Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMAY 30,2017 MINUTES OF THE JEFFERSONVILLE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS May 30, 2017 1) Call to Order A meeting of the Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals was held on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 at 7:23 p.m. in the Council Chambers, First Floor, Jeffersonville, City Hall, 500 Quartermaster Court, Jeffersonville, Indiana. Chairperson, Mike McCutcheon called the meeting to order. 2) Roll Call The roll was called by the Planning & Zoning Director, Nathan Pruitt and those Members present were: Rita Fleming, Christopher Fox,Mike McCutcheon,and Steve Webb. Those Members not present: Dave Stinson. Also present were Linda Mills, Secretary, Shawn Dade, Planning & Zoning Coordinator, Nathan Pruitt, Planning & Zoning Director, and Les Merkley, Planning&Zoning Attorney. 3) Approval of Minutes Upon a motion made by Christopher Fox and seconded by Steve Webb,the minutes of the regular meeting April 25, 2017 were approved as written. 4) Oath Nathan Pruitt, Planning & Zoning Director for the City of Jeffersonville administered the oath to all those intending to provide testimony before the Board of Zoning Appeals. (SECRETARY'S NOTE: ALL PLAT MAPS, PHOTOS, ETC. PRESENTED BEFORE THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS ON THIS DATE CAN BE FOUND IN THE OFFICE OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT. 5) Old Business 1) BZA-17-25 The next item to come before the Board was an application filed by Jeffersonville Baptist Temple requesting a special exception use to operate a church at 102 West Loma Vista Drive. The applicant heads a small congregation and the size of the property is adequate for their needs. The operation of a church, temple, or mosque requires a special exception to operate in a R1 District. Bill Atkins, Pastor appeared before the Board confirmed he received the oath and stated the following: Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30, 2017 Page 1 of 11 • Believe that all the concerns have been taken care of, I • Moved here in 1975 the last day of May; • We came here to established a church that would last forever; • Our church is small right now because we have been nine months without a building; • When we was here nine months ago we had bought a piece of commercial property and thought that it would meet our needs and Mr. Pruitt stated that no one on the Board is opposed to churches; • At the end of the meeting I was told not to have commercial property even though we paid cash for the property; • It was voted against at that meeting because of the Liquor Store even though we agreed not to contest; • I was told before we left that we must come back and do not come back unless it is RI district because there is a special built in variance; • I was not told that once but was told that twice; • I thought that because the variance was built in that if I purchase property in RI district everything would be okay; • I did not know that I would have to have a vote as to rather or not the church could meet there; • We have looked diligently and all the other properties have a home owners association and the State of Indiana Supreme Court rules that if there is a home owners association,that only single-family dwellings can be there unless a majority changes it and this would be eternal; • This however is not eternal this would be temporary, once it changed to being a church it can revert back to single family dwelling; • We need a place now and I assume that no attempt was made to try and discriminate against our church; • Therefore, I assume that all churches must have R I; • We are trying to follow the law; • Some of the folks did not like the ideal because they thought it would make it commercial but it will not be commercial; • The rules are set up that you cannot come before the Board without the owner; • The active membership is not eight, the most we have in attendance for about a month previously was eight but not our current attendance; • Not having a place to worship cut our attendance down; • The attendance in the past month has been like three to four; • It has been advertised that there is parking on the road but with the fence in area we can accommodate our needs without parking on the road; • We want to be a good neighbor; • I understand that some people was afraid that the property value will drop over night; • We have already invested over$100,000; • The only purpose we have for the building is to use it as a place to meet; Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30, 2017 Page 2 of 11 o. • We will keep it like a house and once the church is over it will go back to being a single family resident; and • This will not create traffic issues and we want to be a good neighbor. Richard Bays, 107 West Loma Vista appeared before the Board confirmed he received the oath and stated the following: • I have no opposition to this becoming a church. Maria Darr-Allen, 119 East Loma Vista appeared before the Board confirmed she received the oath and stated the following: • I do oppose this change; • The property they had on I Otn Street was not properly maintained; • I talked to some of the previous members and they stated that it closed suddenly two years ago; • You have four active members of this church, two are the Pastor and his wife; • The have a home on Ridgetop Hill that they call the office; • If that's their office and there is only four people than they need to look at that to be their church; • They did not even start cleaning the property up properly until right before this hearing; • My concerns are why do we need to have it rezoned