Mayor & City Council

1 CITY OF COLLEGE PARK + + + + + REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING + + + + + TUESDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2018 + + + + + The College Park City Council convened in the City Hall Council Chambers, 4500 Knox Road, College Park, Maryland, at 7:30 p.m., Patrick L. Wojahn, Mayor, presiding. CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: PATRICK L. WOJAHN, Mayor P.J. BRENNAN, Member ROBERT W. DAY, Member MONROE DENNIS, Mayor Pro Temp FAZLUL KABIR, Member KATE KENNEDY, Member DUSTYN BURKART KUJAWA, Member JOHN RIGG, Member COUNCIL STAFF PRESENT: YVETTE T. ALLEN, City Clerk's Office BILL GARDINER, Asst. City Manager MIRIAM BADER, Senior Planner SUELLEN M. FERGUSON, City Attorney SERENA SAUNDERS, Asst. Student Liaison TERRY SCHUM, Dept. Of Planning Director SCOTT SOMERS, City Manager ALEX TOBIN, Student Liaison NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  2 CONTENTS Oral Arguments: CPV-2018-08, Wanjing Hu, 8719 36th Avenue ..... 3 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  3 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 (8:38 p.m.) 3 MAYOR WOJAHN: All right. At this 4 point without objection, I'd like to go back to 5 our oral argument, CPV-2018-08. I believe 6 Wanjing Hu is here. And I believe staff, Ms. 7 Bader will be starting us off. 8 MS. SCHUM: Oh, right. Okay. Thank 9 you Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. This is 10 Case CPV-2018-08. Wanjing Hu, 8719 36th Avenue 11 Oral Argument. 12 So I'm just going to start off with a 13 few brief remarks and then turn it over to the 14 senior planner, Ms. Bader, to give you an 15 orientation of the case. 16 So this particular case was heard by 17 the Advisory Planning Commission on September 18 6th, 2018, where the APC recommended approval of 19 a lesser variance than that requested by the 20 applicant. 21 The applicant then appealed the 22 recommendation of the APC and requested oral NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  4 1 argument on September 26th, which was within the 2 allotted appeal period for doing so. And there 3 were no other parties of record in this case. 4 So the entire record is before you in 5 a packet, including the verbatim transcript of 6 the public hearing that was held before the APC. 7 It's also been provided to the applicant. 8 Do you have your record of the case? 9 Okay. All right. And I want to remind you that 10 all the testimony made tonight must be limited to 11 the facts and information that was contained in 12 this record, made before the APC at the original 13 public hearing. 14 The rules of procedure for tonight's 15 meeting are also included in your package. And 16 the order of presentation tonight will be staff 17 orientation first, and then oral argument made by 18 the applicant, who as I mentioned earlier is the 19 only party of record. 20 There's no one here to argue for the 21 recommendation of the APC. This is just oral 22 argument against the recommendation that the APC NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  5 1 has made. And so there's really no need to have 2 any rebuttal, therefore. 3 The applicant will have 30 minutes, if 4 you need it, to make your case before the City 5 Council. And the City Council will also have the 6 opportunity to ask questions, okay, of you. 7 And then at the conclusion of 8 tonight's hearing, you, the Mayor, and Council 9 may accept, deny or modify the recommendation of 10 the APC, or return this application to the APC to 11 take further testimony or to reconsider their 12 recommendation. 13 So I'm just reminding you of those 14 rules for oral argument and with that I'll turn 15 it over to Ms. Bader, who will give you an 16 orientation to the case and then Mr. Hu, you'll 17 be able to come up and speak your -- 18 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. Thank you, Ms. 19 Schum. At this time, are there any questions 20 about the rules of the hearing? I know we've 21 been through this before, so. All right, thank 22 you. Ms. Bader, good evening. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  6 1 MS. BADER: Good evening Mayor and 2 Council. For the record, Miriam Bader, senior 3 planner. The property is located in the Crystal 4 Spring subdivision, west of University Boulevard 5 and south of Metzerott Road. 6 This is an aerial photograph of the 7 property and the surroundings. You can see the 8 subject property outlined in red. The house and 9 immediate neighborhood are zoned R55, single 10 family residential, which is indicated in the 11 yellow color. Subject property is shown in the 12 red. 13 This map shows the impervious surface 14 for the property and the adjoining properties. 15 Driveway encroaching in front of the house and 16 two-car driveways are characteristic of this 17 street as you can see from this slide. 18 The applicant desires to widen his 19 driveway, which creates the need for two 20 variances: an encroachment waiver and a lot 21 coverage variance. The zoning ordinance does not 22 allow driveways to encroach in front of the -- in NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  7 1 front of a house and lot coverage in the R55 zone 2 is limited to 30 percent. 3 The rectangular property consists of 4 two 20-foot wide lots. The blue rectangle 5 indicates the building footprint for a one-story, 6 912 square foot house that was built in 1969. 7 The area in yellow shows the existing 8 ten-foot wide driveway. The area in green shows 9 the proposed expanded driveway, and the area in 10 red shows the proposed lengthening of the 11 driveway. 12 This is a photo of the house on 36th 13 Avenue, you can see it's a regular size apron and 14 regular size driveway, ten foot wide. 15 This shows you the left side of the 16 property, and here's the right side of the 17 property. And this is across the street from the 18 house. And this is looking down the street. And 19 this is another view of the street. 20 By a four/two vote, the APC made the 21 following recommendation to approve the parking 22 area encroachment in front of the house and a lot NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  8 1 coverage variance of five percent, to allow an 2 increase in the width of the driveway but denied 3 any increase in the length. That's why I put an 4 X here. They didn't approve that. 5 This recommendation was based on the 6 following findings of facts and conclusions of 7 law. The property has a total square footage of 8 3,880 square feet and a width of 40 feet. 9 The majority, 60 percent of the 10 properties, are significantly wider than the 11 subject property and the paved area of the street 12 is only 19 feet wide. Driveway encroachment and 13 two-car wide driveways are common on this street. 14 There is a fire lane on the same side 15 as the house that allows no parking, and there is 16 limited parking on the other side of the road, 17 the west side of the street, due to curb cuts and 18 other limitations. 19 The APC made the following three 20 conclusions of law. One, the property has an 21 exceptionally narrow width and small size. In 22 addition, the narrow width of the street and fire NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  9 1 lane along the east side of the street 2 significantly limit on-street parking. 3 Two, denial of the variances could 4 result in more vehicles parking on street, which 5 could impede access of emergency vehicles. 6 Three, granting the encroachment 7 variance and modified lot coverage variance will 8 not substantially impair the intent, purpose, and 9 integrity of the master plan because most homes 10 in this block can accommodate two cars. This 11 concludes the orientation. 12 MAYOR WOJAHN: Thank you, Ms. Bader. 13 Questions? Okay. At this time I'll -- I believe 14 Mr. Hu has the opportunity to speak. Good 15 evening, Mr. Hu. 16 MR. HU: Good evening. Thank you for 17 the opportunity for me to come here. Yeah, 18 basically my application was to widen the parking 19 space and also extend it so that it can fit three 20 cars. 21 I bought this house in 2014 but I 22 couldn't move in because the parking situation NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  10 1 there only fit one car. I have four drivers in 2 my house and the street in front of my house is 3 not parkable, on both sides of the street is not 4 parking, is not allowed to park. 5 And the street, only one side of the 6 street is parkable. Only portion of the one side 7 is parkable. And most of the houses have double 8 driveway that further limit the parking space. 9 So people living in my house have to 10 find parking space like far away from the house 11 or even on other streets. So I cannot move in 12 myself, and I rent it out. It's also still very 13 difficult for me to rent out each time. 14 And the current resident, every day 15 they have to find other parking space. Sometimes 16 they cannot find parking space even on other 17 streets, so they park their car on the lawn and 18 the result, they get a whole bunch of parking 19 tickets, like a whole bunch of parking tickets. 