Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA)

BZA MEETING RESULTS ZIONSVILLE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS Wednesday, December 7, 2022 6:30 PM (Local Time) THIS PUBLIC MEETING WAS CONDUCTED ONSITE AT ZIONSVILLE TOWN HALL IN ROOM 105 (COUNCIL CHAMBERS), LOCATED AT 1100 WEST OAK STREET: The following items were scheduled for consideration: I. Pledge of Allegiance II. Attendance 3 of 5 members attended. (In-person - S. Mundy, A. Pickell, K. Postlethwait) III. Approval of the November 2, 2022, Minutes 3 in Favor, 0 Opposed IV. Continuance or Withdrawal Requests Docket Name Address of Project Item to be considered Number None. V. Continued Business Docket Item to be considered Name Address of Project Number Continued until such time the Petitioner re-notices and requests placement on the BZA Agenda. 10703 Barrington Way 3 in Favor, 0 Opposed 2022-57-DSV M. Godbout Zionsville, IN 46077 Petition for a Development Standards Variance to decrease the rear setback to provide for a swimming pool in the Holliday Farms Planned Unit Development. December 8, 2022 VI. New Business Docket Name Address of Project Item to be considered Number Approved as presented & filed w/ exhibits & per staff report. 3 in Favor, 0 Opposed Petition for a Development Standards Variance to provide 40 S. Second Street 2022-60-DSV M. Deloso for pervious patios which: Zionsville, IN 46077 1) Deviates from the front yard setback 2) Exceeds the allowable lot coverage 3) Deviates from the aggregate side yard setback in the Urban Village Residential Zoning District (R-V). Approved as presented & filed w/ exhibits & per staff report. 3 in Favor, 0 Opposed 43 Balmoral Court Petition for a Development Standards Variance to provide 2022-61-DSV G. Mann Zionsville, IN 46077 for a deck which: 1) Exceeds the allowable lot coverage 2) Deviates from the rear yard setback in the Urban Village Residential Zoning District (R-V). Approved as presented & filed w/ exhibits, per staff report & subject to recorded commitments. East Two 2201 S. US Highway 421 3 in Favor, 0 Opposed 2022-62-SE Hundred (est.) Petition for a Special Exception to provide for a new South, LLC Zionsville, IN 46077 Single-Family Dwelling and related accessories on a parcel in the Rural General Agricultural Zoning District (AG). Approved as presented & filed w/ exhibits & per staff report. East Two 2201 S. US Highway 421 3 in Favor, 0 Opposed 2022-63-DSV Hundred (est.) Petition for a Development Standards Variance to permit a South, LLC Zionsville, IN 46077 lot exceeding the maximum Lot Width to Depth Ratio of 3:1 in the Rural Agricultural Zoning District (AG). VII. Other Matters to be considered Docket Item to be considered Name Address of Project Number Executed. Town of 3 in Favor, 0 Opposed Zionsville BZA Rules of Procedure with 2021 approved amendments for re-adoption. Form Based Status update to the Board of Zoning Appeals regarding Code the Form Based Code. Notification of 2023 BZA and Plan Commission Meeting regarding updates and information by Counsel on January 17, 2023. December 8, 2022 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 In Attendance: Steve Mundy, Andy Pickell, Kathi Postlethwait Absent: Chris Lake, Larry Jones Staff attending: Mike Dale, Janice Stevanovic, Suzanne Baker, Dan Taylor, attorney A quorum is present. Mundy Call to order the December 7th meeting of the – what was that? We’ve got some upstairs feed. Any of you who are here for that meeting it’s upstairs. Are we clear now from an IT standpoint? IT ____ 7:36 inaudible off microphone. Mundy Okay. IT ____ 7:39 inaudible off microphone. Mundy All right. We’ll call to order the December 7th meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals. The first item on this agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance and we’ll ask the audience to join us. All Pledge of Allegiance. Mundy The next item is attendance. Suzanne, Janice, which – oh, I’m sorry. Mr. Day. Dale Ms. Postlethwait? Postlethwait Present. Dale Mr. Pickell? Pickell Present. Dale Mr. Mundy? Mundy Present. And we have two members absent so this evening will require that any item must have a unanimous vote by the three members or it will be automatically continued to next month. The next item is the Approval of the November 2, 2022 Minutes of the meeting. Any questions or comments on those? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve? Postlethwait So moved. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. Is there a second? Pickell Second. Page 1 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. All in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] They are approved. The two of you may get tired of motion and second but that’s what we do when we only have three here. We also, some of the notice has been done by use of regis—by use of First Class Mail. Our Rules of Procedure require that they be done by registered mail yet we’ve made, waived that rule now throughout the pandemic because of the difficulty of people signing the registered letters so if I could have a motion which would allow us to waive the rules and use First Class Mail for notice I would appreciate it. Pickell I make a motion to accept – Mundy First Class Mail? Pickell First Class Mail. Thanks. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. Is there a second? Postlethwait Second. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. Those in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] That motion carries. The first item on the agenda this evening is a continuance item. It is Docket Number 2022-57-DSV, M. Godbout at 10703 Barrington Way, Zionsville, Indiana. This was continued from the last meeting and the continuance was given an indefinite continuance. It was not scheduled for this month. It was not a one- month continuance and we have not heard from the, the petitioner. I take it that there’s no one here this evening representing that or wish to speak to it? And so I would ask that we continue this again until they are ready to come back to present. So is there a motion to continue Docket Number 2022-57-DSV? Postlethwait So moved. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. Is there a second? Pickell Second. Page 2 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. All in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] That motion carries. On to New Business. The first item there is Docket Number 2022-60-DSV, M. Deloso at 40 South Second Street, Zionsville, Indiana. This is a Petition for a Development Standard Variance to provide for pervious patios which: 1) Deviate from the front yard setback; 2) Exceeds the allowable lot coverage; and 3) Deviates from the aggregate side yard setback in the Urban Village Residential Zoning District (R-V). I’ll also, before we proceed, do we have anyone online, virtual? IT Yes. Mundy We do? All right. Should any of those – can you tell me who is online? IT _________ 12:26. Inaudible off microphone Mundy Okay. IT And ________ 12:34. Inaudible off microphone Mundy What was the last one? IT ___________. 