Board of Zoning Appeals

CITY OF TALLMADGE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2023 COUNCIL CHAMBERS 7:00 PM I. Call to Order Chair Chuck Victor called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Roll Call Commission Members present: Chuck Victor Ted Roy Richean Kuzior Melanie Bushey Dan Satterfield Administration present: Dave Kline, Mayor Megan Raber, Law Director Helene Hussing, Planning and Zoning Manager IV. Approval of Minutes A motion to approve the February 14, 2023 minutes was made by Mrs. Bushey and seconded by Mrs. Kuzior. 4 members in favor. Mrs. Kuzior abstained. V. Agenda Additions None VI. Correspondence & Communications None VII. Agenda Items A. CASES Case No. 1079 Sean Pocock, applicant/owner 956 Eastwood Ave-Detached Garage • Two (2) variances are requested from:  TCO 1104.03 H: Height Limit: Unless otherwise stated, the maximum height of a detached accessory structure shall be 20 feet. In no case shall an accessory structure exceed the height of the principal building. • Request 4-foot variance, to allow 24-foot height.  TCO 1104.03 I (1) ii (a): Accessory Structures for Lots of 1.0 acres or more. (a) The maximum lot coverage of all accessory structures shall not exceed a maximum of 2,500 square feet. • Request 752 square foot variance, to allow 3,252 square feet of which 480 square feet is an existing detached garage. Public Hearing opened at 7:02 pm. The representative for this case, Sean Pocock, was sworn in. Board of Zoning Appeals March 14, 2023 Mr. Pocock presented the case according to the submitted plans. Discussion Mrs. Kuzior: This is not for commercial use? You don’t work on cars for payment? Mr. Pocock: No, just for me. Mrs. Kuzior: If you can't fit anything in that other garage, can you tear it down? That would be more in line with the code. Mr. Pocock: I could, but I use it to store the lawn mower and yard stuff and things like that. I plan on cutting into the hill a little bit so it's nice and level. That would even lower it some. Mrs. Bushey: So, you're planning on extending your driveway all the way out? Mr. Pocock shows driveway extension on screen. Mr. Victor: So, you plan on keeping the existing garage? Mr. Pocock: Yes, please. Mr. Victor: I have to be honest; I have a concern about the new garage dwarfing the house. This then almost is not an accessory structure, which the code addresses. That large, it almost becomes a primary building. I agree, you're not going to reside in it, but I think it's a little unbalanced there, personally. Mr. Pocock: Yeah, I get that. But it's not like it's going to have a bathroom. I can't live in it. I’d spend most of my time in the garage if I had it. I just got this house because that's really all I need. It’s just me living there. Mr. Victor: But from an aesthetic position, where I'm coming from... In your write-up, you say, it's barely visible from the street. I would have to disagree with that. Maybe from Eastwood, it’s set back quite a ways. I think your drawing says it's 190 feet set back, but do we know what the setback is from Dunbar? And I know that I realize there's another lot there between you and Dunbar. Mrs. Kuzior: But that’s just land. It's a person's yard. Mr. Victor: As was suggested, if you know if the existing garage was to come down, that would certainly be in your favor in that it would be closer to the requirements of square footage for accessory structures. I have a concern also on the 1st variance, the request for the height limit. The code says the maximum height of a detached structure shall be 20 foot and then it says in no case shall the accessory structure exceed the height of the principal building. The principal building in this case is your house. It does exceed that. I don't know that it allows us for a variance. I understand your request however, I think it still exceeds the prohibition that says in no case. It doesn't say unless they ask for variance. Mr. Pocock: I understand that, but with this [existing] garage, this is the same height as my house and my truck will never fit in that garage with that side wall. So that's where the height comes from. I need the higher side wall, so I can fit my truck in. Mr. Victor: I understand, but the code doesn't really allow for the request for the variance. It says, ‘in no case shall it be’ and then that's my concern that if we did, are we violating the code? Mrs. Bushey: That's why I asked about the hill, for the height, because like you say, I'm concerned that it's going over... even though it's far behind, will you be able to see it from the street when you don't have trees with leaves, how much are they going to be able to see? I guess that's my concern because of the hill. Page 2 Board of Zoning Appeals March 14, 2023 Mr. Pocock: Ok. And like I said, the hill where the garage would be going, that hill would get cut into. So, it's not like it's going on top of the hill, the hill would go down. Mrs. Bushey: So how much of that hill will you take down? Mr. Pocock: As much I need to for the garage. Mrs. Bushey: So your building is going to be further away from that house, so hopefully that tree will block that other person's backyard because they don't have much of a backyard. Mr. Pocock: And there are trees all along here, so it is hard to see. The only time I really see this house is when I mow.. Mrs. Kuzior: Well, we're in the newer part of Dunbar, it's 30 years old now, but someone did what you're doing in a corner lot, when there was no code preventing it and it became that person's entire backyard. It was like looking at a wall. So that was my concern, but I see it's going to be up