Board of Zoning Appeals

CITY OF TALLMADGE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS Minutes of Meeting Held January 14, 2014 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers Date Time Place Members Present: Kevin Heilmeier, Melanie Bushey, Richean Kuzior and Richard Schunk Members Absent: David Cooper Chaired by: Kevin Heilmeier Secretary: Velma Williams  Regular meeting  Special Meeting PRESENT: Mayor David Kline Megan Raber, Law Director Roger Lyons, Zoning Department ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED Item #1 Case No. 935 Christopher T. Darrow – Applicant/Owner 838 Sunset View Boulevard Variance requested from Subsection 1155.03 (c); Accumulative area for all accessory buildings shall not exceed 900 square feet; Request variance to 1,536 For review and approval. Item #2 Case No. 936 Tony Fisher – Applicant/Owner 342 South Avenue Variance requested from Subsection 1157.07 (a); Minimum front yard setback of 50 feet required; Request variance to 33 feet; For review and approval. Prior to the regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, Mr. Kevin Heilmeier was sworn in to serve another term on the Board of Zoning Appeals by Mayor David Kline. ______________________________________________________________________________________ The January 14, 2014 meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman, Kevin Heilmeier. Board of Zoning Appeals – January 14, 2014 2. The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll called. All members present with the exception of Donald Cooper. Mr. Heilmeier: I’ll entertain a motion to excuse Mr. Cooper. Mrs. Kuzior: I’ll make a motion that we excuse Mr. Cooper from this meeting. Mrs. Bushey: seconded the motion. Roll called. All members present voted in favor (4-0). Mr. Heilmeier: At this time we’ll have the election of officers. Do we have any particular order we have to do this in, Megan? Mrs. Raber: Chairperson first, please. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay. I’ll entertain a motion for Chairperson. Mrs. Kuzior: I’ll make a motion that we elect Mr. Heilmeier as the Chairperson of the Board of Zoning Appeals. Mrs. Bushey: seconded the motion. Roll called. All members present voted in favor with the exception of Mr. Heilmeier who abstained (3-0-1). Mr. Heilmeier: Election for Vice Chairperson. Mrs. Bushey: I’d like to move to election Richean Kuzior as Vice Chairperson. Mr. Heilmeier: seconded the motion. Roll called. All members present voted in favor with the exception of Mrs. Kuzior who abstained (3-0-1). Mr. Heilmeier: Approval of 2014 meeting dates. I think everybody received one of those. We just need to put that into the minutes. I’ll entertain a motion for the 2014 meeting dates. Mrs. Kuzior: So moved. Mrs. Bushey: seconded the motion. Mrs. Raber: Mr. Chairman, just for the record, the dates on the calendar are all reflective of your current calendar. They all will fall on the second Tuesday of the month. Some of the other boards and commissions have found that they end up with a Board of Zoning Appeals – January 14, 2014 3. holiday or something like that so they need to adjust the calendar. In your particular case, just for the purpose of the record, those will all be as currently scheduled which is the second Tuesday of the month. Thank you. Roll called. All members present voted in favor (4-0). Mr. Heilmeier: The next item of business is the approval of the minutes of the December 10, 2013 meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals. Mrs. Bushey: So moved. Mr. Heilmeier: seconded the motion. Roll called. All members present voted in favor with the exception of Mr. Schunk who abstained (3-0-1). Mr. Heilmeier: Is there any agenda additions for tonight’s meeting? Mr. Lyons: No sir. Mr. Heilmeier: Any correspondence or communications other than what we have already received? Mr. Lyons: No new ones. We had the three pieces of correspondence. Mrs. Raber: Again, just for the purpose of the record, I will note that the Law Director did distribute a Memorandum regarding the Ohio Ethics Law to City Officials and personnel. Mr. Heilmeier: At this time, it is 7:05, Case No. 935. Item #1 Case No. 935 Christopher T. Darrow – Applicant/Owner 838 Sunset View Boulevard Variance requested from Subsection 1155.03 (c); Accumulative area for all accessory buildings shall not exceed 900 square feet; Request variance to 1,536 For review and approval. Mr. Heilmeier: Is the applicant here? Sir, come up and we’ll swear you in. Mr. Christopher T. Darrow was sworn in. Mr. Heilmeier: Please state your name and address, please. Mr. Darrow: Christopher T. Darrow, 838 Sunset View Boulevard. Board of Zoning Appeals – January 14, 2014 4. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, at this time we’ll open the Public Hearing (7:05 p.m.). Explain your request for the variance, please. Mr. Darrow: I’m requesting a variance from the 900 allowed to 1,696 square feet for a garage to put my truck and trailer in. Mr. Heilmeier: We have two pieces of correspondence on this one. Is that correct? We’ll read those into the minutes at this time. Mr. Lyons: I think there’s just one correspondence for this one. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, I’m sorry. I thought there was two. Mr. Lyons: Two with the other one. Clerk: This is a letter dated January 7, 2014 addressed to the Planning & Zoning Department. This is in regards to a letter that was sent to me regarding a special variance, requested by Applicant/Owner, Christopher T. Darrow. I can’t tell you what joy it is to look out my kitchen window and see the fantastic job Mr. Darrow has done with the complete re-do of 848 Sunset View. Prior to his purchasing the property, it was an eyesore and to me needed to be torn down, but Chris had a vision that I did not. Anything he requests to do, in regards to improvements to that property, is approved by me. He took a run-down house and made a show-piece that could be the cover of a magazine or a DIY TV show. I only wish there were many, many more as gifted and non-lazy Property Owners, like him, who desired a nicer home and lawn in the Tallmadge area. Sincerely, Kathleen R. Hey 808 Humble Road Tallmadge, Ohio 44278 That was received January 9. Mr. Lyons: Address? Clerk: 808 Humble Road. She’s in Tallmadge. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, is there anybody in the audience that would like to speak on behalf of this variance? Tony DeMeio? Sir, if you come up we’ll swear you in. Board of Zoning Appeals – January 14, 2014 5. Mr. Tony DeMeio was sworn in. Mr. Heilmeier: State your name and address please. Mr. DeMeio: Tony DeMeio, 824 Sunset View. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, the floor is yours. Mr. DeMeio: I live right next door to him. I would have thought they would have tore the house down when he bought it. He’s done nothing but improvements to it. Where it’s going to sit in the yard, it’s not going to effect anybody around. It doesn’t and I’m right next door to him. Everything he has done has been an improvement. That’s it. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, thank you. Is there anybody else in the audience that would like to speak in favor of this variance? Anybody in the audience that would like to speak in opposition of this variance? One more time. Anybody in favor? Anybody in opposition? At this time we’ll close the Public Hearing (7:10 p.m.) and turn it over to the committee. Mr. Heilmeier: I was out there on Sunday. Have you already started filling in the back yard to put the garage there? Mr. Darrow: Yes. Mr. Heilmeier: So that’s pretty much where it was going to go. Mr. Darrow: Yes, I had it staked out there. I don’t know if you saw the corners and everything. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay. Mr. Schunk: Do you plan to continue to use the 10 x 16 structure that’s there? Mr. Darrow: I’m actually thinking about just taking that out of there. It’s going to require a lot of work to get it fixed up and leveled off and everything. I don’t know if I want to waste the money putting it towards that when I can just go ahead and put it towards the garage. That will go by the wayside. Mrs. Kuzior: So that’s the difference in your square footage because on our agenda it says 1,696 and then on your letter it says 1,536. Mr. Darrow: Yes, 1,536 is the actual size of the garage. I was going to, originally when I had sent the paperwork in I figured I’d go ahead and include that in case I wanted to keep it. Obviously time has passed and it’s going to require more work than I’m