Board of Zoning Appeals

1 REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS 2 City Council Chambers 3 300 Park Avenue 4 Falls Church, Virginia 22046 5 April 13, 2017 6 7:30 p.m. 7 8 1. CALL TO ORDER 9 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: I'd like to call to 10 order the April 13, 2017, Board of Zoning Appeals 11 meeting. 12 If staff could call the roll please. 13 14 2. ROLL CALL 15 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Williamson. 16 Mr. Williamson is absent. 17 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Litkenhous. 18 Mr. Litkenhous is absent. 19 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Calabrese. 20 MR. CALABRESE: Here. 21 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Jones. 22 MR. JONES: Here. 23 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Sprouse. 24 MR. SPROUSE: Here. 25 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Misleh. 26 MR. MISLEH: Here. 27 RECORDING SECRETARY: Thank you. 28 29 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: We have two items of 30 business in our Agenda for discussion today. I'm going 31 to move the Approval of the Minutes to the end of the 32 meeting. 33 Mr. Boyle, there is no Old Business or any 34 Petitions, are there, for consideration today? 35 MR. BOYLE: That's correct. 36 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: The only item then 37 would be the New Business, Variance application. 38 39 6. NEW BUSINESS 40 a. Variance application V1589-17 by Thomas 41 Carmody, applicant and owner, for a variance to Section 42 48-238(3)(a) to allow (1) a front yard setback of 25.89 43 feet instead of 30 feet with steps extending 9 feet into 44 the front setback; and (2) a side yard setback of 14.88 45 feet instead of 15 feet along the western property line 46 for the purpose of constructing a 2-story addition on 47 premises known as 802 Parker Avenue, RPC #52-202-004 of 48 the Falls Church Real Property Records, zoned R-1A, Low 49 Density Residential. 50 51 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: So I'm going to move to 52 Item No. 6, New Business. If I could ask the 53 Petitioners if you could please come to the table. 54 And anyone who is going to be speaking -- sir, 55 are you going to be speaking today -- I'd like to ask 56 you to stand and take the oath. 57 (Witnesses sworn.) 58 MR. BOYLE: Mr. Chair, if I could, I'm not 59 convinced this is recording properly. Could I take a 60 moment and rewind. 61 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Sure. 62 So the New Business item is Variance 63 Application V1589-17 by Thomas Carmody, applicant and 64 owner, for a Variance to Section 48-238 of the Code to 65 allow a front yard setback of 25.89 feet instead of 30 66 with steps extending 9 feet into the front setback; and 67 (2) a side yard setback of 14.88 feet instead of 15 feet 68 along the western property line for the purpose of 69 constructing a 2-story addition at 802 Parker Avenue. 70 It's zoned in R-1A, Low Density Residential. 71 If I could ask first if staff could provide an 72 update summary of this application. 73 MR. BOYLE: Yes, Mr. Chair. This is a common 74 Variance request that the Board sees in that the house 75 was built at a time with a different setback. I think  76 at the time of this construction was 25 feet and then 77 over time the setback changes and this one is also 78 slightly in the side yard setback. It's at 15 feet. 79 It's at 14.88. 80 It's close enough to the 15 that we actually 81 considered, is this within the level of tolerance for a 82 surveying error. But just to be on the safe side, any 83 time they're that specific, calling it out at 14.88, we 84 felt we should take them at their word and consider that 85 side yard setback. 86 So what you have here is a two story 87 residential remodel of an existing house with a slight 88 encroachment into the front yard setback and then a 89 porch from there with steps. 90 There is additional work out the back but that 91 is all by right. There is a large rear yard. They're 92 not coming anywhere near the rear setback and they're 93 pushing the addition within the compliance with the side 94 yard setback at the rear. 95 So it's shown on your plans but that's not 96 within the scope of the Variance for tonight. 97 So in keeping with the Board's practice in the 98 past, this, I think, falls into that category of the 99 more typical Variances that you see. They're not 100 encroaching any further on the side setback but in order 101 to make use of that front area, the front yard setback 102 is necessary. 103 The front setback encroachment is not 104 something staff has the authority to administratively 105 approve. For example, this Board will sometimes see 106 something similar to what they're proposing at the rear. 107 Had they wanted to follow the existing line of the house 108 towards the rear, staff could have approved that for a 109 distance of 15 feet. In this case they're actually 110 respecting the setback. 111 But these two setback Variances that they're 112 asking for tonight, the side setback and the front, are 113 not something staff could administratively approve so 114 they're here before you tonight for the Variance 115 request. 