20 And the last one was about two weeks 21 ago, and the two cars parking on the lawn in 22 addition to the one parking on the driveway. So NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  11 1 they have three cars. The variance granted --- 2 before approval, will widen the driveway only 3 that allowed two cars, but still cannot solve the 4 problem. 5 And without sufficient parking space, 6 I cannot use the house effectively as intended, 7 so I ask for the approval to also extend the 8 driveway so that I can fit three cars. And that 9 also can ease the parking stress on the street 10 for others, for the community. 11 The street was very narrow, very 12 limited parking space. I think that's all I 13 have. 14 MAYOR WOJAHN: All right. Thank you, 15 Mr. Hu. Are there questions for the applicant 16 first? So the issue before us, if I understand 17 it correctly is to, is whether to grant the 18 additional variance to go beyond what the APC did 19 to grant the additional variance to extend the 20 length of the driveway. 21 MR. HU: Right. 22 MAYOR WOJAHN: And you're saying that NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  12 1 this would allow, this would allow the third 2 vehicle to park in the driveway, if I understand 3 it correctly? 4 MR. HU: Correct. 5 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. And one thing, 6 this may be a question for staff or for the 7 attorney. The criteria to apply is whether or 8 not the strict application of the zoning 9 ordinance would result in a peculiar and unusual 10 practical difficulty to the applicant. 11 Does that relate to how, not having 12 the ability -- I guess, the question that I 13 think, the issue before us is whether being able 14 to only park two cars in the applicant's driveway 15 in this case would be an unusual, practical and 16 unusual difficulty, practical and unusual 17 difficulty -- I'm sorry -- peculiar and unusual 18 practical difficulty compared to parking three. 19 MS. FERGUSON: The APC clearly did not 20 find that in Number 2. They saw the issue as 21 being more of impeding the emergency vehicles. 22 They did not find that having two parking spaces NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  13 1 instead of three was an unusual -- was a real 2 hardship. 3 And so that isn't, that's not what 4 they found from the situation. I believe that 5 the zoning law requires two off-street parking 6 spaces for a single family home. Is that 7 correct? 8 MS. BADER: That's a requirement for 9 new construction only, so many existing homes do 10 not have two off-street parking spaces, so they 11 are not required to comply. 12 MS. FERGUSON: Agreed. But in terms 13 of new housing, housing being bought now or 14 constructed now, it's two spaces are considered 15 to be the correct amount for a single family 16 home. 17 MAYOR WOJAHN: All right. Thank you. 18 So that may help clarify what the issue is that 19 we need to determine. I'll open it --- well, at 20 this point are there any other questions for the 21 applicant? I asked that already but just to be 22 sure. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  14 1 Okay. So I'll take discussion and 2 proposals for where, how to proceed. Mr. Rigg? 3 MR. RIGG: So since I was called out 4 specifically at the APC as being concerned about 5 lot coverage, I would point out that I am 6 concerned about lot coverage. 7 Thirty percent lot coverage is the 8 requirement of the R55 zone, which is what 9 prompts the lot coverage variance that the 10 applicant is requesting. I've generally 11 subscribed to, you know, the thought that we 12 should minimize lot coverage variance to the 13 maximum extent practicable while still 14 substantively attaining reasonable accommodations 15 for applicants. 16 And I think the APC struck a pretty 17 nice, struck a pretty nice balance of doing those 18 things. There is still -- and this is a tiny 19 little lot. So some lot coverage is very likely, 20 you know, appropriate but I like that, that 21 minimizes the amount of lot coverage while still 22 giving the applicant substantial relief. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  15 1 So people who know this neighborhood 2 better can tell me more about the drainage in 3 this particular neighborhood. But I know that 4 throughout the city drainage is a concern and in 5 particular storm water management infrastructure 6 is a concern. 