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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLand Use Review Commission - Minutes - 07/08/2021 Ralph Shields, Chair Shelley La Mastra, Vice Chair David Lawton John McCoy Taylor Meyer Ian Shuff Butch Stockover Council Liaison: Shirley Peel Staff Liaison: Noah Beals LOCATION: Virtual Hearing The City of Fort Collins will make reasonable accommodations for access to City services, programs, and activities and will make special communication arrangements for persons with disabilities. Please call 221-6515 (TDD 224-6001) for assistance. REGULAR MEETING JULY 8, 2021 8:30 AM  CALL TO ORDER and ROLL CALL All commission members except Shuff, LaMastra and Stockover were present.  APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING Meyer made a motion, seconded by Shields to approve the June 10, 2021 Minutes. The motion was adopted unanimously, with Shields abstaining.  CITIZEN PARTICIPATION (Items Not on the Agenda) Council Havelda introduced Aaron Guin, a new member of the City Attorney’s office, who joined the meeting to observe the Hearing.  APPEALS FOR VARIANCE TO THE LAND USE CODE 1. APPEAL ZBA210025 –APPROVED Address: 1550 Reeves Dr. Owner/Petitioner: Anurag Agrawal Zoning District: L-M-N Code Section: 3.8.11(C)(5) Project Description: This is a request to extend the existing rear-yard fence along the public sidewalk. The existing fence encroaches 2 feet into the 2-foot setback from the sidewalk and the proposed fence is requesting to match the existing encroachment. Staff Presentation: Beals showed slides relevant to the appeal and discussed the variance request, noting it is a corner property in Registry Ridge neighborhood. Land Use Code requires a 2-foot setback from the street. There is an existing fence that encloses the backyard which is already encroaching the sidewalk. Proposal is to extend the existing fence. Engineering was consulted and the applicant will need to get LAND USE REVIEW COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Land Use Review Commission Page 2 July 8, 2021 approval from Engineering. Engineering initially thought they may have a concern with the sight distance triangle, however, upon further review they determined it would not be an issue from a sight distance perspective. Applicant Presentation: Applicants, Anurag Agrawal and Debolina Sen, 1550 Reeves Dr, addressed the board and agreed to have the hearing held remotely. The fence already existed when they purchased the house in 2016. They discussed their plans with the HOA to extend the fence to allow for more space. There is a fountain in their yard which takes up a lot of space. There is also an Excel Energy pipeline in the way if they were to build the fence to meet code requirements. Chair Shields asked whether the new fence would match the existing fence. Applicant responded that it would match. Audience Participation: Jean Aimes, 6851 Ranger Dr, addressed the commission. She is a neighbor and does not have any issues with the fence. She was also curious whether the fence would match the existing and is happy to hear that it will. Commission Discussion: Commission Member Meyer does not have any problems with the request. It seems reasonable, especially when considering the gas line. Chair Shields agrees with Meyer’s comments. Boardmember Meyer made a motion, seconded by Lawton, to approve ZBA210025 for the following reasons: The granting of the modification will not diverge from the standard but in a nominal, inconsequential way, when considered in the context of the neighborhood, and will continue to advance the purpose of the Land Use Code contained in Section 1.2.2 with the following findings: The existing fence along the property and the fence on the abutting tract encroach the same distance, and the proposed fence does not extend the full side of the west wall of the house, and there are exceptional physical conditions with the gas line installed where the fence will go to meet the Land Use Code Yeas: Meyer, Shields, Lawton and McCoy. Nays: none. THE MOTION CARRIED, THE ITEM WAS APPROVED. 