Board of Zoning Appeals Agendas and Minutes

BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS · CITY OF HAMPTON, VIRGINIA Meeting Agenda · August 2, 2021 CHAIRMAN: John C. (Jack) Pope VICE-CHAIRMAN: Michael Harris MEMBERS: Dr. Arne Hasselquist, Dr. Tamika Lett, Rev. Joshua N. King, Sr., Philip Siff (Alternate) WORK SESSION 4:30 PM – Community Development Conference Room, 5th Floor City Hall I. Questions about agenda items REGULAR MEETING 5:00 PM – City Council Chambers, 8th Floor City Hall I. Roll call II. Minutes of the July 12, 2021 meeting III. Public hearing items A. VA21-00010: Henry Talkington, 705 Fairfield Blvd, LRSN 1100392 request for a variance to increase the maximum rear yard coverage allowed from 20 percent to 25 percent in order to replace an existing garage with a new 24’ x 26’ detached garage in the rear yard. IV. Other Items V. Adjournment As a courtesy to others during the meeting, please turn off cellular telephones or set them to vibrate. Community Development Department, Planning & Zoning Administration Division 22 Lincoln Street | Hampton, Virginia 23669 www.hampton.gov | Hampton’s 311: 757.727.8311 | O.757.727.6140  1 CITY OF HAMPTON BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS 2 WORK SESSION SUMMARY 3 4 July 12, 2021 5 The City of Hampton Board of Zoning Appeals held a work session on Tuesday, July 12, 2021 at 6 4:30 p.m. in the Hardy Cash Conference Room, City Hall, 22 Lincoln Street, Hampton, Virginia. 7 8 In attendance were: Chairman John C. Pope, Board Members Dr. Arne Hasselquist, Dr. Tamika 9 Left, and Rev. Joshua King. Absent from the meeting was Board Member Michael Harris. Also 10 present were Zoning Administrator Hannah Sabo, Deputy City Attorney Bonnie Brown, Zoning 11 Official Angela Leflett, Senior Zoning Official James Gillie and Administrative Projects 12 Coordinator/Acting Recording Secretary Aqiylah McGill. 13 14 Also present were applicants John and Casey Founds and their builder, from Markey Homes 15 Chairman Pope called the work session to order at 4:30 p.m. 16 17 Regarding VA21-00009, Board Member Hasselquist advised he was familiar with a relative of 18 the applicant and lived near the parcel address. He wanted to confirm he did not have to 19 recuse himself from the hearing due to his familiarity with the community and family of the 20 applicant for 102 Bonita Drive. Attorney Bonnie Brown confirmed he did not have to recuse 21 himself because he has no invested interest in the parcel nor does he work for the family. Dr. 22 Hasselquist, additionally attempted to clarify the staff requirement that the garage has to be 23 set 18” behind the front door. Zoning Administrator Hannah Sabo explained the requirement 24 and confirmed the applicant would have to adjust the garage 6” to meet the requirement. When asking about the windows on the structure, Chairman Pope explained that is a building 25 issue and not a zoning issue. Hannah Sabo explained the flood elevation requirements versus 26 the infill housing overlay limitations. 27 28 Chairman Pope inquired about the zoning ordinance changes advertised in the Daily Press. Ms. 29 Sabo and Ms. Brown explained the status of parking on lawns, cemetery size expansions, and 30 sign type updates. The board continued discussion on the regulation of flag poles and 31 allowable heights versus regulated sizes. 32 33 Ms. Sabo advised the board both VA21-00005 and VA21-00006 will be presented 34 simultaneously by staff. 35 36 There being no further items to discuss, the work session adjourned at 4:50 p.m. 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 BZA Minutes: July 12, 2021 Page - 1  1 AT A REGULAR MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS OF THE CITY 2 OF HAMPTON, VIRGINIA, HELD IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 8TH FLOOR, CITY HALL, 22 LINCOLN 3 STREET, AT 5:00 P.M. ON Tuesday, July 12, 2021. 4 ITEM I. ROLL CALL 5 6 Chairman Pope called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. 7 8 A call of the roll noted those present: Chairman John C. Pope, Board Members Dr. Tamika Lett, 9 Dr. Hasselquist, and Rev. Joshua King. Absent from the hearing was Board Member Michael 10 Harris. 11 12 Also present were Zoning Administrator Hannah Sabo, Deputy City Attorney Bonnie Brown, 13 Zoning Official Angela Leflett, Senior Zoning Official James Gillie and Administrative Projects 14 Coordinator/Acting Recording Secretary Aqiylah McGill. 15 16 ITEM II. MINUTES – June 7, 2021 17 18 A motion was made by Dr. Lett and seconded by Rev. King, to approve the June 7, 2021 Board 19 of Zoning Appeals work session and public hearing meeting minutes. 