12:41 Mundy Okay. If any of those wish to speak, I’ll ask you to stand up, wave frantically and let me know. Thank you. All right. Are the representatives for the Delosos here? Would you come to the podium please and give us your name and address. Deloso My name is Mike Deloso. We are talking about a property at 40 South Second Street in Zionsville Village. We currently live in a rental property 66 Palomino Court. Mundy Thank you. Before you start on that – I would like to ask for clarity here. I know that there was a problem with notice – one of the adjoiners was not on your initial list – Deloso Correct. Mundy And was noticed late. I’d like to make certain that that adjoiner was noticed, did get the notice and either here to speak tonight or in some fashion has, we feel certain that, that person has been noticed, properly noticed. Deloso So I, when we finally got the Boone County Auditors to send us the list, we, the only one that was different was one couple that had moved into a new home, Page 3 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 renovated home on 3rd Street and Oak. We mailed that envelope out immediately and then I delivered the, the packet to the house as well the very same day and then yesterday I went around to all the neighbors and talked to them and made sure that they got the notice, understood what we are asking and everybody that I got in touch with was fine with what we are doing. Mundy And that included the – Deloso Yes. Mundy One who received the packet late? Deloso Yeah, yes, yeah. Will and Sarah Riggio was their name and I – Mundy All right. Deloso We met them earlier, told them this was coming and then when we got back from vacation, Thanksgiving in New York, we stopped in, saw them, went through the packet with them and then I saw him yesterday and went through and made sure that he had, he understood what we were doing and was fine with it. Mundy Okay. I’ll turn to our attorney here and make sure that we are comfortable that all those who should receive notice have done so and we have enough evidence to that effect. Taylor Yes he had representation of that actual notice which is better even than mail has been made. If the party in question wants to raise a notice issue, they may but I think you’ve got a foundation that you can move forward on. Mundy Okay. Thank you. All right, Mr. Deloso, if you would go ahead and – Deloso Sure. Mundy Tells us about your project and the, the variances that you are requesting. Deloso Sure, absolutely. And I have with me Dan Reynolds who is with Outdoor Specialists who is the landscaper involved with the project so if you have any detail questions, he can answer them for you. I’m representing myself and my wife, Linda. Linda is originally from Zionsville and grew up here, went to school here and after we both graduated, we actually lived away from Indiana for the last 40 years, chose to retire back in Zionsville and found this property, 40 South Second Street, back in June of 2020. Primarily because of the location, if you know where this is, this is right across the street from Lincoln Park. It’s got great access to the Village and the community is just awesome. People are always out talking to each other, engaging so it was where we decided that we wanted to have a retirement home and we started the process back in June 2020 working with, with Todd Rottmann. In fact, you all are probably familiar with this site because Todd’s represented us a couple of times before as we were looking to maintain some of the structure of the old house, especially the Zionsville block that’s part of the construction. So we worked for about a year and a half in trying to save the exterior structure and build the house that we wanted. Unfortunately, Page 4 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 when we, even though we graciously were given the variances even though all that happened, when the builder got into looking at the core of the house, there were a lot of major issues. There was asbestos, there was mold. There was a problem with the sheeting with the Zionsville block that we were trying to maintain with air quality and there was a lot of concern about the foundation strength and water leakage within the foundation so, Todd Rottmann, the builders and, and Linda and I held hands and collectively decided probably the best thing to do was to start over and build a house that we would be happy with and would actually stand the test of time. With all the work that had been done, we decided that we wanted to leverage that work so we looked at taking the nod from the old house and all the designs that the Board had seen and the Architectural Committee had seen and kind of really use that but we also wanted to have a couple more drivers: One, we wanted it to meet all of the variances within Zionsville so that meant shrinking the footprint, pushing the house back so that we could meet the front yard setback, the aggregate side yard setbacks and then took the coverage down to where we wouldn’t have to come back to the Board for another time to ask for a variance. That house is currently being built. I actually have movers there today moving stuff in but in thinking about how we want to live in Zionsville, we really wanted to kind of enjoy that outdoor living, didn’t really understand that the permeable pavers was something that we had to get a variance for. Suzanne kind of helped us with that to understand what we needed and so that’s why we’re coming in front of the Board to talk about variances for the front patio that we want to put in place. Also discovered that if we had a grill pad underneath the grills at the side yard we'd also have to ask for a variance for that. So those are the variances that we’re asking for. That’s a front yard setback and then an aggregate side yard setback and additionally, because this is additional permeable coverage, we needed to ask for a coverage variance as well. I can go into the details. I can explain each of the sections or answer any questions or just jump ahead to the totals. Whatever makes sense for you all. Mundy Okay, yeah. That, that’s fine I guess in terms of where you are right now and I’ll, I’ll ask if there are any questions or the petitioner from other Board members? Hearing none, is there anyone here to remonstrate for or against this petition? Any online? No? Okay, all right. I’m going to ask for the staff report. I do have, we did receive a letter which is both complimentary but also had some questions which I think deserve to be addressed. Deloso Yeah, I talked to Mr. Stacy as well about them. Mundy Okay, all right. I will ask you for your response to those – Deloso Sure. Mundy But let’s just first have the staff report then. Baker Yes, thank you. As the petitioner stated, this is the third time coming to you all. The previous two petitions, there was one in 2020. They did some revisions, I think, to detach to an attached garage which made them come back in 2021 for a revised site plan essentially to get approved. The lot, I’ll say the lot coverage at Page 5 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 that time was 42.8 is what was approved. Since that time, they’ve slightly made the residence a bit smaller so the actual lot coverage with the new construction is 35.6% currently. So as today’s request, they are requesting to do two pervious pavers in the front yard and the side yard that would increase the lot coverage to 39.9%, the front yard setback