116 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Thank you. 117 Any questions for Mr. Boyle? 118 (No response.) 119 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: If you could please 120 identify yourselves and maybe describe what the Variance 121 is and the building design that you're proposing. 122 MR. CARMODY: Tom Carmody, owner of 802 Parker 123 Avenue. 124 MS. CARMODY: Alicia Carmody. 125 So we're the current owners of the property. 126 We closed in February of this year. 127 It is a residential property. We have three 128 small children. We were looking for a great 129 neighborhood, a great house. We are current residents 130 of Falls Church City and we just wanted a larger space. 131 The house site, the house itself was in good 132 condition. We thought it had a lot of charm. We didn't 133 want to knock it down. We just wanted to kind of make 134 it more suitable for our family with more space in the 135 back and a second story. 136 And in doing that with our architect and the 137 builder, in order for the house to align with the 138 existing structure, we had to apply for the Variance. 139 So again, like John was saying, we're not 140 really asking to go outside of the existing house. We 141 just kind of were trying to have it so that it's just 142 not that quarter of an inch off. 143 MR. CARMODY: But we are going back 15 feet. 144 MS. CARMODY: Right. But that's outside of 145 the Variance. 146 We did go door to door with our neighbors. I 147 have five letters of support from our neighbors across 148 the street, on the sides. 149 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Is that included in the 150 record? 151 MS. CARMODY: No. 152 MR. BOYLE: No, they're bringing them tonight. 153 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Okay. 154 MS. CARMODY: And I can give them to you if 155 you'd like. 156 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Yes, please. 157 MS. CARMODY: The support was overwhelming. 158 People were responsive, supportive. They signed with no 159 problem. I actually brought the floor plan and a copy 160 of the front facade of the house so that they could see 161 what we were doing. 162 One of our neighbors was planning on coming 163 tonight. But he works at the library and I don't think 164 he was able to. 165 So we're really just hoping to kind of go 166 forward with the remodel. 167 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Are the letters from 168 both neighbors on either side? 169 MS. CARMODY: One of the neighbors on the side 170 was away so I wasn't able to get them but I do have the 171 neighbors on the left and across the street. 172 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: The one on the left is 173 Callahan. 174 MS. CARMODY: Yes, Callahan, they were away. 175 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: And then there is 176 Ferrick and Richard. 177 MS. CARMODY: Ferrick is two doors to the left 178 and then the Leonards were the ones that were right next 179 door. They're renters. 180 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Okay. I don't want to 181 take up the time. So you have letters from Albrecht, 182 Bract and Beck, (phonetic) Hadley and Leonard. The ones 183 listed here are Ferrick, Callahan, and Richard, on the 184 plat. 185 MS. CARMODY: Right. The Leonards are the 186 renters. The Richards are the homeowners, I believe. 187 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: There is not a Richards 188 in here, I don't think. 189 MS. CARMODY: I didn't talk to anybody, the 190 Richards. Are you talking about the people at 800, I 191 guess? 192 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Well, I'm just 193 referring to those three neighbors that appear to be 194 affected: One is Ferrick, one is Callahan, and one is 195 Richard. 196 MS. CARMODY: I'm sorry. I don't have the 197 Richards. 198 MR. CARMODY: What's their address? 199 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: 235 Kent, and then 200 there is 804 Parker. 201 MS. CARMODY: Oh, I see. Because they're on 202 the corner. 203 MR. CARMODY: We don't have a letter from the 204 Richards. 205 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Do you have letters 206 from any of the direct neighbors? You have 804 Parker 207 -- 208 MR. CARMODY: On the right-hand side but 209 they're renters only because the owners are not here. 210 MS. CARMODY: The Leonards are the people that 211 are living there now. 212 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: But the owner, you 213 haven't spoken to the owner at 804? 214 MR. CARMODY: No, we don't know how to get in 215 contact. 216 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Because the owner would 217 be the one who would be affected. 218 MR. CARMODY: No. 219 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Okay. 220 MR. BOYLE: Mr. Chair, I can say that everyone 221 in the neighborhood was noticed and we didn't receive 222 any negative comment. 223 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Okay. Thank you. 224 MR. BOYLE: I forgot to mention something. 225 Can you describe, I believe in speaking with 226 you about the plans that you're actually taking out some 227 of the front of the house. 