Administrative Review Board

A G E N D A Administrative Review Board City Council Chambers 800 Municipal Drive, Farmington, NM February 4, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. Item Page No. 1 Call Meeting to Order 2 Approval of the Agenda 3 Approval of the Minutes from the December 3, 2015 Meeting 27 4 Petition No. ARB 16-01 – a request from Fellowship of Spirit Church, 1 represented by William F. Clark, for a variance from the requirements of ‘Off-site signs’ in the GC General Commercial District located at the intersection of 13th Street and Farmington Avenue. (Steven Saavedra) 5 Business from: Floor: Chairman: Members: Staff: 6 Adjournment ATTENTION PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: The meeting room and facilities are fully accessible to persons with mobility disabilities. If you plan to attend a meeting and need an auxiliary aid or service, please contact the City Clerk's office at 599-1101 or 599-1106, prior to the meeting so arrangements can be made. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26  MINUTES ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW BOARD December 3, 2015 – 6:00 P.M. The Administrative Review Board met in regular session on Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chamber, 800 Municipal Drive, Farmington, New Mexico. Members present: Chairman Ireke Cooper James Dennis Paul Martin Lynn Scott Adam Soukup (Via Phone) Members absent: None Staff present: Mary Holton Cindy Lopez Keith Neil Steven Saavedra Karen Walker Others addressing the board: Mark Arambula Tim Christensen Jim Colter Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chair Cooper and there being a quorum present the following proceedings were duly had and taken. Approval of the Agenda A motion was made by Board Member Dennis, seconded by Board Member Scott, to approve the agenda. The motion passed unanimously by a vote of 5-0. Approval of the Minutes from the October 8 and November 5, 2015 Regular Meetings Board Member Martin made a motion to approve the minutes of the October 8, 2015 regular meeting. The motion was seconded by Board Member Dennis and passed unanimously by a vote of 5-0. Board Member Dennis made a motion to approve the minutes of November 5, 2015 regular meeting. The motion was seconded by Board Member Scott and passed unanimously by a vote of 5-0. Swearing in of Witnesses All parties that wished to speak on behalf of any agenda item were sworn in by Karen Walker. Petition No. ARB 15-15 A Variance to the Required Side Yard Setback Discussion of ARB No. 15-15 on December 3, 2015 Board Member Martin recused himself from this petition. Associate Planner Keith Neil presented the staff report for ARB 15-15, a request from R & D Investments, LLC, represented by Othoniel Bejarano of Food Service Concepts Inc., for a variance to the required 30 foot front yard setback to a 10 foot front yard setback in the IND Industrial District, for property located at 600 Scott Avenue. The property currently contains a Denny’s Restaurant. The petitioner will be constructing a new Denny’s Restaurant on the same property. Approximately 440 square feet of the new restaurant will be encroaching into the required 30 foot front yard setback. The petitioner desires to continue operating the existing restaurant while construction takes place on the new restaurant. The petitioner believes that the proximity of the new restaurant being constructed closer to Scott Ave. will increase the visual awareness for their potential customer base and increase revenue. The petitioner is working with FEMA to mitigate floodway construction issues as the new building will be located in the floodway. Staff recommends approval of ARB 15-15. Board Member Dennis asked if the proposed design with the encroachment would enhance the parking layout. Mr. Neil responded that it would add six more parking spots. Jim Colter of P.O. Box 95313, Albuquerque, NM, is the district leader with Denny’s Restaurants. Mr. Colter stated the company is looking forward to the new building which will seat approximately 160 people. Board Member Scott asked when the old building would be torn down. Mr. Colter stated that the old building would be torn down within three days of the opening of the new building. Administrative Review Board Action of December 3, 2015 A motion was made by Board Member Dennis and seconded by Board Member Scott to approve Petition No. ARB 15-15, a request from R & D Investments, LLC, represented by Othoniel Bejarano of Food Service Concepts Inc., for a variance to the required 30 foot front yard setback to a 10 foot front yard setback in the IND Industrial District, for property located at 600 Scott Avenue. AYE: Chair Cooper, Board Members Dennis, Scott, and Soukup. NAY: None RECUSED: Board Member Martin. ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: None MOTION TO APPROVE 4-0 Petition No. ARB 15-16 A Variance to the Required Side Yard Setback Discussion of ARB No. 15-16 on December 3, 2015 Board Members Dennis and Martin recused themselves from this petition and left the room. Associate Planner Steven Saavedra presented the staff report for ARB 15-16, a request from Top Performance Management LLC., represented by Timothy Christensen Architect, for Beckland Dental, for a variance to the required 20 foot side yard setback to a 10 foot side yard setback in the LNC Local Neighborhood Commercial Zoning District, for property located at Beckland Drive next to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The petitioner requests to construct a 10,464 square foot building on 1.52-acres. Currently, the property is undeveloped. The occupants for the intended building are a dentist office and restaurant. The property was zone changed on June 2, 2015 from R-4 to LNC. The R-4 zoning district was eliminated with the adoption of the Unified Development Code in 2008. The Future Land Use Plan map of the City’s Comprehensive Plan shows this parcel as commercial and requires an interior side yard setback of 20-feet for a principal structure in the LNC District. This variance request, if approved, will reduce the northeast interior side yard setback from 20-feet to 10-feet. Staff recommends approval of ARB 15-16. Board Member Scott questioned as to why the first, second, and seventh variance criteria were not met. Mr. Saavedra explained the first criteria asks if special conditions and circumstances exist, which are peculiar to the land, structure, or building involved and are not applicable to other lands, structures, or buildings in the same district. Staff believed the slope of the land and the hill contained in the property could cause a challenge and extra building costs. However, staff did not feel it was impossible to construct the building with the right design. Mr. Saavedra continued to explain that the second criteria asks if a literal interpretation of the provisions of the Code would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same district. Staff determined a church building to the northeast is approximately 45-feet from the interior side yard setback. Two commercial buildings to the south have side setbacks greater than 20-feet. Therefore, the interpretation of the provisions of the Code would not deprive the rights commonly enjoyed by others in the area. The seventh variance asks if the applicant would suffer an unnecessary hardship if the variance requested were denied. Staff felt the intent of the setback is to separate buildings and principal structures of adjacent property owners and therefore, the criteria was not met. Tim Christensen of 2120 N. Sullivan stated the owner wants to build as much building as possible on the property. The proposed design adds more parking and makes the property more usable. Mark Arambula of 3901 Beckland is the Operations Manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. He asked if Enterprise would be sharing a driveway with the new building. Mr. Christensen stated that they would be sharing easements, but not the driveway. Administrative Review Board Action of December 3, 2015 A motion was made by Board Member Scott and seconded by Board Member Soukup to approve Petition No. ARB 15-16, a request from Top Performance Management LLC., represented by Timothy Christensen Architect, for Beckland Dental, for a variance to the required 20 foot side yard setback to a 10 foot side yard setback in the LNC Local Neighborhood Commercial Zoning District, for property located at Beckland Drive next to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. AYE: Chair Cooper, Board Members Scott, and Soukup. NAY: None RECUSED: Board Members Dennis and Martin. ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: None MOTION TO APPROVE 3-0 Review and Approval of the 2016 ARB Meeting Calendar Senior Planner Cindy Lopez presented the 2016 ARB Meeting Calendar. She explained the Calendar had previously been approved with the Open Meetings Act. The calendar was being presented to determine if there were any meeting dates that would conflict with holidays. Board Member Dennis made a motion to approve the 2016 ARB Meeting Calendar as presented. The motion was seconded by Board Member Martin. MOTION TO APPROVE 5-0 Business from the Floor: There was no business from the Floor. Business from the Chair: There was no business from the Chair. Business from the Members: Chair Cooper asked for three printed copies of the Agenda Book to be provided for use the Board Members during each meeting. Business from Staff: There was no business from Staff. Adjournment: The December 3, 2015 meeting of the Administrative Review Board was adjourned at 6:33 p.m. _________________________________ ________________________________ Ireke Cooper-Chairman Karen Walker-Administrative Assistant