would be 5-feet from the property line and then the aggregate would be 11 feet, which is 6 feet from the north property line. Based on the lot coverage being less than the previous variance approval and that these are pervious materials and uncovered, also in the immediate area this is a common amenity, an outdoor patio, and a few other lots in the immediate area also deviate from, from these variance requests. With that said, staff is in favor of, of all three requests and I’m happy to answer any questions. Mundy Thank you. Any questions for staff? Seeing none, let me go back to you then and I’ll ask for you to address the, the members of the Board have also seen this letter. There, there’s always a, a concern about drainage and, in the Village and certain locations are worse than others but these are, I think, relevant because they, the prevalence of that is well known. The first question was about ground, the ground saturation test and have they been done and what was the outcome of that. Deloso So we’ve had three different landscapers look at the grounds. In fact, what we’ve done is probably more than they would even recommend. The sand, the soil is very sandy and he can – Reynolds It’s sandy loam and the water drains really very rapidly but they put a flow well in and ran two or three of the downspout tiles. Mundy Make, make sure you’re close enough to the – so we can pick up – Reynolds Sorry. Mundy For the minutes. Reynolds We added a flow well also and ran several of the downspout tiles into that to help so that there is no erosion or, or runoff from that and with the permeable pavers water as it sits will permeate straight down through it so it won’t cause a watershed issue for it to run off in any direction. It won’t hurt it at all that way whether it was just soil going through. The #8 stone which is also permeable so it will all just, the water will just filter through. Deloso The, the other thing that we’ve done is we made the decision and it’s actually a little more expensive, but we, we decided to replace the potential con – the con – we could’ve done the driveways in concrete and the front walkway. Instead, we dug down, added #8 and #2 gravel and created a gravel driveway all contained within stone edging and then in the front instead of doing a front walkway in concrete, we also did permeable pavers. Again, to understand the last thing we wanted was water. I mean that, that was the big issue. That’s one of the reasons why we had to tear down the original structure was the worry about water so we’ve done a lot to make sure that, that is not going to be an issue. I, I talked to Ralph yesterday and his concern is primarily about where the water is flowing Page 6 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 from one area to the storm drain. I think what we’ve done has been probably more than what could be done right now other than doing something on the street to reroute the flow. Reynolds They, they added an edger along the alleyway also which any watershed coming that way it actually makes it run to the street drain that way so it won’t run onto either property that way. Mundy Does, I think, that addresses then one of his points here about – it suggested a small asphalt curb placed across the alley entry between Lots 40 and 50 South Second Street to redirect the – Deloso We did a whole line of stone edging all the way down the alley to make sure that that’s not an issue. Yeah. Mundy I think those are the only points that, relative to water. Deloso Uh huh. Mundy His other points were quite complimentary. He’s looking forward to enjoying a, a nice house next door and, and new neighbors as well. Any other questions for the petitioner? Postlethwait I do have a question. Deloso Sure. Postlethwait Regarding the patio that you’re going to put in front of the house, will there be landscaping, visual block for that patio? What, what are you anticipating? Deloso Yeah, so there, there’s an awful lot of landscaping. He can talk specifically about it. We do have an aluminum fence around the front, kind of the normal simple ones that you see around most of the, a lot of the homes around here. We will also landscape kind of creating hedges of both boxwood, hydrangeas and – Reynolds _________ 24:57 the street there which will, it’ll be a screen where they’ll as it gets up, they’ll be able to look out and see over it but it will screen where you’re not going to really see the patio and then on the alley side there’s boxwoods as a hedge along there then a few small ornamental trees as well. Deloso And then we did the same thing between ourselves and, and the Victorian house, the white Victorian house. We’ve talked to them about the, the hedging so we’re going to make sure that we stay consistent with what they’re looking for. We, we replaced the fencing that was there. It was kind of falling apart. A strong wind would take it down and we replaced that as well just to make sure that from the street everything looks good. I, I think the biggest compliments that we’ve had so far is the fact that people walk by and ask us, as us if it’s a renovation. They don’t realize that’s a brand new house. Page 7 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Postlethwait So if, if I understand this properly, what you’re talking about is the landscaping would be 4 feet and, and less around this patio with the exception of a few trees that you mentioned along the alley side. Is that right? Deloso Just around the patio. Postlethwait Yes. Deloso Then on the one side to the south where the alley is, there’s full landscaping and then on the third north part of the lot will be full landscaping as well. Postlethwait Okay. Mundy Any other questions? The northeast corner is that, do you have a well there or a dry well? Deloso Full well. Mundy That will hold water when – is that the black circle that is about – Deloso Yes. Mundy Okay. Deloso Yeah and eventually when we, we held off on any of the plantings based on waiting for the decision of this group and then once the decision is in place we’ll continue planting. We’ll do primarily the shrubs and trees before the hard winter and then next spring we’ll add in the perennials. Mundy Okay. Thank you. If there are no other questions, I would entertain a motion. Pickell I move that Docket 20, 2022-60-DSV, a Development Standard Variance to provide for a deviation of the front yard setback to 5 feet for the construction of a pervious patio for the property located at 40 South Second Street in the Urban Residential Village Zoning District (R-V) be approved as presented and described based on the findings of the staff report and staff recommendations, submitting Finding of Fact and substantial compliance with the submitted site plans. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. Is there a second? Postlethwait Second. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. All those in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] Motion carries. Page 8 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Pickell I move that Docket 2022-60-DSV, Development Standard Variance to provide for an increase in lot coverage to 39.9% of the construction of pervious, for the construction of pervious patios for the property located at 40 South Second Street in the Urban Residential Village Dist, Village Zionsville District (R-V) be approved as presented and described based on the findings in the staff report and staff recommendations, submitted Findings of Fact, substantial compliance with the submitted site plans. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. Is there a second? Postlethwait Second. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. All in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] That motion carries. Pickell I move that Docket 2022-60-DSV, Development Standard Variance to provide for a deviation of the aggregate side yard setback to 11 feet for the construction of a side yard pervious patio for the property located at 40 South Second Street in the Urban Residential Village Zoning District (R-V) be approved as presented and described based on the findings of the staff report, staff recommendations, submitted Findings of Fact, substantial compliance with the submitted site plans. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. Is there a second? Postlethwait Second. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. All those in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] That motion passes. Best of luck in concluding – Deloso Thank you. Mundy Your project. Pickell Welcome back. Deloso Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Page 9 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Mundy Next item on the agenda is Petition Number 2022-61-DSV, G. Mann at 43 Balmoral Court, Zionsville. Petition for a Development Standard Variance to provide for a deck which: 1) Exceeds the allowable lot coverage and 2) Deviates from the rear yard setback in the Urban Village Residential Zoning District (R- V). Mr. Burrus, are you representing the Manns? Burrus I am. Mundy All right, will you please describe the project that they wish to embark on? Burrus Well, thank you. My name is Roger Burrus, attorney with offices at 410 West Oak Street in Zionsville. I’m here representing Gary and Linda Mann who are not new residents to Zionsville. They used to live in Cobblestone Lakes. They decided to downsize and they bought a house in Hunt Club Village at 43 Balmoral Court. When they purchased the house they knew they were going to have to make substantial repairs and, and improvements to the house because an elderly person had lived there and the, the house had not been maintained very well. There was a, there was a 288-square foot deck on the back of the house that they knew they had to replace because it was not safe. The deck is, is necessary because the lot slopes pretty significantly in the back. You can’t really use the backyard without a deck and they’re proposing to replace that deck with one of 260-square feet, so slightly smaller than the one that was there but what they didn’t realize was, was the adventure that they were going to get into as far as permitting because Hunt Club Village was platted in 1988 as a, I think, a cluster subdivision. I’m not sure why it was zoned R-V but, anyway, it was. Most of the lots in there are 5,500 square feet. I mean, that’s like the predominant lot size but they preserved the common areas together in order to have greater common areas and smaller lot sizes. You know, remembering when cluster was a term used for subdivisions not for other things. So, they asked me to take a look at this and they also needed approval of their Homeowners’ Association, Architectural Review Board, they got that. Two of their neighbors have already submitted letters of support because they really like what the Manns have already done on the house so it, as you can imagine, with, with the house that’s already close to 35 square feet, 35% lot coverage and now this deck would put them at 38.14 so even though I tried to convince your staff that they shouldn’t have to get a variance, this is not something they created. They didn’t buy this house wanting to make the house bigger. They bought this house just wanting to replace the deck. So, we also had to get the town’s consent to encroach into a drain, into a drainage easement, the town has approved that. That’s been recorded already. We found a similar situation in, 8 years ago that the town supported so we do need two variances: The, the 35% lot coverage and also a reduced rear yard. The hardship is that, that my clients can't get out two doors on the back of their house without having a deck to get out upon. You know, those doors are higher than 30 inches. And, and also I wanted to comment that, well, the other thing is, some of you know, some may not know that the R-V used to be a 6,000 square foot minimum under the 2010 Zionsville Ordinance and it was still 35% lot coverage so when, when the, the town increased the minimum size for R-V to 8,000 square feet, they didn’t increase the 35%. That’s just an interesting historical fact. If you want Page 10 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 something even more interesting, in 1975 ordinance the minimum lot size was 4,000 square feet and it was still a 35% minimum lot coverage so. You can see there how, how times have changed. But it, my last comment will be that this is not a situation like I had with my last client where somebody came to Zionsville to, to buy a property and try to get approval for a bigger house. I mean I, I still think that case was justified and it was approved but these, my clients in this case just wanted to replace their deck so it’s really quite simple and we hope that you will agree with that. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Mundy Thank you Mr. Burrus. Any questions for the petitioner’s representative? Postlethwait Am I to assume that the existing deck has been demolished? Burrus Yes. They knew they were going to have to do some landscaping and I’m glad you asked that because I forgot to talk about drainage. So – Postlethwait You were supposed to talk about drainage? Burrus Yeah. They, they had the landscapers coming out to, to work on the yard, take out some old stuff, an old fence. They, those are some of the things that have made their neighbors very happy I understand but, but they also put in – there’s, there’s already a, a drainage inlet for the storm drainage and so they, they put a trench along the, the property line so that they’d be sure that the drainage from their lot would not go on their neighbor so that’s how they, they have already taken care of providing for the drainage. So since they had the landscaping crew already out there, they asked them if they could go ahead and remove the crummy deck. I’ve got pictures of it if anybody would like to see how crummy it was and also I’ve got pictures and I included pictures in the petition, of that drainage trench before and after and they sodded everything. It looks great. Mundy Any other questions for petitioner’s representative? Any remonstrators here or online which wish to speak for or against this project? Seeing none, could we have the staff report, please? Baker Yes. I think Mr. Burrus did a good job summarizing the historical information on this subdivision and zoning as it is today. As he stated, there was previously a deck on this property and it was removed due to disrepair. We didn’t have any permits on file for this deck