228 MR. CARMODY: Yes. 229 MR. BOYLE: That's very unusual. Could you 230 describe to the Board what you're doing with that front 231 portion. 232 MR. CARMODY: We're setting back the porch 233 into the front of the house because we couldn't extend 234 past the 25 foot Variance, we're going back into the 235 house and then setting back the porch into the house. 236 Because we wanted to have a front porch, so we're moving 237 that back and starting the initial part of the house 238 about 4, 5 feet back, 6 feet back. 239 MS. CARMODY: Yeah, right now the porch is 6 240 feet. 241 MR. CARMODY: Because we couldn't go forward 242 with the Variance, with the current plans away from 30 243 feet, we decided to take it back so we still have a 244 front porch. 245 MR. BOYLE: Yes. That's highly unusual. They 246 actually carved out the front of the house to make less 247 of an intrusion into the front yard. 248 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Before we go to 249 questions, do you have any other comments you'd like to 250 make about your application? 251 MR. CARMODY: No. I mean, we've been living 252 in Falls Church City for almost 9 years. It will be 9 253 years coming up this fall. We live right behind the new 254 Harris Teeter so we've experienced growth in the City. 255 I love that townhouse that we live currently in but we 256 have three kids and we've outgrown it. And we've been 257 looking for about a year and a half to find a place and 258 ultimately in our budget this was the best way we can do 259 it. So we wanted to stay in the City of Falls Church. 260 We didn't want to move outside and this was the best 261 option and we appreciate your consideration. 262 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Thank you. 263 Open it up for questions. 264 Mr. Jones, do you have any questions? 265 MR. JONES: I don't right now. 266 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Any questions? 267 (No response.) 268 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: No. Well, let me ask. 269 The criteria that we judge a Variance application is 270 whether -- first of all, if the neighbors are impacted. 271 That's why I was asking the question. 272 So, I understand, we don't have any negative 273 comments from the neighbors and this has been noticed 274 and this appears to have a minimal impact on neighbors. 275 The other question relates to the addition and 276 whether there are other options that you could have 277 selected that would not have impinged on the Variance. 278 So this gets to the question of was this your only best 279 option moving forward. 280 So maybe if you could just answer that 281 question. You decided to take this design. Were there 282 other designs that did not impact the Variance? 283 MR. CARMODY: I mean the -- you know, when we 284 were looking at designs to have an aesthetic home, 285 right, to carry the second floor, the only option was to 286 set it -- unless we set back and we wouldn't have the 287 same square footage that we're looking for with our 288 three kids. 289 So, you know, we really kind of played around 290 with what are our options in the Variance and the best 291 way I can tell you is the Variance was the best way to 292 go about it to have that second story with the square 293 footage upstairs that we needed for the three bedrooms 294 or four bedrooms. 295 MS. CARMODY: Right. It was also to adhere to 296 the 15 foot on the left side of the house. The house 297 would be off by such a slight amount that it would be, 298 you know, almost awkward to be just off that little bit. 299 So we were going to have to apply for the Variance for 300 that anyway so when we went through the process of kind 301 of planning the second story, if we were going to apply 302 for the left side, it was like, okay, well, we can do it 303 all at the same time and we can kind of keep that second 304 story. 305 We also again, we thought from the front of 306 the house it would keep -- I don't know, we liked the 307 way that it looked from the front. 308 MR. CARMODY: Yeah, I think ultimately if we 309 bumped it in two inches on the side, it would be a 310 little odd looking, right? And that was the main 311 thought, like she said, I mean, to take that as, we're 312 going for the Variance anyway, we want to look at how 313 can we make this the most aesthetically-pleasing house 314 that meets our needs from a square footage standpoint, 315 from a bedroom standpoint. 316 One of the struggles we find around here is 317 finding a four bedroom home upstairs. And this allows 318 for that. That's the reason we went for these plans. 319 MR. BOYLE: Mr. Chair, if I could, one factor 320 this Board has considered in the past is would 321 respecting the setback pose an engineering problem. We 322 have the load-bearing wall at the front which is also 323 setting over the foundation. I think it can be done but 324 it would be an engineering complication. 325 So quite often, I know the building official 326 is happy when he sees the load bearing go straight down 327 to the foundation, so you'd have the weight of the 328 second story, if they set it at the 25 feet, it would be 329 over the living room ceiling. 330 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: And these easements 331 didn't come into play at all? There's one easement in 332 the back and there's something in the middle. It's like 333 a sewer. 