Board of Zoning Appeals

BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS MINUTES DECEMBER 10, 2009 The Board of Zoning Appeals met on Thursday, December 10, 2009, at 5:15 p.m. in the Community Room, 45 E. Broad Street, Cookeville, Tennessee. MEMBERS PRESENT: Paul Bonner, Tracy Cody, Kay Detwiler, and Sid Gilbreath. MEMBER ABSENT: Jane Flatt. STAFF PRESENT: James Mills, Jayne Barns, and Ken Young. OTHERS PRESENT: Daniel Sherfy, Connie Cates, Jerry Gaw, and Liz Engel. CONSIDER FOR APPROVAL THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 12, 2009. Paul Bonner made the motion to approve the minutes of November 12, 2009. Tracy Cody seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. APPROVED. CONSIDER A REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE TO ALLOW THE LOCATION OF DUMPSTERS IN THE SIDE YARD SETBACKS ON THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 205 WEST 12TH STREET. REQUEST SUBMITTED BY JERRY GAW. James Mills states that Mr. Jerry Gaw has submitted a request for a variance to allow the location of dumpsters within the required side yard setback area on his property located in the CL, Local Commercial District at 205 West 12th Street. Section 204.15 of the Zoning Code provides that garbage/waste canisters (dumpsters) are not to be located within any required setback area or required buffer or landscaped yard. Mr. Gaw is currently developing University Center, a 24-unit condominium complex, on the subject property. The approved site plan for this development indicated that the dumpsters for the residents would be located off Brandon Drive, in compliance with Section 204.15. The Public Works Department has now determined that existing overhead power lines may interfere with the proposed dumpster location off Brandon Drive. Mr. Gaw is requesting that he be allowed to relocate the dumpsters within the side yard setback area along the western boundary of the development. The minimum side yard setback for multi-family developments in the CL District is ten (10) feet. The contiguous property to the west is also zoned as CL, Local Commercial and is currently utilized as a Marathon convenience store/gas station. The proposed location of the dumpsters would be to the rear of the adjacent land use. Mr. Gaw has submitted correspondence from the owner of the contiguous property indicating that he is not opposed to the dumpsters being located within the required setback area. It should be noted that for commercial developments within the CL District no side yard setback is required. Section 204.15 of the Zoning Code also provides that the Director of Public Works shall approve the location of any garbage canister. Mr. Greg Brown, Director, has approved the location of the dumpsters as proposed by Mr. Gaw. Relocating the dumpsters to the western boundary of the development outside the required setback area would result in a loss of parking spaces and would place the development below the minimum off-street parking requirement. Additionally, there does not appear to be any other viable location for the dumpsters that would not create a significant hardship for the developer. Staff recommended approval of request. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS 2 DECEMBER 10, 2009 Tracy Cody made the motion to approve the variance request to allow the location of dumpsters in the side yard setbacks on the property located at 205 West 12th Street. Kay Detwiler seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. APPROVED. CONSIDER A REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE TO REDUCE THE QUEUING LANE AND BYPASS LANE WIDTHS FOR PHARMACY DRIVE THRU FROM 24’ TOTAL WIDTH TO 18’ WIDTH ON THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1120 SAMS STREET. REQUEST SUBMITTED BY DANIEL SHERFY, OF AEI, ON BEHALF OF DR. JAMES CATES. James Mills states that Mr. Daniel Sherfy, of AEI, on behalf of property owner Dr. James Cates, has submitted a request for a variance to reduce the minimum lane width requirements for a queuing lane and a bypass lane for a proposed drive through pharmacy located at 1120 Sam’s Street. The subject property is currently used as a medical clinic. Plans have been submitted for an expansion to include the addition of a pharmacy with a drive through. The drive through is proposed on the eastern side of the addition adjacent to an existing structure on contiguous property leased by the owner of the medical clinic. Queuing requirements for drive through facilities are provided in Section 205.11 of the Zoning Code. All drive through facilities are required to have a bypass lane. The minimum width of the queue lane and bypass lane is 12 feet each, or a total minimum width of 24 feet. The submitted request is for a reduction of the lane widths to nine (9) feet each for a total width of 18 feet. For most vehicles nine (9) feet travel lanes are adequate. Numerous streets within the city have pavement widths of 18 feet or less with two-way traffic. Mr. Sherfy has informed the Planning Department that the pharmacy will be only for the patients of the medical clinic and that significant queuing or stacking of vehicles is not expected. Based on the submitted site plan the requested 18 feet width appears to be the maximum that can be provided without reducing the size of the proposed addition. There also does not appear to be a viable alternative location for the drive through facility. Staff recommended approval of request subject to the provision of a permanent access easement on the contiguous property. After discussion with Mr. Sherfy, it was decided not to require the provision of a permanent access easement. It was understood that if the adjoining property was not purchased, then Satellite Med will lose their drive thru lane. Tracy Cody made the motion to approve the variance to reduce the queuing lane and bypass lane widths for Pharmacy drive thru from 24’ total width to 18’ width on the property located at 1120 Sams Street. Kay Dewiler seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. APPROVED. ADJOURNMENT: 5:35 P.M. SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL SUBMITTED FOR RECORDING _____________________________ _____________________________________ JAYNE BARNS CPS SID GILBREATH, ACTING CHAIRMAN PLANNING ASSISTANT BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS