Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout20130115_PC_Minutes.pdf 1 PLANNING COMMISSION CITY MANAGER Demery Bishop Diane Schleicher Randi Bryan Rob Callahan PLANNING & ZONING MANAGER John Major, Vice Chair Dianne Otto, CFM Tyler Marion David McNaughton CITY ATTORNEY Monty Parks, Chair Edward M. Hughes MINUTES Planning Commission Meeting January 15, 2013 – 7:00 p.m. Chairman Monty Parks called the January 15, 2013, Tybee Island Planning Commission meeting to order. Commissioners present were David McNaughton, Rob Callahan, Tyler Marion, and Randi Bryan. Mr. Parks - The first order of business is the Minutes of the December 18, 2012, meeting. Do I have any discussion on the Minutes? [There was none.] Do I have a motion? Mr. Callahan made a motion to approve as written; Mr. Marion seconded. All those in favor please signify. [The vote was unanimous.] Are there any Disclosures or Recusals at this time? [There were none.] Mr. Parks – I would like to thank David McNaughton, Tyler Marion, and John Major for completing their terms as Planning Commissioners. It’s a wonderful thing you have done and it’s a great service to the community and is deeply appreciated. I would like to thank John Major, although he is not here tonight, for five years of service. David and Tyler re-filed and I want to congratulate them on being back on the Commission. We also welcome Marianne Bramble who was approved by Council last week. Variance – driveway width – 7 Eleventh St. Ms. Otto – This property was before you in May of 2012 also for a driveway variance. The owners would now like to propose installation of a 45-foot wide driveway at the property. The location on Eleventh Street is shown on the Sagis map on the screen. This is a survey which has been oriented so the street is at the bottom and you can see that the width of the property line is 65 feet. This drawing was submitted by the applicant showing the existing 30 feet of pavers and the request to add an additional fifteen feet. The driveway width would therefore be 45 feet which is as wide as the home without the stairs on the left side and the landscaping on the right side. This photo is from Chatham County property records in 2010, prior to the renovations that were recently completed, showing that the driveway at that time was a concrete driveway which was torn up. At that time, it extended from the left edge of the property over to the first of the two support posts that are on the right side. What is being requested is to extend it the length of the home over to the far right post. If you notice in the 2010 photo, the curbing on the street came almost to the point where the driveway width ended; you can see the extension of the curb here (referring to PowerPoint). The photographs today show the curb is over to the edge of the home now (referring to PowerPoint) and I don’t know what brought that change in curbing to occur. That is the request before you and it does require a variance; our standard is 25 feet for a driveway access. Once the driveway is on the property and off of the City’s right-of-way, it can be as wide as they would choose for it to be. What they are requesting is to have the portion here in the right-of-way as wide as the house. Mr. Parks – Questions for staff at this time? [There were none.] Do we have a representative here to speak for the property? Sandy Helmly introduced herself. We are the owners of the property. I do have some pictures of the property (she passed them to the commissioners). What we are requesting is a variance on the 15 x 9, which would allow us to 2 continue the brick pavers over in front of the garage door. It would help with the rocks washing into the road. When we’re trying to back the trailer up into the area, the rocks move because it is such a slope that it causes the tires to slip, just an uneven issue. That is our request to continue the brick pavers over into that 15 x 9 area. Mr. Parks – Any questions for the applicant at this time? Mr. Marion – Are you a full-time resident? Ms. Helmly – Yes, we just moved down four weeks ago. Mr. Marion – What do you envision, or see as utilization, of this 15 x 9 foot area. Is this something that will always be parked on, temporarily parked on, or on occasion when there is an extra guest? Ms. Helmly – When we’re backing a trailer into the garage or if our family is down. We have a daughter, a son, and a mother-in-law that comes down frequently which would be their vehicles parked there too. Mr. Marion – This is a supplemental space essentially. Ms. Helmly – Yes. Mr. Parks – When you were here before, at that time you were saying, where the third bay is, there is no room for parking except for bicycles. The area in front of that, where the retaining wall stops, will have rock and landscaping in that area. What happened? Ms. Helmly – There is a retaining wall and the landscaping isn’t in yet because my husband just finished the sprinkler system and somebody has already taken one of the bushes I set out there; they are in the garage ready to be