Zoning Board of Adjustment and Appeals

MINUTES ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT AND APPEALS MEETING CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 447 N. Main St. Boerne, TX 78006 Wednesday, April 21,2021 – 5:30 p.m. Members Present: Scott Lowry-Chair, Jim Terrian-Vice Chair, Rich McCormick-Secretary, Tom Harris, and Jon Paul Bergman Staff Present: Mayor Tim Handren, Michael Mann, Laura Haning, Andrea Snouffer, Betty Kwasneski, and Barrett Squires Visitors: Kim Srp, Jeremy Painter, Jennifer Painter, Casey Styers, and Zachary Wright 1. CALL TO ORDER – 5:30 PM Meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. 2. RECOGNITION OF TOM HARRIS FOR 12 YEARS OF SERVICE Mayor Handren presented Tom Harris with a plaque for his 12 years of service. 3. CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATION There were none. 4. DESIGNATE VOTING MEMBERS Chair Lowry designated Member Bergman to vote with all present regular members. 5. APPROVE MINUTES City of Boerne Page 1 Printed on 6/21/2021 Zoning Board of Adjustment and Official Meeting Minutes April 21, 2021 Appeals Member Harris moved to approve the minutes of January 20, 2021. Vice Chair Terrian seconded. Minutes were approved 5-0. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Receive comments on Variance No. 21-02, Lot 3A, Dietert Addition, (113 E. Highland Dr.). Laura Talley, Planning & Zoning Director, approached. She said the property owner wants to build onto the existing garage. The property is a little over a quarter of an acre and the setback requirements are thirty-feet in the front, ten-feet on the sides and twenty-five feet in the rear. This is an accessory structure, an addition to the existing garage, and it does encroach six feet into the side yard setback. She explained that larger properties require larger setbacks, so the structure itself doesn't eat up the entire lot. Kim Srp, the owner of the property, approached. She said the existing garage may have been built in the forties or fifties and the back of the garage is right on the property line. She said she would like a detached two car garage. As you're facing the garage, the right hand side only goes back fourteen to fifteen feet, and reason that it was built that way, is because there is a huge beautiful oak tree that prevents from building back. She said she can't pull a car all the way in this side of the garage. She said she would like to keep the same foot print, which is six feet off the property line now. She's asking for the variance to keep the six feet. She is also asking for a variance to allow the addition to not be feet behind the rear building line. She said both variances will need to be approved to allow the addition. The current garage sits ninety-four feet back from the curb. City of Boerne Page 2 Printed on 6/21/2021 Zoning Board of Adjustment and Official Meeting Minutes April 21, 2021 Appeals Receive comments on Variance No. 21-03, Lot 3A, Dietert Addition, (113 E. Highland Dr.). Kim Srp explained the second variance. She said the accessory structure must be five feet behind the house. Laura confirmed this rule. Laura said the ordinance requires a five feet difference behind the rear building line of the house and the accessory structure. Receive comments on Variance No. 21-04, Lot 31, Block 4, Ranches at Creekside, Unit 1, Phase 2B (130 Boulder Creek). Laura Talley approached and explained that the property is under a little of a quarter of an acre. According to the owner the deck was installed under no permit based on the advice of his contractor. The HOA had approved it based on his comments. The house has a deeper setback. It is an attached structure and is part of the house and needs to maintain 20' in the rear and this encroaches. Jeremy Painter, the owner of the property approached. He said prior to the deck being built they received HOA approval. The deck company said they didn't need a permit. We would've gotten permits ourselves if we didn't trust the contractor's word. We decided to extend the pre-existing deck because our backyard is very sloped. We have a three year old daughter and 85 year old senior citizen living with us. We have received a lot of neighborhood support. Our deck is considered a safe place for small children. We found out from Betty that we are encroaching four and half feet. Our back neighbors are in favor of this variance. The sides are within the required setback. Existing deck was extended by ten feet. Had we been correctly informed by our contractor. we would have reconfigured this deck or not have built it at all. We ask the board for this variance so City of Boerne Page 3 Printed on 6/21/2021 Zoning Board of Adjustment and Official Meeting Minutes April 21, 2021 Appeals we don't have to tear it down. Vice Chair Terrian asked about the dash lines on the site plan that cut through the corner of the addition. The owner confirmed that the measurements on the drawing are slightly off. Jim confirmed a triangular shaped encroachment. 7. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION Variance No. 21-02: A request from Kim Srp, requesting a variance to the City of Boerne Zoning Ordinance, Article 5, Table 5-2, to allow an addition to a detached accessory structure to encroach 4-feet into the 10-foot side setback for Lot 3A, Dietert Addition, (113 E. Highland Dr.). Vice Chair Terrian asked about the existing oak tree. Kim said it is a heritage tree. Vice Chair Terrian also asked about the property to the west of her property. Kim said it is commercial. It is Oak Park Center. Jon Paul asked where she currently parks. Kim said she parks on the left side of garage, it is deep enough to park. Vice Chair Terrian asked if new addition will give her the depth needed. She said, yes, by building forward towards the curb. Vice Chair Terrian said the commerical property is one property before Main St. Kim said there are trees between her property and the commercial property. Vice Chair Terrian moved to approve, Secretary McCormick seconded. Variance passed 5-0. Variance No. 21-03: A request from Kim Srp, requesting a variance to the City of Boerne Zoning Ordinance, Article 5, Table 5-2, to allow an addition to a detached accessory structure to be placed in the side yard that is not 5-feet behind the rear building line for Lot 3A, Dietert Addition, (113 E. Highland Dr.). City of Boerne Page 4 Printed on 6/21/2021 Zoning Board of Adjustment and Official Meeting Minutes April 21, 2021 Appeals Vice Chair Terrian said existing structure was built in front of the large oak tree. With the tree location, this is a hardship not allowing her to have a full two car garage. Terrian moved to allow addition in front of the required offset of five feet. Secretary McCormick seconded. All in favor. Variance passed 5-0. Variance No. 21-04: A request from Jeremy & Jennifer Painter, requesting a variance to the City of Boerne Zoning Ordinance, Article 5, Table 5-2, to allow a rear building setback of 15-feet 6-inches rather than the required 20-foot rear setback for Lot 31, Block 4, Ranches at Creekside, Unit 1, Phase 2B (130 Boulder Creek). Vice Chair Terrian said because of the shape of property and unique setback, you can almost say there is a hardship. The addition is following the line of the house. The property itself has this angular shape that cuts the corner of this addition. If it had been encroaching all the way across, that could be a different story. Vice Chair Terrian said it is a total of twelve square feet. Vice Chair Terrian moved to accept the encroachment. Member Harris seconded. All in favor. Variance passed 5-0. City Attorney will brief the board on the actions of the board in relation to State Law at the next meeting. 8. ADJOURNMENT _______________________________ Chair Meeting was adjourned at 6:09 p.m. City of Boerne Page 5 Printed on 6/21/2021 Zoning Board of Adjustment and Official Meeting Minutes April 21, 2021 Appeals _______________________________ Secretary City of Boerne Page 6 Printed on 6/21/2021