willing to put into it right now. Mr. Schunk: What is the acreage? Your property is about 800 x 100 or something? Board of Zoning Appeals – January 14, 2014 6. Mr. Darrow: Yes, I think it’s 852 x 100. The acreage is 1.93. Mr. Lyons: Mr. Heilmeier? Mr. Heilmeier: Yes, Mr. Lyons? Mr. Lyons: Could I ask the applicant, you say you’re going to tear down the 10 x 16 building? Mr. Darrow: Yes. Well, I’ll probably give it to my mother to be honest with you. I’ll probably haul it out of there and give it to her. Mr. Lyons: Okay, so I guess I was just going to ask you if you wanted to amend your application to the 1,538 you had originally asked. Mr. Heilmeier: You’ll have to come and initial and we’ll change the request from 1,696 square feet to 1,536 square feet. Is that we’re going to do? Mrs. Kuzior: 1,538. Mr. Heilmeier: 1,538? Okay. It says 1,536 here. Mrs. Kuzior: Yes, you’re right, sorry. Mr. Lyons: What is the actual area? Mr. Darrow: Its 72 x 48 so it should be 1,536 on the square footage. Mr. Heilmeier: 1,536. Mr. Christopher T. Darrow initialed the amendment to the application. Mr. Heilmeier: We’ll get that on record. Any other questions? Mrs. Kuzior: Mr. Darrow, you don’t plan on storing anything or running a business or anything in there that is not listed on your letter? Mr. Darrow: No. Mrs. Kuzior: Okay. Mr. Heilmeier: Could we get a motion for this variance? Mr. Schunk: I will make a motion that the variance request from subsection 1155.03 (c), accumulative area for all accessory buildings shall not exceed 900 square feet; granting a variance to 1,536 square feet. Board of Zoning Appeals – January 14, 2014 7. Mr. Heilmeier: seconded the motion. Roll called. All members present voted in favor (4-0). Mr. Heilmeier: Your variance passed. Mr. Darrow: All right, thank you very much. Mr. Heilmeier: It is now 7:14 p.m., Case No. 936. Item #2 Case No. 936 Tony Fisher – Applicant/Owner 342 South Avenue Variance requested from Subsection 1157.07 (a); Minimum front yard setback of 50 feet required; Request variance to 33 feet; For review and approval. Mr. Heilmeier: Is the applicant here? Okay. Mr. Tony Fisher was sworn in. Mr. Heilmeier: State your name and address. Mr. Fisher: Anthony W. Fisher, 342 South Avenue, Tallmadge. Mr. Heilmeier: Mrs. Bushey? Mrs. Bushey: I would like to dismiss myself from this case due to a family conflict which I have discussed with the Law Director. I’d like to have permission to be dismissed. Mrs. Raber: Yes, given the details that you discussed with me indicating if you would, for the record, that you felt that you would not be able to impartially hear this particular matter that you wanted to abstain from this matter. Mrs. Bushey: Yes, I’d like to abstain. Mrs. Raber: Okay. I will allow that. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay. Sir, before we proceed, I’d just give you some more information with only the three of us able to vote, you will need to have all three votes be affirmative for this to pass tonight. If you would so desire, you could ask for a continuation until next month when we have hopefully our other board member here or we can proceed with it tonight if you would want to. Board of Zoning Appeals – January 14, 2014 8. Mr. Fisher: I would like to have a continuance. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, now what do we do with that? Mrs. Raber: If the applicant’s asking for the continuance, you can just move to table it and hold it over until next month. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, we need a motion to table this. Mrs. Kuzior: I’ll make a motion that we table Case No. 936 to the February Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. Mr. Heilmeier: seconded the motion. Roll called. All members present voted in favor with the exception of Mrs. Bushey who abstained (3-0-1). Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, we will see you. He’ll be the first one on the agenda next month? Mrs. Raber: Correct. Mr. Heilmeier: Okay, thank you sir. Mr. Fisher: Thank you. Mr. Heilmeier: I’ll entertain a motion for adjournment, please. Mrs. Bushey: So moved. Mrs. Kuzior: seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor (4-0). Meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Velma J. Williams, Secretary Kevin Heilmeier, Chairperson