nor, and also if it was legal nonconforming it, it lost its legal nonconformity when the deck was removed. So, that’s kind of why it’s before you today. Like Mr. Burrus said, it’s essentially the same footprint. They’re requesting a lot coverage variance and a rear setback variance. There is also an easement, a drainage easement in the rear yard which they did receive an encroachment agreement approval. The deck is a common amenity in the area. Other parcels also deviate from this request in the subdivision and have also had variance requests in the subdivision. The lot is not very deep so with all that said, staff is in favor of this, of these requests and I’m happy to answer any questions. Mundy Thank you. Any questions for staff? Seeing none, I will say that we do have letters from neighbors who are supportive of the project and it appears that Page 11 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 they’re quite happy with the changes that have been made so with no other comments is there a motion on this petition? Postlethwait I move that Docket Number 2022-61-DSV, Development Standards Variance to provide for an increase of lot coverage up to 38.14% for the construction of a deck for the property located at 43 Balmoral Court in the Urban Residential Village Zoning District (R-V) be approved as presented and described based on the findings in the staff report and staff recommendations, submitted Finding of Fact and substantial compliance with the submitted site plan. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. Is there a second? Pickell Second. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. All in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] That motion passes. Postlethwait I move that Docket Number 2022-61-DSV, Development Standards Variance to provide for a rear setback of 9 feet 6 inches for the construction of a deck for the property located at 43 Balmoral, Balmoral Court in the Urban Residential Village Zoning District (R-V) be approved as presented and described based on the findings in the staff report and staff recommendations, submitted Finding of Fact, substantial compliance with the submitted site plan. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. Is there a second? Pickell Second. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. All in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes. Good luck with their project. Burrus Thank you. Mundy Next item on the agenda is Docket Number 2022-62-SE. This is a Petition for a Special Exception to provide for a new single-family dwelling and related accessories on a parcel in the Rural General Agricultural Zoning District (AG). Mr. Price, you’re the representative here? There are two different docket items. I assume you’ll talk about both of these at the same time? Page 12 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Price Yes, Mr. Chairman, that’s my plan. Mundy I, I will go ahead and enter that one as well verbally. So that second Docket Number is 2022-63-DSV, Petition for a Development Standard Variance to permit a lot exceeding the maximum lot width to depth ratio of 3:1 in the Rural Agricultural Zoning District (AG). We’ll vote on them separately but if you – feel free to go ahead and cover both of these and if I can start first of all by saying their, the address must be not yet established. Is that correct? Price That’s correct. We – Dale Could he speak his name for the record? Mundy Oh, I’m sorry, yes. If you would state your name – Price Sure. Mundy And address for the record. Price We kinda, we kinda launched right into it. Mundy Thank you Mr. Day. Price My name is Matt Price and I’m here tonight on behalf of the petitioner with the Dentons Law Firm at 10 West Market Street, Indianapolis, Indiana. Yes, the, the property in question is a 5-acre parcel just east of the intersection of County Road 200 and U.S. 421 and I believe what we’ve done consistent with our past practice is to use the address based off the property tax record card which is a, an, an address that’s an approximate address until one’s legally established for this individual lot. Mundy Thank you. Price Yep. So, I appreciate very much the opportunity to address both petitions at the same time. They’re kind of intertwined with one another. The first petition is to permit the construction of a single dwelling on a 5-acre parcel, preexisting parcel that is located just east of the intersection, as I mentioned, of County Road 200 and U.S. 421 so it is between my client’s home, Pete Mattingly, who’s here tonight immediately to the east of this parcel and then to the west you’re all familiar with Mr. Hop, Hopwood’s property and his vineyard is an abutting use to the west. Zionsville requires that for any dwelling to be built in an Agricultural District you must seek a, a special exception. That’s the nature of our first petition request. Our second petition is a somewhat technical variance that arises from the fact that the lot depth exceeds lot width by more than the 3:1 ratio. We’re just slightly off. Our, our lot width is approximately 264 feet where our lot depth is 825 feet so we’re about 11 feet short. As the staff report mentions though, the total acreage involved is over 2 acres or excuse me – over twice the size of the minimum lot size for an agricultural residential lot and so it’s a minor departure from the ordinance to permit, especially for an existing parcel, to permit the Page 13 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 construction of a home at this location. One other thing I’ll, I’ll mention is is that the property is in the Tier 3 Zone as delineated under the Comprehensive Plan that was recently adopted relative to the airport and that contemplates two types of residential uses which is a campus-style multi-family which is really not applicable to this parcel but it also contemplates minor subdivisions for single- family residential which is akin to what we’re doing here in that we’d have one home on one 5-acre lot kind of juxtaposed between one existing single-family house to the east and Mr. Hopwood’s property to the west so it fits in with that identified potential land use pattern, is well out of the way of any runway protection zones and quite, quite a bit removed from the airport and its, its future use including its future expansion plans as, as was addressed in the staff report. Pete and I would be available to answer any questions that you have and appreciate your favorable consideration of both requests. Thank you. Mundy Thank you. Questions for the petitioner’s representative? Postlethwait I do have a question – single-family dwelling and related accessories. What accessories are contemplated? Price We’re anticipating a small barn – 1,000-foot, excuse me, 1,000 square foot barn. Postlethwait For the purpose of livestock or for the purpose of storage of farm equipment or? Price For, for the storage of items related to the single-family dwelling. It’s, this, this certainly could permit agricultural uses to continue on the property but the intention, I think, is given the size of the parcel it’s not for livestock, it’s just for vehicles and things of that nature. Mundy Any other questions? I have a couple. The, the property owner or, the person who is intending