20 21 A roll call vote on the motion resulted as follows: 22 23 AYES: Hasselquist, Lett, King, Pope 24 NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None 25 ABSENT: Harris 26 27 28 ITEM III. PUBLIC HEARING ITEMS: 29 30 31 A. VA21-00005: Cardinal Sign Corporation, 210 W. Mercury Boulevard, LRSN 8005832, 32 request for a variance to increase the number of permitted freestanding signs on 33 the property from one to three. 34 Senior Zoning Official James Gillie presented both cases VA21-00005 and VA21-00006 to the 35 Board on behalf of the City. 36 37 Following staff presentation, Chairman Pope opened the floor for questions to the Staff. Rev. 38 King asked if the site presently had signs to which Mr. Gillie confirmed there were none. 39 40 After confirming the applicants were present to speak, Zoning Administrator Hannah Sabo 41 advised the Board and the applicant that due to there being 4 of the 5 board members 42 present with no alternate, the applicant has the option to defer to the next meeting where 43 they can present before 5 board members. The applicant opted to continue with the hearing 44 and present their case to the 4 Board Members present. 45 Amazon representative, Samantha Mazo presented on behalf of the applicant. 46 47 48 BZA Minutes: July 12, 2021 Page - 2  1 After discussion, a motion was made by Dr. Hasselquist to approve the variance request VA21- 2 00005 with staff conditions. The motion was seconded by Board Member Rev. King. 3 4 A roll call vote on the motion resulted as follows: 5 AYES: Hasselquist, Lett, King, Pope 6 NAYS: None 7 ABSTAIN: None 8 ABSENT: Harris 9 10 11 B. VA21-00006: Cardinal Sign Corporation, 210 W. Mercury Boulevard, LRSN 8005832, 12 request for a variance to increase the permitted sign area for a freestanding sign 13 from 65 square feet to 88 square feet. 14 Both VA21-00005 and VA21-00006 were presented by staff simultaneously. 15 16 A motion was made by Dr. Hasselquist to approve the variance request with the staff 17 recommended conditions. The motion was seconded by Dr. Lett. 18 19 A roll call vote on the motion resulted as follows: 20 21 AYES: Hasselquist, Lett, King, Pope 22 NAYS: None 23 ABSTAIN: None 24 ABSENT: Harris 25 26 C. VA21-00009: John and Carey Founds, 102 Bonita Drive, LRSN 10000973, request for a 27 variance to increase the maximum number of stories for a new single family 28 dwelling in the infill housing overlay from 2 stories to 3 stories. 29 30 Zoning Official Angela Leflett presented the case on behalf of the City. 31 32 Regarding the staff requirements, Rev. King asked Angela to explain the 18” requirements from 33 the applicant and the limitations of the infill housing overlay district 34 After being sworn in by the court reporter, applicant Mr. John Founds of 37 Rileys Way, 35 Hampton, VA 23664, presented on behalf of the applicant. 36 37 Rev. King inquired if the applicant would be using the garage for storage or parking cars. Mr. 38 Founds advised they have no plans to store items in the space as it would not be insured. 39 40 After being sworn in by the court reporter, builder Roger McLellon of Marquee Homes, 538 41 Wythe Creek Road, Suite G, Poquoson, VA 23662, confirmed with Dr. Hasselquist that the 42 building currently meets the infill housing requirements for the garage location and building 43 height. 44 After discussion, Rev. King made a motion to approve the request with staff recommendations. 45 The motion was seconded by Dr. Hasselquist. 46 47 48 BZA Minutes: July 12, 2021 Page - 3  1 A roll call vote on the motion resulted as follows: 2 3 AYES: Hasselquist, Lett, King, Pope 4 NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None 5 ABSENT: Harris 6 7 8 9 ITEM IV. OTHER ITEMS 10 11 12 ITEM V. ADJOURNMENT 13 14 There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:28 p.m. 15 16 17 ____________________________ 18 John C. Pope, Chairman 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 BZA Minutes: July 12, 2021 Page - 4  BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS STAFF EVALUATION August 2, 2021 Case No. VA21-00010 Prepared By: James Gillie, Senior Zoning Official Parcel Case Type: Variance Location: 705 Fairfield Blvd Zoning District: R-11 Overlay Zones: Flood Zone Owner/Applicant: Henry Talkington R-11 Request: A variance to increase the maximum rear yard coverage allowed from 20 percent to 25 percent in order to replace an existing detached garage with a new 24’ x 26’ detached garage in the rear yard. Applicable Zoning Ordinance Section(s) Ch. 1, Art. II, Sec. 1-24(3): “Accessory buildings or structures.” In any One- or Two-Family Residential (‘R’) District, the R-M District, the LFA-5 District, and on any fee-simple lot in any MD-1, MD-2, MD-4 District, accessory buildings or structures shall not occupy more than