2. APPEAL ZBA210026 - APPROVED Address: 2026 Bear Mountain Dr. Owner: Omnia Cum Deo LLC Petitioner: Mark Bruder. Zoning District: I Code Section: 3.8.7.2(B) Table (B) Project Description: This is a request for a variance to the required sign height in the Residential Sign District. The request is to allow all wall signs, both currently proposed and future signs, for this building to extend an additional 1 foot beyond the required 2-foot height limit. Staff Presentation: Beals showed slides relevant to the appeal and discussed the variance request, noting it is a new mixed-use industrial building and is surrounded by non-residential use buildings. It is in the residential sign district, industrial areas which typically abut residential areas and are placed in the residential sign district for additional restrictions on signage. This property does not abut any residential properties but is in the vicinity of some. Overall request is to have a blanket approval for wall signs placed on the building to be 3 feet instead of the 2 feet allowed by the code. He showed slides which had images of the various sign proposals. Land Use Review Commission Page 3 July 8, 2021 Applicant Presentation: Applicant, Jay Gerdes addressed the board and agreed to the remote proceedings. Two tenants of the building would have to drastically modify their logos to make them legible and within the code. He feels that this would not have a negative impact whatsoever to anyone in the neighborhood. This would level the playing field to businesses in the area. Audience Participation: none Commission Discussion: Commission member Meyer asked Beals if the commercial businesses to the South fall under the same signage code. Beals explained that the only property not part of the district is a place of worship. The City is looking at re-calibrating the district in the future but has not happened. Meyer thinks it is a reasonable request. He appreciates the before and after pictures of the signs provided by the applicant. Commission member Lawton asked Beals whether the other businesses in the district are in compliance. Beals stated that most businesses are complying. A few received variances to increase their signage. Lawton believes the addition to the size would help the businesses and would be in support. Chair Shields agreed that there are no impacts to residential areas and would be in approval. Council Havelda wanted clarification that the variance only pertains to the one building. The applicant stated as such. Boardmember Meyer made a motion, seconded by Lawton to approve ZBA210026 for the following reasons: the variance is not detrimental to the public good; The height increase will have minimal increase in impact to existing residential development; There are taller buildings intervening between the closest residential property to the south; There is a six-lane arterial street with streetlights and street trees on either side between the residential property to the east. Therefore, the variance request will not diverge from the standard but in a nominal, inconsequential way, when considered in the context of the neighborhood, and will continue to advance the purpose of the Land Use Code contained in Section 1.2.2 Yeas: McCoy, Meyer, Shields, Lawton Nays: none. THE MOTION CARRIED, THE ITEM WAS APPROVED 3. APPEAL ZBA210027- APPROVED Address: 1025 Sailors Reef Owner/Petitioner: Elaine and Dennis Edwards Zoning District: R-L Code Section: 4.4(D)(2)(c) Project Description: This is a request to build a deck encroaching a total of 8.75 feet into the required 15-foot rear-yard setback. The approved subdivision plans already allow a 3-foot encroachment into the required 15-foot rear setback. The proposed deck is seeking an additional 5.75 feet. This also requires vacating part of a 10-foot utility easement along the rear property line. Staff Presentation: Beals showed slides relevant to the appeal and discussed the variance request, noting it is a single family attached property. Request is for an elevated deck. Vacating the easement is a separate process. The process has been started with the Engineering department. There have not been any utilities discovered yet in the easement. The house sits a bit lower than the lake. The purpose is to obtain a water view. Land Use Review Commission Page 4 July 8, 2021 Commission member Lawton asked about the neighboring property and whether it was a duplex. Beals clarified that there is only one unit on a lot and it is called a single family attached. Applicant Presentation: Applicants Dennis and Elaine Edwards, 1025 Sailors Reef addressed the board and agreed to have the hearing held remotely. They purchased the property in November of 2019. They only have a few feet before they encroach on the easement. They currently do not have enough room to build a deck. The design of their deck will match the neighboring decks. Both Comcast and their HOA do not have any problem with vacating the easement. Council Havelda wanted to ensure that the letter the applicant submitted was clear to the commission since there were some technical difficulties. All commission members and the applicants were comfortable moving forward and relying on the applicant