to build a house there they are aware that it is, this is an agriculture area and they have recognized and willing that they will sign a Right to Farm Act statement? Price Yes. We would, we’d certainly agree to that commitment. The Mattingly family actually, Pete Mattingly and his brother, Todd, own the LLC together. They have a long history with this property including Mr. Hopwood’s property and so their intention is to make a future home builder and owner aware of the surrounding agricultural uses and make the required commitment relative to the Right to Farm. That’s part of our request. Mundy And along with that awareness, I guess, the proximity to the airport as well while that doesn’t require a statement, airports can be a little noisy and so that, that the future owner would know that there is an airport nearby. Kinda hard to miss but we usually make that statement anyhow just to assure – Price Yeah. Mundy That, that it’s known that the airport is nearby. Page 14 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Price We, we have done that historically as folks have expressed an interest in the property and would commit that we can make, providing the, the map that shows the Tier 3 identification available to future prospective homebuyers. Mundy Thank you Mr. Price. Price Thank you. Pickell Matt, Mr. Price – that, that Tier 3 carries through even with development of this property as, as a home. Potentially somebody could come in and say we want to put a campus on this property. Am I right? Price Yeah, you’re right. The, the Comprehensive Plan continues to exist going forward. Most of that Tier 3 Zone is actually north and west of us. We’re kind of in a little pocket south of, of the, the county road – Pickell Uh huh – Price But, yeah, it would still – if somebody in the future wanted to develop that property for some other use, now they’d have to come forward to the town with a specific proposal and get the necessary zoning for that – Pickell Uh huh – Price But the Comprehensive Plan certainly goes on into the future to help guide future, future decisionmakers. Pickell Very good. Thank you. Postlethwait So am I right in, in understanding that this is a spec home? Is that right? Price No. What, what we’re doing – Postlethwait You’re not building for a specific individual, you’re building in the hopes of finishing it and then selling it to prospective buyers? Price It, it is a, it is a, this is the way I would say it – it is a prospective approval so that a future home builder can come in and have the requisite approval to construct a new home. One, one of the difficulties we’re, we’re experiencing with this particular parcel is, is it is kind of an orphan parcel. You’ve got this preexisting 5-acre parcel that requires a special exception before you can build and so what we’re finding is, is that has a, kind of a chilling effect on folks’ interest in the land because it’s this kind of perceived impediment to building something and so we’re just coming in proactively to get that approval in place realizing it would still have to be permitted and go through the, the normal permitting process with the town. Postlethwait How is that done? I’m just curious because if the, given the Right to Farm restriction and so on. How is that done? It’s attached to the property and whoever ends up buying the property then must follow through on, on signing off on that or how does that work exactly? Page 15 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Dale Is there, is there a notation on, on the permit? How do they, how does that Right to Farm restriction carry on, carry through? Stevanovic My understanding is that that approval by the Board will stay with the land. Dale Okay. Stevanovic And so as that ownership turns over that approval stays approved with the land. Dale It’s – Stevanovic When that would transfer over that time-binding commitment would transfer over to the new owner. Postlethwait Okay, the, the commitment to the Right to Farm on surrounding properties would be attached to that property no matter who owns it and they would have to follow that? Stevanovic Yes. Pickell It’s like an easement. Taylor Yeah, well and it might be – it’s not really a commitment because the Right to Farm Act is already the law so it applies to everyone. The, the notice you provide is merely really a courtesy to say we’d like people to be aware as much as possible but the Right to Farm Act already applies here as long as there is farming being conducted adjacent and that Act simply says that, that, that a farmer cannot be subject to public nuisance actions. That’s what – that’s really what it says and it, and so – but your, your provision simply is designed to give the farmer further protection by putting it, putting a notice into your process. Postlethwait Okay. Taylor So it’s really not something we’re asking someone to do to comply with the law, we’re just saying you, you know, you should be aware. Postlethwait They have to acknowledge – Taylor Acknowledge they’ve been told. Postlethwait Acknowledgement. Taylor Yeah. Postlethwait Okay. Thank you. Mundy I think that that acknowledgement is required by ordinance so that a future buyer wishing to build there must be informed of that and it is required that they accept the Right to Farm. Page 16 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Postlethwait Thank you. Mundy Any other questions? Are there any remonstrators here to support or remonstrate against this project? If you would state your name and address please. Hopwood Hello, good evening. Ron Hopwood. I’m here with my part of my family here. We live at 2055 South U.S. 421 and 2201 South U.S. 421 here in Zionsville. Real quick – I, I believe to answer your question, what I was under the impression what, related accessories – you mentioned about the other accessories on the property. I was under the impression that the possible new owner is going to put a tennis court and a pickleball court on it there, so. But that has nothing to do with my presentation here. No, yeah, 2201 South U.S. 421 is the address for our 13-1/2 acres and, of course, these 5 acres would get a new address. We are here to neither support or not support a single-family dwelling on the property on the east side of us, although we do believe a single-family dwelling might be the highest and best use for this property. We are here to have some items on public record so that everyone is aware of them. And I think we kind of mentioned a little bit about the Right to Farm Act form to have signed. I think that would go along with some things that I have to say here. I’m here to talk about the high maintenance schedule. That is the point of my presentation is to make everyone aware of the necessary work that goes on behind the scenes in a vineyard. As you’re all aware, we have a 16-acre corner property that is being approved for Hopwood Cellars Winery, Distillery, Vineyard and Event Center. To live next to a vineyard that’d be nice and a beautiful scenery too. Why do you not see many houses next to a vineyard? Well, because a vineyard is one of the most, if not the most, highest maintenance crop in the world. What I mean by this, as you visit a winery, it is very relaxing. However, you do not see the high maintenance