7 And the truth is, every little bit 8 helps in terms of permeable versus non-permeable 9 surfacing. So even though this is a lot coverage 10 difference between what the applicant has 11 requested of nine percent, and the five percent 12 that the APC has proposed that we accept, I find 13 that four percent to be compelling. 14 So I would be inclined to affirm the 15 APC's decision. 16 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. Thank you, Mr. 17 Rigg. Other comments? Mr. Brennan? 18 MR. BRENNAN: I'm inclined to do the 19 same. I did just want to ask a question maybe of 20 staff to help clarify for me because I couldn't 21 find it or maybe it's not in there. 22 When the widened portion, the green NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  16 1 portion of the drive way is constructed, would 2 the apron also be widened as well, or would it 3 remain a single apron? 4 MS. BADER: The applicant has not 5 requested to widen the apron, so it will remain, 6 you know, a single wide driveway apron. 7 MR. BRENNAN: And would the, would the 8 Council have any discretion on that? 9 MS. FERGUSON: Not as part of this 10 proceeding. Generally speaking if there's going 11 to be a widening of a driveway apron, that comes 12 to you separately as a request from the owner of 13 the property, is reviewed by the city engineer 14 who then makes a recommendation to you. 15 And generally speaking it's granted if 16 otherwise appropriate upon the agreement of the 17 owner that they will maintain the additional 18 concrete portion that's not part of the single- 19 wide driveway that every resident or every owner 20 is entitled to. 21 So that's a separate process though 22 and would come to you. And it's still open. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  17 1 That's something that this owner could do at any 2 time. 3 MR. BRENNAN: Well has there been any 4 precedence for granting a variance and also 5 prescribing that the widening of the apron be a 6 part of that, at least from a functional use of 7 the property? 8 MS. FERGUSON: No, because they are 9 two different things. One is a referral from the 10 county about county zoning requirements. And the 11 other is whether or not the city is agreeable to 12 a double wide apron. 13 And that is done upon, as I said, 14 request of the owner. This owner has not 15 requested that so far. If in fact there's a 16 situation where because of the single wide 17 driveway apron the cars are driving over the 18 grass, and that maybe what you're concerned 19 about, they'll be cited for that and requested to 20 make an application to have the double wide 21 driveway apron. 22 Generally speaking in situations like NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  18 1 this, that would be granted, or be recommended by 2 the engineer and then it would be up to the 3 Council to grant it. But there have been other 4 instances where it has been. 5 MR. BRENNAN: So I'll ask this in one 6 more way is, would there be any possibility of 7 adding a condition to approving the final 8 variance for the green section to widen the 9 driveway? 10 MS. FERGUSON: No, because that's not 11 part of the criteria that you are given from the 12 county. We have to, we have to follow what the 13 county does. And I don't know of anything that - 14 - in the three criteria that relates to the width 15 of the driveway apron. 16 We've never, that's to my 17 recollection, that has not been required 18 previously. We have in prior decisions noted for 19 everyone including the Council, but also for the 20 owner, that the variance decision is separate 21 from obtaining a widened apron, that they have to 22 follow another process for that. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  19 1 MR. BRENNAN: Okay. 2 MS. BADER: But/ I think what the 3 council member is asking is, is there a way to 4 streamline process since that, a request like 5 that would just come back before this same body 6 and perhaps tonight the applicant could be asked 7 if that would be desirable. 8 And if so, is there a way that the 9 Council could, you know, approve the variance as, 10 you know, affirm the decision of the APC, with 11 the additional approval of the driveway widening. 12 Is that what you're getting at -- 13 MR. BRENNAN: I think so. 14 MS. BADER: -- Council Member Brennan? 15 Okay. 16 MS. FERGUSON: That is, that is 17 certainly a possibility and something that could 18 be handled at staff level when these requests 19 come in, that subject if in fact the variance is 20 going to be granted, then there could be a 21 concurrent request for widening the driveway 22 apron. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  20 1 But it goes to another part of city 2 staff. It goes to the engineer and at this 3 point, none of this has gone through the 4 engineer. 5 And the declaration of covenants that 6 goes along with that has not been put together. 7 Can that happen? Certainly. Those two things 8 can be put together at the same time once it's 9 realized that if in fact the variance is granted, 10 that is what would happen. 11 MR. BRENNAN: Great. That's all very 12 helpful information. I'll just repeat that I 13 plan to affirm the recommendations of the APC and 14 I hope that the applicant will work with staff so 15 that we can streamline the process and not have 16 to revisit those types of things in the future, 17 if he so chooses to do that. Thank you. 18 MAYOR WOJAHN: All right. Thank you, 19 Mr. Brennan. Do we know, is it, this may not be 20 in the record, but I guess it's a question to the 21 applicant whether or not he is actually 22 interested in widening the -- NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  21 1 MR. HU: Yeah. That would be, that 2 would be better for the car to go in and out. 3 Yeah. 4 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. 5 MR. HU: And also with the two parking 6 spaces still enough, they will still from time to 7 time get citation ticket from parking on the lawn 8 because of three cars, from time to time they 9 cannot find parking space even on other streets, 10 not only on that street. 11 It's very limited. The two car 12 parking spaces cannot solve the problem. 13 MAYOR WOJAHN: Yeah. I think one 14 thing to just bear in mind since we may be 15 revisiting this issue in the future if you do 16 decide to apply for a widened driveway, is that 17 widening the driveway also does limit the number 18 --- although I suppose it's not so much an issue 19 because you can't park on that side of the road 20 anyway. 21 MS. BADER: Correct. 22 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. All right. So NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  22 1 in normal cases that would be a concern because-- 2 MS. FERGUSON: At least right there 3 you can't. 4 MAYOR WOJAHN: What's that? 5 MS. FERGUSON: There's a fire lane all 6 the way down. Okay. 7 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. So you can't 8 park on that side in front of the driveway 9 anyway, no matter -- 10 MR. HU: Right. Not parking. 11 MAYOR WOJAHN: And so widening the 12 driveway, the apron wouldn't remove any parking 13 spaces. Okay. Thanks. Let's see, I get a sense 14 thus far that the general direction of the 15 Council is to, is to maintain the -- uphold the 16 decision of the APC. 17 Is there anybody would like to raise 18 any concern about moving in that direction? 19 Okay. Then I will take a motion at this time. 20 Mr. Rigg? 21 MR. RIGG: I move that we affirm the 22 decision of the APC that the approval of the NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  23 1 requested encroachment and a five percent lot 2 coverage variance for the driveway to allow for 3 an increase in width of the driveway of ten feet 4 and deny the increase in length. 5 MS. KENNEDY: Second. 6 MAYOR WOJAHN: All right. A motion 7 and a second. And I think it was part of the 8 motion to direct the attorney to draft a 9 resolution affirming the APC's decision, so 10 that's part of the motion. 11 MS. FERGUSON: Yes, I will do that. 12 MAYOR WOJAHN: All right. So I assume 13 that's -- 14 MR. RIGG: I further, yes --- 15 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. All right. 16 MR. RIGG: --- request that the 17 attorney draft a motion affirming the APC's 18 decision. 19 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. Is there, do you 20 have any further discussion? 21 MR. RIGG: No, sir. 22 MAYOR WOJAHN: Okay. Any further NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com  24 1 discussion by the council? Okay. Seeing none, 2 I'll call the question. All those in favor say 3 aye. 4 (Chorus of ayes.) 5 MAYOR WOJAHN: Opposed, abstentions? 6 The motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Hu. And you 7 can consult with the staff about the application 8 to widen the apron. 9 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter 10 went off the record at 9:02 p.m.) 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com