letter. Commission member Meyer asked whether this has been approved by the HOA. Applicant stated as such. Meyer also asked about the lack of a 2nd floor on the property. The applicant stated that there will be no internal access to the deck. The only access would be from the outside. Audience Participation: (none) Commission Discussion: Commission member Meyer was initially concerned about the design. Since it has been approved by the HOA, he doesn’t have as many concerned. He is comfortable approving. Commission member Lawton stated that he is familiar with the area. He believes there is precedence and does not detract from the neighborhood. Boardmember Meyer made a motion, seconded by Lawton to approve ZBA210027 for the following reasons: the granting of the modification of standard would not be detrimental to the public good; The proposed deck does not increase the impacts of the current patio area; the abutting property to the southwest is a private lake with no residential buildings. Therefore, the variance request will not diverge from the standard but in a nominal, inconsequential way, when considered in the context of the neighborhood, and will continue to advance the purpose of the Land Use Code contained in Section 1.2.2 Yeas: McCoy, Meyer, Shields Lawton, Nays: none. THE MOTION CARRIED, THE ITEM WAS APPROVED 4. APPEAL ZBA210028- APPROVED Address: 421 E. Laurel St Owner: Patricia and Nick Quinn Petitioner: Kristin Zuro Zoning District: N-C-M Code Section: 4.8(D)(2)(a)(2) Project Description: This is a variance request to exceed maximum allowable floor area of the lot by 619 square feet. The total allowable square footage of the lot is 3,496 square feet. Previous variance, ZBA210011, approved an additional 295 square feet. This variance request is asking for an additional 324 square feet on top of the 295 square feet already granted. Staff Presentation: Beals showed slides relevant to the appeal and discussed the variance request, noting that the previous variance was heard in April. They are requesting additional square footage for an addition. During the time of the previous variance, they did not have elevations. Now that they do, they are requesting the additional square footage. Land Use Review Commission Page 5 July 8, 2021 Applicant Presentation: Applicants Patricia Quinn, 421 E Laurel St, Kristin Zuro, and Chris Gray (Building Collective) addressed the board and agreed to have the appeal heard remotely. The existing house is driving the design. It has been reviewed by the Historic Preservation Board. The design protects the historic nature of the house. The changes are not visible from the street, are minimally visible from the alley and neighbors. It will actually make the house a bit more compact. The changes will not be made to the original historic part of the house. Beals mentioned that he knows that the applicants have been working with HP staff and they are in favor of the changes. Audience Participation: (none) Commission Discussion: Commission member Meyer appreciates the collaboration with HP staff and that the design is driven by the existing design of the house. He will be in favor. Commission member Lawton thinks it is a good addition. Chair Shields agrees and likes the modern twist on the historical home. Boardmember Meyer made a motion, seconded by Lawton, to approve ZBA210028 for the following reasons: The granting of the modification of standard would not be detrimental to the public good, The addition does not exceed the allowable floor area in the rear-half of the lot; The addition meets the required setback; In an effort to match the existing roof line, the proposed addition creates a vaulted ceiling; The addition is blocked from view from the street and has limited views from the alley. Therefore, the variance request will not diverge from the standard but in a nominal, inconsequential way, when considered in the context of the neighborhood, and will continue to advance the purpose of the Land Use Code contained in Section 1.2.2. Yeas: McCoy, Meyer, Shields, Lawton Nays: none. THE MOTION CARRIED, THE ITEM WAS APPROVED  OTHER BUSINESS Beals stated that the intention would be to meet in person beginning in August. If anything changes, we will have to continue remotely. Chair Shields asked whether other Boards were meeting in person. Beals stated that the P&Z is a hybrid meeting. For this commission, the recommendation is for a full in-person meeting. The Commission was in favor of this. Beals has also reached out the Boards and Commissions team to re-evaluate the new name.  ADJOURNMENT – meeting adjourned at 9:59 Ralph Shields, Chair Noah Beals, Senior City Planner-Zoning