Zoning Board of Appeals

Tuesday, September 13, 2022 – Regular Meeting Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting Minutes City Chambers, City Hall CALL TO ORDER Chair William Darbee called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. INTRODUCTIONS & ROLL CALL Present: William Darbee, Jan Rise, Chris Greenleaf, Charles Congdon Excused: Lonnie Dowd, Larry Elliott Others: Staff Liaisons Anthony Dier and Terry Moultane APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve the August 9, 2022, meeting minutes as submitted by J. Rise, seconded by C. Greenleaf. Motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENT - NON-AGENDA ITEMS None. NEW BUSINESS Public Hearing Z 22-05 – 19 addresses on N. Dewitt Street – City of Bay City Planning Dept. The Planning Department is submitting a variance request from Section 122-423 to the City’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) for 19 lots in the Oak Grove Subdivision. When platted in 1951, the subdivision included 20 double frontage lots. Section 122- 423 of the City’s Code of Ordinances regulates fences in residential zoning districts and the requirements affect the height and placement of fences on double-frontage lots. The Planning Department requested permission from the affected property owners and 19 of the 20 property owners responded to be included in the variance request. T. Moultane explained a fence permit application was received for a lot having double frontage. It was discovered there were several in the subdivision platted as such. A previous ordinance stated one street would be designated as the front street for all lots in the plat and in the request for a building permit. When the ordinance was amended in 2000, the language of designating one of the streets as the front street at the time of a request for a building permit was removed. The current ordinance treats double frontage lots as requiring front yard setbacks on both street frontages. All homes on N. DeWitt that are north of Hart Street face DeWitt and have rear through yards to N. Wenona St., and almost all have fences. Fence permits were not found for these addresses, but fence permits had previously been under the Building Department with regulations that were enforced by them. That has since been changed and is now enforced through the zoning ordinance. The Planning Department decided to request a variance for all 20 property owners realizing that there were all but two that had fences right to the right-of-way which boarders the township boundary. Notices were sent out to homes and owners within a 300-ft radius. A few calls were received from neighbors inquiring if their lots were impacted. Letters that had been sent to impacted lot owners stated they were not required to attend the meeting even if they consented to be included with the variance request. Planning & Zoning Department / Suite 211 / 301 Washington Ave. / Bay City, MI 48708 / 989-894-8180 / www.baycitymi.org 1  Tuesday, September 13, 2022 – Regular Meeting The fence regulations in the City’s zoning ordinance requires double frontage lots to meet a front yard setback on both frontages that abut the streets. The two streets are N. Dewitt and N. Wenona. This limits the height of a fence to four feet within either 20-foot front yard setback. A chain link fence is also prohibited from being in either front yard setback. It was felt the variance was the best relief the property owners could receive instead of requiring each one to apply separately as their fences needed to be replaced because the yards had already been used for a number of years based on the existing placement of the fences on the right-of-way line. W. Darbee noted there were no residents in attendance for the record. J. Rise thought the owner of the lot that didn’t reply did not have a fence. T. Moultane said they did have one as there was a dog that was fenced in, but he didn’t know how far back the fence went. There was a camera on the door, vehicles in the driveway and he could tell people were home, but no one would answer the door. Motion to close public portion of the meeting and open discussion by C. Greenleaf, seconded by J. Rise. Motion carried unanimously. DISCUSSION and FINDING OF FACT: J. Rise commented the applicant seemed to satisfy all five standards as being met. W. Darbee agreed. Motion made by C. Greenleaf to close discussion, seconded by J. Rise. Motion made by J. Rise: Based on the findings and agreement of all five standards being met based on staff representation of the residents, that we move to approve the variance. Seconded by C. Greenleaf. Roll Call Vote: “Yes” vote is in favor of the motion to grant the request. 4 Yes; 0 No OLD BUSINESS Case Z 22-04 – 208 N. Linn – Bill Waterman The appellant has withdrawn the variance application. OTHER BUSINESS J. Rise moved to move election of officers to the next meeting when their two excused members would be present. All agreed. A. Dier announced there would be a case for the next meeting for a variance request for a fence for a corner house off Park Street. T. Moultane added there was a potential second case but would not know until the following day. ADJOURN Motion to adjourn by C. Greenleaf, seconded by J. Rise. Meeting ended at 8:17 p.m. Prepared by Lisa Griffiths, Planning & Zoning Administrative Assistant Planning & Zoning Department / Suite 211 / 301 Washington Ave. / Bay City, MI 48708 / 989-894-8180 / www.baycitymi.org 2