schedule the vineyard had prior to that day. Everything from man, deer, rabbits, birds, rodents, raccoons, skunks, squirrels. We also have funguses such as black rot, downy mildew, powdery mildew, gray mold, crown gal. Let’s say there are over 38 fungal diseases that affect grapes and the vines in this area that we know of today. There are also over 23 insects that we know of and can identify such as butterflies, cicadas, scale insects, amphids, thrips, beetles, mites and the most recently discovered last year spotted lanternfly and many more. In order to combat all these devastating species from killing the entire vineyard in one season, we must spray every 10-12 days using a loud air blast sprayer. I am fully suited when I spray Makaze, Roundup, Captan, Reliant, Pristine, Rally, Elite and the list goes on. We also will use bird cannon scare devices to scare the birds, wind machines for frost, etc. I am a licensed and certified private pesticide applicator that is bound by rules and regulations. The chemicals we spray are within code and are used in accordance with the labels on the containers. It sounds easy until you take into account with this heavy of a high maintenance schedule, we watch for rain, wind, etc. Our maintenance window is very small. When everything is lined up it is time to react. Although the wind does blow 60% of the time heading east toward this property so does the sound of an air blast sprayer, bird cannons, wind tunnel fans and other devices. Page 17 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 I spoke with a state chemist and our region investigator about our vineyard the possibility of ag going to residential. In 2019 when we bought the property, we worked with the USDA and, and FSA and have spent nearly $40,000 for the windbreak by planting 35 Norway spruces, 50 green giant arborvitaes and 20 river birches on this, on the back of the property. Although it will take some time for these to grow, we did pay a premium and started with 6-foot trees. They suggested start with seedlings. We jumped ahead and paid for the 6-foot trees. We would ask any new owner to also plant a wind/sound break on their property. A high maintenance vineyard runs tractors, loud sprayers, pruning machines, harvesters and other farm equipment that is used regularly and often. We are not saying this property is deemed to be condemned, we only want everyone to see the maintenance side of a vineyard, not just the pretty side. It is a working farm. If we miss one spray schedule or one maintenance schedule, the vines will suffer greatly and possibly die. If we miss several schedules, the vines will die as they are a very sensitive crop. We will also be performing weddings and music events at this location as is known by the entire community. Another winey that I’m close with had an issue arise on this topic with a few neighbors that moved in after the winery. The winery and the town spent a lot of time and money with litigations, complaints from a few and legal fees in trying to please everyone but the winery closed. It has since reopened after the community pushed for it to reopen. In conclusion, we are here to notify everyone to be aware of our frequent and high maintenance vineyard schedules, events, music and entertainment. This project of the winery, distillery, vineyard and event center is very expensive to us. We need healthy vines to make wine and the events and entertainment to, to continually pay for this. Without the vines there is no winery, vineyard or a relaxing atmosphere to hear music and a pleasant place to view the beautiful scenery. Thank you and I’m happy to answer any questions. Mundy Thank you Mr. Hopwood. Any questions for Mr. Hopwood? Postlethwait When I go home and have a glass of wine I’m going to have a new appreciation for all the work that went into it I can tell you. Thank you. Hopwood Thank you very much. That’s what I wanted, just to explain our side there. Thank you. Mundy And I guess Mr. Hopwood you’re – all of the things you described are a part of farming for the, the line of farming that you are in so, again, I, I guess I would see that as being covered by the umbrella of that Right to Farm. Those are necessary steps that you have to take in bringing your crop to production so. Hopwood Agreed. Postlethwait The question would be about the event, the hosting of events on that property because that may be – is that permitted in that, obviously, it’s permitted because you’re doing it but is that something that somebody might buy that property neighboring and not realize that there’s going to be that kind of activity going on there so – Page 18 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Mundy Good point. Yeah it is a permitted, it was viewed by this Board – Postlethwait Uh huh – Mundy Maybe two years ago or so and permitted so that on occurrence, at least I’m sure you can hear, maybe even see cars, people, etc. participating in that event so it’s all a part of what a, a new owner would need to know. Hopwood Agreed, yes because we did have that approved a couple years ago there and but, yes, just awareness, I think. Again, I think this is the highest and best use for that property back there. We have no, nothing against that. We just wanted everyone to be aware of the events and the maintenance schedule aspect. Mundy Thank you. Anyone online which, who would, would like to speak to this petition? No? Thank you. Could we have the staff report? Baker Yes. I think Mr. Price did a nice job summarizing the two requests here. I’ll start with the special exception which is pretty typical. You see the special exception requests in the Ag District. This one’s a little, a little unique as it’s in the Tier 3 of the airport compatibility map which limits residential to multi-family and minor subdivisions. Staff feels that it, it kind of directly fits, indirectly and directly fits into that category to being a permitted use even though it’s in Tier 3. About the Right, they are required to do the Right to Farm as it’s stated in the staff report and there is also an advisory note kind of at the end notifying of the uses that Hopwood has on the property such as the event center, distillery and the other approved uses. With all that said, staff is in favor of the special exception and then going on to the 3:1 width to depth ratio, the parcel was created in 1994 so it’s kind of an existing standalone lot and based on the size of the lot, it’s less dense than what’s permitted in the area. There’s also other lots that don’t meet the 3:1 ratio. With that said, staff is in favor of that request also and happy to answer any other questions. Mundy Any questions for staff? Okay. Mr. Price, will you, did you approach the podium to respond to any of the comments from Mr. Hopwood? Price I, I just felt it appropriate to acknowledge Mr. Hopwood’s comments and to say on the record that our full intention and if we need to record a commitment to this effect so that it’s, it goes with the land we can certainly commit that we’ll disclose the permitted uses on Mr. Hopwood’s property together with our, our previous Right, Right to Farm Act because I think to Mrs. Postlethwait’s point, the permitted uses on Mr. Hopwood’s property go beyond just farming. They have that, they have that event center component too and while my client lives just 264 feet away from this property today and hasn’t had a problem, he’s been aware of that and, in fact, sold some of the land to Mr. Hopwood to, to help facilitate his business so, we want anyone coming to this property to do so with their eyes wide open and have no problem with making a commitment to that effect. Mundy Thank you Mr. Price. Any further discussion among the Board? If not, I would entertain a motion on each of these two, one at a time please. Page 19 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Pickell 62 first? I move that Docket 2022-62-SE, a Special Exception Petition for the property located at 2201 South U.S. Highway 421 (estimated), Zionsville in the Rural Zion, Rural Agricultural Zionsville sorry – in the Rural Agricultural Zoning District (AG) be approved as presented and described based on the findings of the staff report and staff recommendation, submitted Findings of Fact, substantial compliance with the submitted site plans, it shall be required that the petitioner execute the Right to Farm Acknowledgment document. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. Is there a second? Postlethwait Second. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. All those in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] That motion passes. Pickell I move that Docket 2022-63-DSV, a Development Standard Variance Petition to provide for a lot exceeding the maximum lot width to depth ratio of 3:1 for the property located at 2201 South U.S. Highway 421 (estimated), Zionsville in the Rural Agricultural Zionsville District (AG) be approved as presented and described based on the findings of the staff report and staff recommendations, submitted Findings of Fact, substantial compliance with the submitted site plans, it shall be required that the petitioner execute the Right to Farm Acknowledgement document. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. Is there a second? Postlethwait Second. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. All those in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] Motion passes and good luck to both of you with your project. That concludes all of the items, the docket, docketed items. We did have a couple of other things in the packets that each of you received. The first of that, the first of those was the BZA Rules of Procedure with 2021 approved amendments for re-adoption and for both of you, I guess, you weren’t here with that first set. You, you, now you’ve lived under the second set of rules. There is, you’ll see there an Exhibit A and then there’s a, an Exhibit A Amendment. The second part of that is adopting the, those Rules of Procedure with the Exhibit A Amendment which we’ll follow the rules that the both of you have been using ever since you joined Page 20 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 this group and so I’ll, I’m going to ask Janice if she will give an explanation as to why this makes sense and why we would wish to do it. Stevanovic Sure, let me give a brief summary. At its October 17th meeting, the Plan Commission provided a favorable recommendation to the Town Council to remove the Rules of Procedure revoke the BZA and Plan Commission from the Zoning Ordinance. The reason for this is because the body that has authority to manage the rules is this body and that action takes that responsibility and it places that responsibility here. At their November 21, 2022 Town Council meeting, the Town Council did approve that the rules be removed from the Ordinance. The BZA must now re-adopt their rules. The resolution that you have before you tonight is to provide that those rules be re-adopted. An explanation of what you are seeing is not just the resolution, it’s also the amendment as was seen by the Town Council, the format only. Verbiage is the same. The format only in that first Exhibit A is from American Legal. What Steve’s referring to is the original Rules of Procedure is actually presented to you as Exhibit A Amendment that’s, it’s, again, formatting only. You’ll see that it, it looks much different than the American Legal format. We’d like to ask that you adopt the amendment form and additionally, within that amendment form, you’ll see a couple of highlighted, red highlighted areas. We’re incorporating the amendments that you did approve last year and those are related to signed notice as well as electronic meetings. So those are already approved, we’re just incorporating those into the format and asking for adoption. Mundy Any questions of the expert? Hearing none, is there a motion to adopt the amended set of Rules of Procedure? Postlethwait So moved. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. Is there a second? Pickell Second. Mundy Thank you Mr. Pickell. All those in favor please say aye. All Aye. Mundy Opposed same sign. [No response] Do we have a clean copy of that signature page that needs to be signed? So those are adopted. Postlethwait Do you want me to fill this date in? Stevanovic You can or I will. Postlethwait Yeah? Stevanovic Either way. Page 21 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Mundy We’re all right there? Mr. Day, I don’t know if you want to say anything about the Form Based? Dale Sure – you all may know that staff has been working on a new Form Based Code in cooperation with McKenna Associates. McKenna has submitted a draft Form Based Code which would replace our current Zoning Ordinance and zoning maps. It was submitted about two months ago. Since then on about a weekly basis your staff has been reviewing that draft ordinance with McKenna & Associates and making revisions and edits in, in hopes of presenting to you and the Plan Commission a final version for a public hearing with the Plan Commission. Tentatively, we think that the new draft Form Based Code will be ready or completed around February, maybe March so that’s the approximate timeline for finishing up the document and having public hearings ultimately to be presented to the Town Council for adoption. You, you received a memo here. Steve mentioned that that link may not have worked. I don’t know if we tried it again or, or if there was a, somehow, some reason the link didn’t work. It’s, it’s worthwhile to check that link because you’ll find the Plan Commission presentation from McKenna on there which kind of gives you more background on how that new code will work. Mundy It was the You Tube link which I could not get it to work even when I changed what I thought was wrong it still didn’t work – Postlethwait Right. Mundy So if you want us, have you tried it? Postlethwait I had trouble, yeah. Mundy Yeah. Postlethwait I had trouble. Baker We can, we’ll, we’ll look it and resend you the link tomorrow. Mundy Okay. All right. Baker And get that corrected. Mundy Very good. Thank you, Mike. Dale You’re welcome. Thank you. Mundy All right. I think we have no other business so is there a motion to adjourn? Postlethwait So moved. Mundy Thank you Mrs. Postlethwait. Mr. Pickell would you like to – Pickell Second. Page 22 of 23 Zionsville Board of Zoning Appeals December 7, 2022 Mundy You would second that? Thank you. All in favor say aye. All Aye. Mundy And we are adjourned. Page 23 of 23