a time limit on it would be going too far. He said that looking at additional restrictions may be something the Commission may want to look at, but he would be concerned about putting a restriction based on the sale of the property, because of what would become of the building. Unless a bond would be required to have the barn demolished, and that may be taking the value without due compensation, that would be a concern. Commissioner Edwards asked what the maximum lot coverage would be on a typical R-20 zoned lot as it related to the 1,600 sq. ft. proposed barn. Tom Niederauer responded that on a 20,000 sq. ft. lot, there could be 5,000 sq. ft. of building. Commissioner Fletcher said that some of the information brought forth in the public hearings has been contrary to some of the public surveys in the community. He said that surveys consistently have related that people favored open spaces in the community and they were in favor of barns, fences and things that made it a rural community. He said that we are surrounded with subdivisions with very small lots and are fortunate in our city to have large lots, with livestock. He said that although livestock can bring burdens, they add a certain character to the city. He said that he is rather surprised that some of the comments tonight to be negative and not similar to the surveys. Commissioner said that he personally lives in subdivision that does not have the rural things, but when he goes by them, he enjoys them as do most citizens in the community. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 7 of 9 Commissioner Collins said that he agreed with the points that Commissioner Fletcher made. He said that he wished that there was a reasonable compromise that could be made, but it seems that the intent of the applicant to build a larger home in the future is restricting his ability to place the barn further away from the street. Commissioner Tyler said that he would have trouble trying to restrict the size of the building after just passing a special use permit for Mr. Mackey's who had the good fortune of already having a 1,600 sq. ft. barn on his lot and then telling Mr. Kramer he cannot have a barn that size. He said that the Commission spends so much of there time dealing with developers who want to build houses on small lots and on the other hand, have people opposed to things that most people enjoy in the community. He said that because he deals in a world of finance and coming home after a stressful day of dealing with people's problems, smelling a little horse manure would not be offensive. He said that he would have a tough time not passing the ordinance as it is currently laid out. Commissioner Rutherford said that it is tough pleasing all of the neighbors all of the time. He said that he believes the applicant has tried to address the concerns of his neighbors in writing and 75 feet is better than the original 60 feet setback that was proposed. He said that by Mr. Kramer putting the restrictions in writing that there will be no commercial uses it should relieve some of the fears of the neighbors and he would have a hard time opposing the ordinance as it is currently structured. Commissioner Edwards moved to recommend approval of Case 5-99-085 with the limitation that: 1) there are no more than three horses permitted on the site; 2) that the barn structure shall be built no closer than seventy-five feet (75') to the Patterson Lane right-of- way to the east and no closer than sixty feet (60') to the north property line; and 3) only one barn structure will be permitted and it may not exceed 1,600 square feet in area and the patio is not included in that measure. Commissioner +yIef Collins seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Rutherford, Edwards, Tyler, Collins, Fletcher, Hart Noes: None Chairman Hart returned the pictures to Mrs. Vincent that used by her in the public hearing. 3. TABLED ITEM - A Zoning Change requested by John Lynch for Bob Gammon, from R-20 to PUD-R (planned unit development-residential) on 6.810 acres located at 3650 Pool Road. Case Z-99-086 Barry LeBaron presented the case to the Commission. He said that the applicant wanted agricultural uses on his property, yet reserve the right to, sometime in the future, possibly divides a portion to sell as an R-20 use. He said that on any future lot, the dwellings would be built to the R-20 district standards, provided the applicant plats the property. He said that this would allow the owner to subdivide without going through a future rezoning process. Commissioner Fletcher moved to remove the item from the table for discussion. Commissioner Tyler seconded the motion. The motion passed by a "Aye" voice vote. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 8 of 9 John Lynch was present to represent the case. He said that he spent a lot of time at the last hearing discussing a specific proposal. Mr. Lynch said that he believes what is being presented to the Commission in the form of an ordinance, pretty much takes into account all the comments that the board had and follows what the applicant has asked for. He said that they are requesting that the ordinance be approved as presented. Commissioner Edwards asked staff if somebody were going to subdivided the property, would the existing structures need to be removed? Barry LeBaron said that staff had not asked for a proposed layout showing how the subdivision could be accomplished. He said that the applicant has asked to reserve the right to subdivide the property in the future. Mr. LeBaron said that he suspected that a lot could be created near the front of the property and access given to the back. John Lynch said that they would have been happy to include the proposal that if the property were subdivided and go to an R-20 zoning standard, they would discontinue all agricultural uses on the property. He said that there became significant legal hurdles in drafting an ordinance to accomplish this. He said that the City would have the ability to deny a plat if circulation were not provided for the entire property and from a practical standpoint the property needs to remain AG only in it's entirety and then go to an R-20 concept if subdivided. Commissioner Edwards said that originally there were a lot of neighbors present speaking in support of continuing the agricultural uses on the property and asked staff if there have been any changes to that status. Staff responded that they have not received any concerns from neighbors relating to the activity there. Barry LeBaron said that the applicant has had animals on the property for many years and the type of animals has changed as he currently has llamas and because the city ordinances do not specifically address llamas, the applicant wanted to assure they were not excluded. He said that they put that use specifically in the ordinance to protect the applicant. John Lynch that the section regarding animals basically incorporates the language from city code verbatim relating to limiting the number of animals and included llamas. Commissioner Edwards questioned why staff is still recommending denial. Barry LeBaron said that is because he has a problem with an 8,000 sq. ft. accessory building. John Lynch told the Commission that the applicant currently has llamas, and a couple of goats. He said that the barn will be located near the center of the property and the extension will be built to the west and that will not be closer to neighbors property lines. He said that Mr. Gammon currently has a 6,100 sq. ft. barn now and proposes a 2,900 sq. ft. addition which is a significant compromise from the original proposal for a 16,000 sq. ft. barn. Chairman Hart said that he keeps going back to the fact that the neighbors have not complained even when the request was for a 13,800 sq. ft. barn. Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes - February 14, 2000 Page 9 of 9 Commissioner Fletcher moved to recommend Case Z-99-086. Commissioner Rutherford seconded the motion. The vote being: Ayes: Rutherford, Tyler, Fletcher, Hart Noes: Edwards, Collins 4. Citizens' comments. There were none. 5. Staff comments, reports and discussion items: Barry LeBaron updated the Commission on the status of the Land Development Code project. 6. Commissioners' comments and reports: Chairman Hart said that several commissioners received correspondence from DeGuire Homes relating to Mr. DeGuire's conversations with the City of Hurst staff about the possible annexation of the Colleyville portion of property into Hurst. He said that that was very negative of Mr. DeGuire to want to de-annex property out of Colleyville and then come before officials for rezoning. Commissioner Collins thanked staff for supplying them with the current zoning atlas and said that it is an outstanding tool for their use. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Edwards moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:25 p.m. Commissioner Tyler seconded the motion. The motion passed by an "Aye" voice vote. Respectfully Submitted, Approved on: February 28. 2000 as corrected. rCommissioner Collins seconded the motion in item #2.1 NOTE: As a matter of public record, an audio recording of the above Planning and Zoning Commission meeting is available upon request. [jh/min/0214pz.min]