planted. Mr. Parks – From the minutes, he [referring to Greg Helmly] says exactly where the third bay is, there will be no room for parking except for bicycles and the area in front of that bay, where the retaining wall stops, will have rock and landscaping. Ms. Helmly – That’s when we were going for the previous one; that was going to be rock. There is a wall and the landscaping is there (referring to PowerPoint). Mr. Parks – Using the pointer, show us where the pavers would stop. Ms. Helmly – The pavers will stop there (referring to PowerPoint). Mr. Parks – That is the area he [Greg Helmly] was saying was going to be landscaping and rock. Ms. Helmly – All I know is the retaining wall is there and the landscaping is there and that is the rock (referring to PowerPoint). Mr. Parks – I feel like you told us one thing and now you are coming back again. Ms. Helmly – We have always had those two areas of rock, one of them we got the variance for and all I know is we’re going for that one. Mr. Parks – I don’t mean to be difficult or anything, I just get a little cranky when people tell us one thing and then come back six months later and tell us something else. What is the hardship? Is it you can’t park there? 3 Ms. Helmly – The rocks wash into the road because it’s not level, it’s a good slope there. The concrete that holds those brick pavers in place, when you drive on them it cracks and breaks up and breaks loose the existing ones also. Mr. Parks – Any other questions for the applicant? [There were none.] Is there anybody else here from the public that would like to address this issue? [There were none.] At this time I would like to close the public hearing. Do I have a motion or discussion? Mr. McNaughton – I don’t see how this hardship fits our Land Development Code. I’m going to move that the application be denied. Ms. Bryan – Second. Mr. Parks – Those in favor of the motion of denial, please signify. [Vote was unanimous.] Ms. Otto – Council will consider this on February 14th. Variance – remove paving and extend private road – 2 Eighteenth Pl. Ms. Otto – The request is by property owner, Wistar Lewis. This site had previously been permitted for new single- family construction; that project was abandoned. He has since purchased the property and is resuming the project with some changes to the design of the house that is going to be built there. With his plans, he would propose to remove the concrete area that is shown on the screen so that pavers could be placed instead of this concrete. In the drawing you received, I highlighted in yellow, and a little in pink, the areas that are in the Tybee Island jurisdictional area. There are additional areas that are not highlighted that do not require a variance for him to remove. Because the yellow areas are in the jurisdiction of the Tybee Island ten foot setback from the toe of the landward-most dune, he does need a variance to remove the concrete in those areas. The area shown in pink is actually within property not owned by the applicant, but with the adjacent owner’s permission, he would like to remove that as well. Rather than requiring both owners to go through a variance process, that area is being requested along with Mr. Lewis with the understanding that no work will occur unless that owner agrees to have that area removed. Mr. Parks – Any questions for staff at this time? [There were none.] Ms. Otto – The survey that is in your packet has a blue area highlighted; it is on the lower left corner. What is proposed here is, again in Tybee’s jurisdictional area, to continue the drive strips that take you up Eighteenth Place. They would go into the area where the pavers would be, that would replace the concrete, to extend the driveway a little farther to allow better access onto the property. It is shown here in blue and it too is half on Mr. Lewis’s property and half on the adjacent property where there is also a new single-family being built. Because this is in Tybee’s jurisdictional area, it requires a variance. With your approval, staff would assure that the adjacent owner has agreed to this work on his property before it would be permitted. Mr. Callahan – Do you know how he got into this situation where construction was done within the 10 foot setback? Ms. Otto – The original concrete being placed there? There used to be a home there many years ago and I believe this is remnants of that. Mr. Callahan – It’s not part of what was under construction earlier. Ms. Otto – The piers were erected under the permit in 2009 but the concrete was from the home that existed prior to that work. Mr. Callahan – Was that home demolished for what was going to be the new home on the site? 4 Ms. Otto – It was demolished. I don’t know if it was due to wanting to replace it or if it just needed to be demolished; I’m not familiar with it. The concrete and the steps that go down to the beach pre-date the construction of the existing piers. Mr. Callahan – Do you have any idea whether the dunes are moving in that area? Ms. Otto – The retaining wall is going to stay so