twenty (20) percent of the rear yard area. Summary VA21-00010 is a request to increase the maximum rear yard coverage allowed from 20 percent to 25 percent in order to replace an existing detached garage with a new 24’ x 26’ detached garage in the rear yard. The parcel is 7,705 square feet with 67 feet of frontage and 1,525 square feet of dwelling area. The R-11 zoning district has a minimum lot size requirement of 9,000 square feet and 1,700 square feet of dwelling area. 705 Fairfield Blvd has less lot area than the R-11 zoning district requires, making it a substandard lot. The rear yard is 67’ wide by 37.1’ deep. There is an existing 10’ x 15’ detached garage in the rear yard the meets all requirements under Section 1-24(3); the proposed garage would replace this existing one. A previously existing attached garage was converted into a bedroom (see attached elevation). On 6/12/1989 a building permit was issued to construct a 20’ x 16’ bedroom addition that reduced the rear yard. Per the survey provided, dated 06/03/2021, the rear yard is 2,485.7 square feet. This would allow for up to 497 square feet of rear yard coverage under Section 1-24(3), which limits the rear yard coverage to 20 percent of the rear yard. The proposed garage is 624 square feet, 127 square feet more that would be permitted and 474 square feet more than the existing detached garage. The applicant has not submitted elevations for the proposed structure at this time.  BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS STAFF EVALUATION Criteria for Review of Variances See Virginia Code §15.2-2201 and §15.2-2310; Zoning Ordinance §13-11 Summary of Criteria Staff Considerations 1. Strict application of the terms of the ordinance would unreasonably restrict utilization of the property or that granting a variance would  The applicant has not demonstrated alleviate an undue hardship due to a physical unreasonable restriction of utilization of condition relating to the property; the property. The property is currently in 2. The property interest for which the variance is use as a single family dwelling being requested was acquired in good faith and any hardship was not created by the applicant for  The applicant has provided no hardship. the variance; 3. The granting of the variance will not be of  The condition is not so general that an substantial detriment to adjacent property and nearby properties in the proximity of that amendment to the ordinance is geographical area; warranted. 4. The condition or situation of the property concerned is not of so general or recurring a  Granting the variance would not result in nature as to make reasonably practicable the a change to the zoning classification of formulation of a general regulation to be the property. adopted as an amendment to the ordinance; 5. The granting of the variance does not result in a  Relief sought cannot be obtained through use that is not otherwise permitted on such an exception process. property or a change in the zoning classification of the property; and  A 497 square foot detached garage 6. The relief or remedy sought by the variance application is not available through a special could be built without needing a exception process or the process for modification variance. of a zoning ordinance pursuant to subdivision A4 of §15.2-2286 at the time of the filing of the variance application. Staff Recommendation: Denial Based on the information provided by the applicant and evaluation of the standards of review for variances provided in Sec. 13-11(2) of the Zoning Ordinance, staff recommends denial of VA21-00010. Staff recommends the following conditions if Board approves: 1. Construction of the garage shall be built in substantial conformity with the attached site development plan, date 6/03/2021 2. Detached garage shall not be used as a dwelling. Example Motions: EXAMPLE MOTION TO APPROVE VARIANCE: I move we approve the variance because strict application of the ordinance would [unreasonably restrict utilization of the property/create an undue hardship] due to [INSERT JUSTIFICATION] and all the other criteria in the Virginia Code are met. EXAMPLE MOTION TO APPROVE VARIANCE WITH CONDITIONS: I move we approve the variance with the conditions recommended by staff because strict application of the ordinance would [unreasonably restrict utilization of the property/create an undue hardship] due to [INSERT JUSTIFICATION] and all the other criteria in the Virginia Code are met. EXAMPLE MOTION TO DENY VARIANCE:  BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS STAFF EVALUATION I move we deny the variance because the application does not meet the criteria in the Virginia Code due to [INSERT JUSTIFICATION]. Parcel