334 MR. BOYLE: No, those are the limits of the 335 easement. The pipe is likely in the center of that 336 easement. So that would be as far back as they could 337 go. 338 The one at the back of the property is in the 339 rear yard setback. They wouldn't build there anyway. 340 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Okay. 341 MR. SPROUSE: Well, just to be clear. You 342 guys are going up, right? So there's no -- on the front 343 side and on the side yard, there's no change. 344 MS. CARMODY: No, no. We're asking to align 345 the current existing structure, exactly. 346 MR. SPROUSE: So as far as the footprint goes, 347 the only change is going back. 348 MR. CARMODY: Exactly. 349 MS. CARMODY: Yes. 350 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Any other comments or 351 questions for the applicants? 352 (No response.) 353 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Okay. Thank you very 354 much. 355 We'll open it up to the Board for comments 356 about this application. 357 MR. SPROUSE: The only thing that I would like 358 to see is just the neighbors, is feedback on the letters 359 from the neighbors. I think it's noted that there's no 360 neighbor feedback. 361 Was there any positive feedback? 362 MR. BOYLE: No, and that's not unusual. I'd 363 say the usual feedback we get is if someone is 364 objecting. Then they'll come in, they want to see the 365 plans and then they want to know when the meeting is. 366 Positive feedback, it's another letter in the mail, it 367 looks good to me, and they probably are all acquainted 368 with the neighbors except for the Ferricks who are 369 probably out of town, residing out of town. 370 Looking at the house from the street, the one 371 on the right is the rental? 372 MR. CARMODY: Yes. 373 MR. BOYLE: Okay. They would have gotten a 374 notice at their -- the assessor's address, wherever that 375 is. We got neither positive or negative, but I think 376 that's the norm. 377 MR. JONES: I'd also like to sort of echo your 378 sentiment that it concerns me a little bit not having 379 the immediate owners provide any letters of support but 380 I think my concern was alleviated by the fact that 381 notice was served, that the existing footwork is going 382 to be maintained so I think overall that that sort 383 overcomes my initial concern and I would tend to approve 384 the Variance. 385 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Thank you. Any other 386 comments? 387 MR. MISLEH: I'll just echo the comments that 388 Mr. Sprouse and Mr. Jones made. 389 MR. BOYLE: Mr. Chair, I neglected to raise a 390 point at the beginning. Because we're missing two Board 391 members, at the discretion of the Board you can offer a 392 continuation if they so choose. You need three 393 affirmative votes and I think we have one additional 394 voting member so you have to get three of the four. So 395 it is your option to ask for a continuation until the 396 full Board is here. We should have addressed that at 397 the beginning of the meeting. 398 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Yes, I apologize, but 399 yes, that is correct. You need three of us. Typically 400 we have a larger Board so you would have a larger pool 401 but it's your choice, if you'd like to have a 402 continuance to have a larger Board or to continue on 403 with this sitting Board for a vote. 404 MR. CARMODY: I guess -- where does everybody 405 stand? 406 (Laughter.) 407 MR. CARMODY: I know we've got echoing 408 sentiments here so that's two, correct, or am I reading 409 that wrong? You know, I'm new to this, right, so we'd 410 like to move forward so we'd prefer to have the vote 411 today, if possible. 412 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: That's fine. Thank 413 you. 414 MR. CARMODY: So sorry, for that. 415 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Direct question. 416 I don't have any further -- I agreed with 417 the -- and I typically like to focus on the impact on 418 neighbors. And we have had petitions before this 419 committee, and we have had negative comments and that of 420 course, if there are those, that's a very serious 421 matter. 422 I understand we have no comments but under the 423 law, you serve them, people have the right to respond. 424 They haven't. So we can't assume anything but that 425 there's no objection which is the way I would operate. 426 So I don't see there being a concern over the 427 non-responsiveness of the neighbors. So otherwise, I 428 would feel this is a fairly straightforward application. 429 So with that, I would entertain a motion for 430 next steps. 431 MR. SPROUSE: Motion to approve. 432 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: If you could be 433 specific to -- 434 MR. SPROUSE: Motion to approve the Variance 435 V1589-17 by Thomas Carmody, applicant and owner, for a 436 variance of Section 48-238(3)(a) in front of us tonight. 437 MR. BOYLE: And for the secretary, that's Mr. 438 Sprouse making the motion. 439 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Is there a second? 440 MR. JONES: I'll second. 441 MR. BOYLE: Mr. Jones is seconding. 