for four people; • They cannot be just limited to residential; • They never came to us before the bought the property and asked us how we feel about this; and • This is a residential neighborhood and I prefer to keep it residential. Mike McCutcheon stated that this is not a re-zoning but a property use variance, which does not change the zoning. Nathan Pruitt stated that it is granted to the property but our regulations state that Special Exceptions that are granted can be revoked or stopped if the use was to cease for six months. Michael Cox, 126 East Loma Vista appeared before the Board confirmed he received the oath and stated the following: • Oppose to this application; • Parking is a main concern; • The purpose of a church is to grow; • I don't think this makes sense; • Cannot see parking in the grass; Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30, 2017 Page 3 of 11 j • I don't think it is right for the neighborhood to park half on the street and half in the yard; • This is not right for the area; • There are multiple areas that would be better suited for a church; and • There is nothing to stop the church from growing and my main concerned would be parking. Brandy Gregory, 109 East Loma Vista appeared before the Board confirmed she received the oath and stated the following: • I'm speaking against this application; • Don't like parking in the grass; • First it was 8 members now its 4 members and we can have to 25 members; • This street is a horseshoe which is right off of Eighth Street; • 1 have a eleven year old who rides his bike up and down this horseshoe, so when he get to the end in front of 102 W Loma Vista, he will have people backing out and pulling in; • We have other people moving in and fixing up the houses and increasing the property value and making it a better street; • Main concerned is people pulling in and backing out; and • Right now we have very limited amount of traffic. j Tim Cox, 111 West Loma Vista appeared before the Board confirmed he received the oath and stated the following: • Have lived at this residence all my life; • That area is where my father developed a few houses; • I want to be on the record as full opposition to this; • This is not based on opposition to religion or religious beliefs this is just a common sense logistical opposition; • We already suffer from a high flow of traffic on Middle Road; and • I know that the activity at the site may be limited to certain days but the last thing we need is more congestion. Mary Ann Poliskie, 2302 Middle Road appeared before the Board confirmed she received the oath and stated the following: • Our biggest opposition would be that it will not be a lived in residence; • Loma Vista as you can hear from people that has lived there a long time this is a recovering neighborhood; and • This is a neighborhood and would like for it to remain a neighborhood. Randy Evans, 103 West Loma Vista appeared before the Board confirmed he received the oath and stated the following: Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30, 2017 Page 4 of 11 • Major concern is traffic and parking; • I do have a lot of family that come for a visit and park on the street which makes it difficult for my neighbor's and with a church being there it would be more difficult; and • I purchased the property eight to ten years ago to live in. Matthew Allen, 119 East Loma Vista appeared before the Board confirmed he received the oath and stated the following: • The Pastor came to visit our house about 8:15 Tuesday night I get up at three in the morning to go to work and he didn't leave my house until 10:15; • Fifteen minutes into the conservation I was done, the anger and the bad vibe that I have from him saying if this doesn't pass he is going to sue because we are invading his religious freedom; • All he has is two to three members, to me this could be a cult; • We have kids in the neighborhood and this is an up and coming neighborhood;and • I'm against this and I don't like the attitude that he brought to my house trying to bully us. Bill Atkins stated the following: • I think that everything that has been mentioned has been addressed; j • 1 would like to say that I'm sorry that I came across the way that I did to Mr.Allen; • The scripture teaches us that if we have a difference with someone we need to go to them; • I had heard of things that she had said and I have nothing against her; • 1 have told some people that I have seen since then that I think she is a fine lady; • Most of the conservation with her was trying to address her concerns; • I don't have anything against any neighbor there; • I don't have anything against this Board; • Just trying to exist as a church; • Yes we want to grow but I understand that there are limitations to this building; • We would like to have 80 but we cannot have 80 people here, we would be able to handle 30 but like I said if we have 25 people that act like they would like to come then we would want to get a different place; • We need a place to meet it is difficult to meet in a car or out in the snow outside; • There is two two-car garages and one of them is wide enough to put in three cars and long enough that you could put two behind that; • We could have five easily parked; • There could easily be twelve cars parked on the existing property; • I have not visited everyone in the neighborhood some of the people where not at home but everybody I did see was in favor; • 1 have talked to a lawyer about this and I am very willing within reason to have things that they are concerned about in writing; Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30, 2017 Page 5 of 11 t j • If the church is growing we