I don’t believe we’re going to have issue with further encroachment. There is a wall that is probably sufficient to hold back further encroachment. The entire perimeter wall is staying, it’s only the slab of concrete proposed for removal. Mr. Callahan – What they are requesting, within the 10-foot setback, is mostly demolition and replacement with more pervious materials? Ms. Otto – Demolition of the concrete, replacement with pavers. Mr. Parks – Other questions for staff at this time? [There were none.] Do we have anybody from the property who would like to represent this? Wistar Lewis introduced himself and his wife, Lynn. As far as the date of the existing building that they tore down, I think it was in the 30’s or 40’s that home was built. Mr. Damarjian, who owned the property, tore down the house that was there, it was called the boat house, and it was built right on the seawall almost. He tore it down in order to build his house and then stopped construction a few years ago. We bought it as is and we’re just trying to get a driveway in and extend the road a little because the road stops before the lot and it’s a walkway going up. I would like to change the old pavement to a more modern typical paving, pervious type paving. Mr. Marion – The adjacent property owners that are impacted by this, you have had dialogue with them at this point or is that anticipated? Mr. Lewis – The property to the west of me is Damarjian and they were the previous owners. They’ve expressed interest in extending the dual concrete strip road to where I can have access to the property. I’ve also talked to Mr. Young’s agent, he [Mr. Young] owns number 1 Eighteenth Place, which is the house under construction now. They have expressed interest in improving the beach access and the road in that area. In this blue highlighted area, that would be Mr. Young’s portion of the private road easement. We each own ten feet of it so we all share that road. Mr. Marion – Dianne, overall it is an improvement to the property and also the addition to the access, correct? Ms. Otto – I agree with your statement, yes. Mr. Parks – That is a substantial piece of concrete you’re going to take out. I see you’ve had conversations with Brad Gane with the DNR, how are you going to accomplish that without a lot of damage to the dune and growth that is in there? Mr. Lewis – I haven’t discussed anything with Brad Gane at DNR; I’ve just had the permit transferred into my name. I have had many discussions with Deb Barreiro with the DNR. Mr. Parks – You have met with Deb. Mr. Lewis – Yes, many times. We really haven’t approached that, I’m not a contractor, but I don’t see that it would be that difficult to take out. The way the new concrete and new building materials has to go in, which won’t be on the dunes, it will be following the road up to the site. 5 Mr. Parks – There won’t actually be traffic into the dunes? Mr. Lewis – Absolutely not. Ms. Otto – The jurisdiction line for Tybee’s landward toe of the dune runs along that retaining wall, so the 10 foot setback from that is up where the stairs and concrete are. The dunes are actually out here [referring to PowerPoint] on the other side of the retaining wall; so he will not be working in the dunes, he is just working within ten feet of the dune but it is protected by the retaining wall. Mr. Callahan – But he is within the setback? Ms. Otto – He is within the ten feet, yes. Mr. Callahan – Have you looked at alternatives? Is there any way to not work in the setback or to demolish only and not rebuild within the setback? Mr. Lewis – I’ve studied many alternatives, but I can’t come up with a better solution. One alternative is to leave it as is but it is impervious and it doesn’t look very good. It’s fairly level and we could use it to park on but it would look a lot nicer to have pavers there that are neatly done. If I’m going to spend this much on a house, an extra ten or twenty thousand dollars to fix the driveway is what I would like to do. The driveway portion, where it meets the private road, I really don’t have any choice that I’m aware of. I would love to see some other options but the only way we can do it is to extend the existing private drive, which is a dual concrete strip road that is fairly minimal as far as impact, to extend up to where our driveway will be. Mr. Callahan – Would you be building those strips with pavers? Mr. Lewis – No, I had a discussion with Deb Barreiro and my understanding was she wouldn’t have a problem with the concrete strips. My understanding with Tybee’s engineer, if you put in pavers, you have to put concrete on either side of them to contain the pavers. You would need six inches or so of concrete on either side and the strip is only 24 inches wide; they probably aren’t as strong as concrete. Ms. Otto – He is referring to one of the five accepted permeable pavement practices which is to have drive strips no wider than eighteen inches with the area between either grassed or rocked so the tires stay only on the historic road. This would be a continuation