442 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Okay. We'll ask for a 443 roll call vote. 444 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Calabrese. 445 MR. CALABRESE: Yes. 446 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Jones. 447 MR. JONES: Yes. 448 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Sprouse. 449 MR. SPROUSE: Yes. 450 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Misleh. 451 MR. MISLEH: Yes. 452 RECORDING SECRETARY: Thank you. 453 454 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Congratulations. 455 MR. CARMODY: Thank you very much. 456 MS. CARMODY: Thank you. 457 I didn't know that the letters would be -- I 458 would have gotten more. 459 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: It's really only the 460 letters of the direct neighbors that would impact. 461 MS. CARMODY: I know. We're not living in the 462 house right now while this is being done so I was like 463 going over there with the kids, like trying to catch 464 people, so it was just not as easy as, you know, like we 465 knocked on people's doors, so thank you. 466 MR. CARMODY: Thank you very much. 467 468 4. OLD BUSINESS 469 5. PETITIONS 470 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Okay. We've completed 471 Item No. 6, there is no Old Business. And there are no 472 Petitions. 473 474 7. OTHER BUSINESS 475 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: I understand there's no 476 Other Business that we need to discuss before we do the 477 Approval of the Minutes. 478 MR. BOYLE: No, sir. 479 480 3. Approval of Minutes 481 a. Approval of the January 12, 2017, Meeting 482 483 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: So I'm going to move 484 then to Item No. 3 which is Approval of the Minutes. I 485 think the -- yes, most of the Board members were here 486 for the meeting on January 12th. We're going to run 487 through them several pages at a time. 488 (Minutes reviewed.) 489 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: If I could ask for a 490 motion to approve the Minutes. 491 MR. JONES: I'll make a motion to approve the 492 Minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals for the January 493 12th, 2017, meeting. 494 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Thank you. Second? 495 MR. MISLEH: I'll second that motion. 496 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Roll call vote. 497 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Calabrese. 498 MR. CALABRESE: Yes. 499 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Jones. 500 MR. JONES: Yes. 501 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Sprouse. 502 MR. SPROUSE: Yes. 503 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Misleh. 504 MR. MISLEH: Yes. 505 RECORDING SECRETARY: Thank you. 506 507 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Anything else, Mr. 508 Boyle? 509 MR. BOYLE: No. We do have an application we 510 believe will be submitted in time for the next meeting. 511 And the question raised at the start, I think 512 it would be an interesting item to consider for the 513 Rules of Procedure for this Board, what to do if both 514 the Chair and the Vice Chair are not present. Do we do 515 rock-scissors-paper to see who runs the meeting? I 516 don't think we have a process for it. I'll double check 517 in the rules but perhaps we can have that discussion at 518 the next meeting. 519 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: I would appreciate 520 that. Maybe even some, if we can do some research or 521 the City Attorney can look into it. I travel a lot, Mr. 522 Williamson generally I think is available but I do 523 travel a fair amount and it would be helpful if we had a 524 procedure in place. I don't know if we elect a second 525 vice chair or we just have a procedure. 526 Perhaps we should look into Roberts Rules and 527 see if it provides for how that takes place. 528 MR. SPROUSE: I do believe we have them in 529 Rules, the remote, correct? 530 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: We do. 531 MR. BOYLE: Yes. 532 MR. SPROUSE: Does the Chair need to be 533 present? 534 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: I don't think it 535 addresses that. 536 MR. SPROUSE: I don't think so either. 537 Virginia Code might. It mirrors Virginia Code, right? 538 MR. BOYLE: Yes. That was taken directly from 539 the statute. I'll look into that and we can have that 540 conversation next month as well, which will be May 11th. 541 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Very good. No other 542 items? 543 MR. BOYLE: No, sir. 544 545 8. ADJOURNMENT 546 547 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Is there a motion to 548 adjourn? 549 MR. SPROUSE: I'll make a motion to adjourn. 550 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Is there a second? 551 MR. JONES: Second. 552 VICE CHAIR CALABRESE: Roll call vote. 553 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Calabrese. 554 MR. CALABRESE: Yes. 555 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Jones. 556 MR. JONES: Yes. 557 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Sprouse. 558 MR. SPROUSE: Yes. 559 RECORDING SECRETARY: Mr. Misleh. 560 MR. MISLEH: Yes. 561 RECORDING SECRETARY: Thank you. 562 563 564 565 566 567