would look for a bigger place as soon as possible; • We will also be willing to have people not park outside of the property; • I believe that we could make on this property a circle driveway in front of the home; • The times of the church will be Sunday mornings and night and Wednesday nights; • Will be at the property about six times during the week; • Will keep the property looking residential; • Planning on placing a yard sign in front of the home; and • Was told that if I meet in the home once without permission I would have to pay a $50.00 fine. Nathan Pruitt stated the following: • Signage is not permitted in residential areas; • Even with a Special Exception the sign is not permitted; • I would like to correct the record in discussion with where the Department told you your church could be located; • It is not the case that this Department told you that you could only locate in residential districts; • What was communicated to the applicant after the first meeting in which it was denied because there was several businesses in the area with liquor license; • They may want to consider pursuing an area that is more residentially focus; • A little bit farther away from commercial but not necessary in residential; • The churches that are located downtown are zoned Institutional and was built as churches with parking; and • The options before him was Institutional Zoning that allows churches by right or you could seek property that is further away from commercial districts so you don't have those same issues that we had before. Steve Webb stated the following: • He believes that all his neighbors support freedom of religion; • Did you say that you are able to get on the property five to ten vehicles; • How many members do you have at this church; • Where you live at now is it zoned for a church; • What is the property tax rate on this house; • By getting this exception does that change the property rate status; • Is this your main occupation; and • Do you buy this on your own? Bill Atkins stated the following: • He could get up to ten vehicles on his property • He now has three active members at his church Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30,2017 Page 6 of 11 k • Where he lives now is residential with a Home Owners Association that will not allow a church; • The property at 3801 Ridge Top Circle is a parsonage and is tax exempted; • I would except that we would get a tax exemption for the new property; • I am a full time pastor; • 1 did not buy the property, the church owns the property. Christopher Fox stated the following: • 3801 Ridgetop Circle is in a homeowners association; • If your congregation is four active members why can't you meet at that residence; and • If the Jeffersonville Baptist Temple as the public records indicate owns that property, why can't you reside at the property currently? Bill Atkins stated that because the Supreme Court of Indiana ruled that the Home Owners Association trumps the Constitution. Home owners are single family only and they can't have a church there. Christopher Fox stated that when you purchased this property you had a bunch of attorney's representing you. Bill Atkins stated not a bunch but they did talked to two in Indiana and one in another part of the country that represent church and state issues. Christopher Fox asked that when you purchase this property did that legal counsel advise you that you should put a stipulation on the contract that your contract was subject to Planning&Zoning approval. Bill Atkins stated the following: • That particular thing had not been brought up, we were looking before and he stated don't go to a home owners association; • He stated that you could do it but you would have to get a majority vote to change it; • We did consider one and about 20,000 dollars and we could have had it changed but the problem was that they did not want to take it off the market and we needed about six weeks to see if the folks would be willing; • Yesterday day was Memorial Day and one of the local stations stated every hour that we ought to be remembering that we have our freedom because of men who died; and • I'm not trying to be hard on anybody or give anybody a hard time and I found out some facts of history that George Washington made a statement that his best soldiers were Baptist. Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30,2017 Page 7 of 11 Steve Webb stated that it is not freedom of religion that people are questioning but a home is usually most people main investment and I think people are out just to protect their investment. No phone calls or letters were received in favor or in opposition of this application. Thereafter,the Board made the following Findings of Fact: 1. The special exception will not be injurious to the public health, safety, moral and general welfare of the community; 2. The requirements and development standards for the requested use as prescribed by this Ordinance will be met; 3. Granting the special exception will not subvert the general purposes served by this Ordinance and will not permanently injure other property and uses in the same district and vicinity; and 4. The proposed use will be consistent with the character of the district therein, the spirit and intent of the Zoning Ordinance, and the Jeffersonville Comprehensive Plan. Based on the findings described above,the Board denied the Special Exception Use on vote of 4-0 as presented. Rita Fleming stated that she would like to go on record with the following: • It is the general welfare of the community is the issue here for me; • Special Exception can go either way so the opinion of the neighbors and property owners first and second subdivision are coming back and people are investing in them, this is an example of that; and • I think that implies a general welfare community may be at risk. Christopher Fox stated that he would like to go in record with the following: • This property based on the hours presented will be vacant most of the week; • Opens it up for potential break ins and crime in the area which would put the public health at risk; • There is potential for safety concerns regarding traffic as the congregation grows; and • I don't believe this use will be in character of the neighborhood. 