of what is there. Mr. Lewis – I measured the ones that are there, they are twenty-four inches. I don’t know if eighteen is the new number but we could double-check that. Ms. Bryan – Dianne, is this the first time that we’ve had an applicant come and request something on somebody else’s property? I just want to ensure that if we’re giving permission for this that we have documentation from the other owners. Ms. Otto – We would definitely require documentation prior to permitting. Because the other location is currently under construction also, there has been a lot of tear up of what was the road. Improvements have got to be made one way or the other for access to both of these end houses. It’s in terrible shape from the equipment that has been in and out of there. I’ve worked with the owner of the adjacent lot on his new construction and this would be a solution. If he does not want this work on his property, Mr. Lewis would not be authorized to do so by our office. It being such a small area of impact, both for the drive strips and for the concrete removal, to have both go through this process, I thought we could simplify and send one person through and gain the acknowledgement of the other prior to permitting. 6 Ms. Bryan – Do you think that would open the door to give other people precedent for other projects? Ms. Otto – There are a number of private roads on Tybee where residents own to the middle of the road but having a project that is working in that area is not common. I don’t foresee it being a future problem. Mr. Parks – Other discussion? At this time, I’m going to close the public hearing. Do I have a motion or discussion? Mr. Marion – I would like to make a motion to approve contingent upon approval of the other property owner’s agreement of the proposed project that impacts them. Mr. McNaughton – Second. Mr. Parks – Those in favor please signify. [Vote was unanimous.] Ms. Otto – This goes to Council on February 14th. Special Review – bed and breakfast – 5 Moore Ave. Ms. Otto – Sandra Carroll, known to most of us as Sandy McCLoud, owns the property at 5 Moore Avenue. For a number of years she has operated the cottage in the rear of the property as a vacation rental. She is proposing now to seek bed and breakfast status instead. In your packet I provided the ordinance that relates to bed and breakfast. This would be a one-unit owner occupied residential bed and breakfast. Mr. Parks – Questions for staff? [There were none.] Do I have anybody from the public that would like to speak? Sandra Carroll introduced herself. Mr. McNaughton – The ordinance reads, a limited site-plan approval is required to serve the number and location of guest rooms, a parking plan, and the proposed design for the buffer, I don’t see that. Ms. Otto – I can guide you through that. This survey shows two spaces here [referring to PowerPoint] and there is also a driveway here for an additional two cars which exceeds the three spaces. There is an existing fence shown, a six-foot, four-foot, and a six-foot. It is heavily vegetated in this back area, but it would be at your discretion whether that four foot could be the protective screening that the ordinance requires. Mr. McNaughton – I saw no problem with the barrier but I wasn’t sure where the parking was. Ms. Carroll – In that area there [referring to PowerPoint], there is actually room for four cars and on the side there is an additional place. This will be two adults maximum because I’m not interested in having any more than that. Ms. Bryan – From what I read, is this because of the water bill? Ms. Carroll – That is what precipitated going forward with this. Ms. Bryan – Dianne, I don’t recall any other B&B’s being detached garage apartments. Are there other B&B’s that are detached from the main residence? Ms. Otto – None are coming to mind. There had been one next to the nursing home; it was relocated in pieces to other parts of the island. It was a long, like a bunk house, a long structure where you had separate entrances off of a common porch into each unit. The Hunter House, though it is one structure, there are entrances into separate units from various points on the perimeter; you can’t get to every unit from inside, you have to go outside to get into some of them. There 7 is another B&B in her neighborhood that is an over/under where they are two separate units. I don’t know how close you got on the property, they share walkways but it is not attached otherwise to the primary structure. Mr. Parks – Other questions for the applicant at this time? Do we have anybody from the public that would like to address this? [There were none.] I would like to close the hearing. Do I have a motion or discussion? Mr. Callahan – Motion for approval. Ms. Bryan – Second. Mr. Parks – All in favor, please signify. [Vote was unanimous.] Ms. Otto – This will go to Council on February 14th. Mr. Parks – Do I have a motion to adjourn? Mr. Callahan – Motion to adjourn. Mr. Marion – Second. Mr. Parks – Meeting is adjourned. Meeting ended at 19:38 Minutes by Jerris Bryant