further. Mrs. Bushey: Did any of your neighbors that live in the area talk to you about this variance? I know you sent out letters, but have you talked to any of your neighbors in that area? Mr. Pocock: The one neighbor I was trying to talk to is Bill, but I couldn't get him. I feel like he's the only one that might... but I don't think he will have a problem with it because he's always in his garage too. Mrs. Kuzior: What about the person on the other side? Mr. Pocock: He has a fence. He will still be able to see it but he doesn't really go outside. Mrs. Kuzior: The reason that we go over these and try to figure out another plan and all this is because we can't say that you're always going to live there. Somebody's going to have to deal with this and the people that say it's ok on either side of you, if they did, they're not always going to live there so we're just trying to do what's best for everybody. Mrs. Bushey: And also tomorrow you could sell that trailer, you could sell two of those cars and you probably wouldn't need that size of a of a garage, so we have to kind of look at all the parameters of everything involved. Mr. Pocock: Yea, I could sell that, but that would be changing my lifestyle and I don't really think that's fair either. Mrs. Kuzior: Well, I'm just going to say that I would feel better voting for it if you tore down the other garage. Mr. Satterfield: I think she meant if you chose to sell them, I don't think she was suggesting that you do. I do want to get clarification though, what Chuck was saying height wise... If what he said is in fact the case, which I assume it is, then there cannot be a variance on the height? That is code, so there would not be a variance allowed on the height, is that accurate? Mrs. Raber: The Zoning Administrator made an opinion in allowing the variance to come before you tonight. I think you should factor in and weigh the language that's in the code as you're looking at it and decide whether or not it's appropriate. Mr. Victor: Many times when we consider variances, there's not additional language that says in no case shall... so this is a unique language in my opinion. Mrs. Hussing: I realize it says in no case shall an accessory structure exceed the height of the principal building; it does not say no variance may be requested. I think the whole point of the variance request is that you weigh it against the standards that are before you to see if it actually Page 3 Board of Zoning Appeals March 14, 2023 meets that. So, that's how I would address it. The variance is from the code, so if the request is to make a change to the code in this case. Mr. Victor: Thank you for the explanation. Again, since this building dwarfs the house, I have a concern about it being so big, but that's how I'm going to address that personally. Mayor Kline: It sounds like you're struggling a little bit... Is there any wiggle room that you have on changing your size a little? I understand the height that you're requesting but the square footage of the variance request is quite large with the accessory. IS there a way... can you make it a 2-bay garage instead of a 3-bay garage? Mr. Pocock: I always could… Mrs. Kuzior: We're trying to find a compromise so we can do the best for everybody. Mr. Victor: I appreciate what you're trying to do in that you want to get your cars out of the driveway. I understand all that, and I can appreciate it, but we are also responsible for addressing the code and addressing the neighborhoods and trying to be consistent. Are there others that are probably bigger than yours? Yes, but some of those are pre-code and as was mentioned earlier that we had no power over so. Mrs. Bushey: I'm struggling right now with this because of the height of this building. Mr. Pocock: Well, even if I did make it 2-bay, it would still have to be that height. Mr. Roy: Do you know what the height difference is compared to the house? Mr. Pocock: I do not know. Mrs. Kuzior: What's the minimum height you'd need for your truck? Mr. Pocock: The minimum would probably have to be like 14-inch sidewall, if I didn't want to scrape, and then the height would probably be 22-20'. Mr. Victor: Well if it could be 20...it says the maximum height shall be 20. If you could do that then that would not be a problem. And that would be an option. If we have a vote and turn down your request, you can't make a second request for one year. If we can reach some kind of compromise, then that would allow you to move forward. I know we have done in the past... If he would request, can he request time? You can go talk to your builder and come back with some other options, because if we turn it down, you're done for a year at minimum? If you request time, which would be an option, you could come back and explain that, and if it met our approval, then you could go forward. Discussion on the process of a continuance. Mrs. Kuzior: If I were voting today and you chose to make it a 22-foot height with no extra garage, then that would seem more in line with what I could vote for, just my opinion. Mr. Satterfield: I do have one more question. Is there anywhere else on the property that the building could go that anyone else would feel more comfortable with it being out of sight? Because I do completely understand dwarfing the primary structure. Is there anywhere else in the property that would be a better location to even look at as an option? Mr. Pocock: I have no problem moving it. Mr. Satterfield: It’s just a thought. You've got two acres there, where it's at now is beside a backyard, across from the backyard... Mr. Pocock: I have no issues moving it. Page 4