6) New Business 2) BZA-17-27 Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30, 2017 Page 8 of 11 a. i i The next item to come before the Board was an application filed by Dr. Travis Haire (Jeffersonville High School) requesting a variance from the development standards for property located at 2315 Allison Lane. The applicant is requesting to keep sign/banner that is currently 6 feet tall by approximately 198 feet long, for a total of 1,188 square feet. The applicant did not pull the proper permits and the sign is in excess of our sign standards. Travis Haire appeared before the Board confirmed he received the oath and stated the following: • The school corporation and the City of Jeffersonville enter in to a inter local agreement with Thompson Lane and Highway 62 in an effort to install a traffic light; • This is safer for our students and the public; • Part of that agreement was the dirt that came from where they put the road in, the school would install a berm because we do have the practice field behind that berm; • We started out with just that berm and we end up putting up a guard rail at our expense in front of the old administration building; • The berm was not high enough and the balls were going over the berm; • We then constructed a 6' fence and this has turned into the main entrance into Jeffersonville High School; • We have contacted Duke to install some lighting at this area; • In an attempt to enhance the 200 foot, 6 foot high chained link fence, we took it upon ourselves to construct a banner that states Welcome to Jeff High; • This is a wind screen but did not realize that this was a sign; and • Trying to beautify the fence. Michael Ruf,2134 Robin Lane appeared before Board and asked why he received a letter. Nathan Pruitt stated that they are required to notify properties two tier away from the property requesting the variance. No phone calls or letters was received in favor or in opposition to this application. Thereafter, the Board made the following Findings of Fact: 1. The variance of the development standards would not be injurious to the public health, safety, moral and general welfare of the community; 2. The use and value of the area adjacent to the property included in the variance would not be affected in a substantially adverse manner; and 3. The strict application of the terms of the Ordinance would result in a practical difficulty. The situation shall not be self-imposed, nor be based on a perceived reduction of or restriction of economic gain. Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30, 2017 Page 9 of 11 i I Based on the findings described above, the Board approved the development standard variances on a vote of 4-0 with the following condition: • When it comes time to replace the sign due to wear and tear that the high school will contact staff and work with them on the design element to make sure it fits in the community and receive the proper permits. 3) BZA-17-28 The next item to come before the Board is an application filed by Marc & Jill Oca requesting variances from the development standards for property located at 2101 Utica Pike. The proposed development is the construction of a garage with a maximum height of approximately 35 feet. The applicant received a variance in February(BZA-17-16) for a reduced side setback and a variance for maximum accessory structure size. Jill Orca appeared before the Board confirmed she received the oath and stated the following: • We came prior to the Board and received a variance for setback and size of the garage; • The height restriction is 18' and the proposed garage is 21.3 feet in height but that does not include the cupola. Mark Oca appeared before the Board confirmed he received the oath and stated the following: • This is a two-door garage with 10 foot wide doors; • It has a little bit of brick on the right side; • The fagade of the garage will be similar to the house and this will set on 2 acre piece of property; and • We will be using the garage to store our vehicles and boat. No phone calls or letters was received in favor or in opposition to this application. Thereafter, the Board made the following Findings of Fact: 1. The variance of the development standards would not be injurious to the public health, safety, moral and general welfare of the community; 2. The use and value of the area adjacent to the property included in the variance would not be affected in a substantially adverse manner; and Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30,2017 Page 10 of 11 3. The strict application of the terms of the Ordinance would result in a practical difficulty. The situation shall not be self-imposed, nor be based on a perceived reduction of or restriction of economic gain. Based on the findings described above,the Board approved the development standard variances on a vote of 4-0 as presented. 7. Reports from Officers Committees, and Staff None. 8. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:46 p.m. Mike McCutcheon, Chairperson Submitte y n Mills, Seca ary Jeffersonville Board of Zoning Appeals Meeting—May 30,2017 Page 11 of 11