Board of Zoning Adjustment - Regular Meeting

He's trying to tell you to hold your horses. You've got about a minute. That's all right. Oh, damn.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This meeting is being held in compliance with the Georgia Open Meetings Act OCGA 50-14-1. This is a meeting of the Board of Zoning Adjustment, a five-member board created by the Atlanta City Council and confirmed by the Atlanta City Council. It is created to exercise and perform all the functions, powers, and duties of a board of zoning appeals. My name is Kevin Bacon, acting chairman of the board today. I have the honor of introducing the other members of the board. With us today are the following members, Ms. Aisha J. Thomas and Mr. Philip Perry. Mrs. Angela Blatch is the secretary of the board. Mr. Francis Rozier with the Office of Zoning and Development is helping us on the AV equipment. And also present is the board's attorney, Ms. Charlie Hewitt. Before we get started, I would like to acquaint you with some of the rules and procedures for this meeting. The official records of the proceedings are being taped. When you give testimony, please speak directly into the microphone and address all comments to the board members. Please be advised that the board may adopt a consent agenda to approve non-controversial or routine applications. Non-controversial or routine applications may include applications with unanimous recommendations for approval with no conditions attached from both the planning staff and the NPU. If conditions are attached to an approval recommendation from either staff or the NPU, the application will not be included in the consent agenda, unless the conditions are the same from the staff and NPU. If an application is included within the consent agenda, testimony from any party will not be required, including the applicant. After the consent agenda is sounded, the board will immediately go into deliberations to vote on the consent agenda. However, before this occurs, the chair will ask whether any board member wishes to remove an item from the proposed consent agenda. The chair will also ask whether any applicant or any other interested party wishes to be heard on any proposed consent agenda item. If so, the application will be removed from the consent agenda and it will be heard in the order in which it was received by the secretary and listed on the published agenda as amended. Unless the Board acts to amend the agenda, cases will generally be heard in the following order. Deferral or withdrawals, consent agenda cases, appeals, remaining new cases, and previously deferred cases. Our Secretary will sound each case on the agenda and will give the planning staff and the NPU recommendations. All cases will be heard in the order as listed on the agenda or in accordance with the amended agenda as adopted by the Board. Everyone who wishes to speak must fill out the sign and sheet located on the podium. Prior to presenting any testimony, each speaker will be asked to state his or her name and address for the record. If the applicant wishes to defer his or her case, please make the request to defer immediately after the case is sounded and before making any statements on the merits of the case. The board may defer or postpone on a motion of any board member or on the request of the filing party only for good cause and with the consent of the majority of the board. Cases that are deferred at the request of the applicant will be assessed a deferral fee. The secretary to the board will notify the applicant of the amount of the required fee, which should be paid within three days of notification in order for the case to be placed on a subsequent agenda. For cases being heard today, the applicant will be allowed a total of 10 minutes to present his or her case. Testimony by members of the public in support of the case shall be included within the 10-minute applicant presentation time. Since the burden of proof is upon the applicant, the applicant may choose to save part of the 10-minute time period for rebuttal following all other testimony. The rebuttal time will be limited to addressing comments or questions that have been raised by opposition or for clarification purposes. After the initial presentation by the applicant, parties who oppose the case shall be allotted a total of 10 minutes to present their testimony. It benefits these parties to be as concise and organized as possible regarding each presentation and to be considered of the number of parties that wish to speak in opposition of the application. All testimony is taken as if under oath and subject to the penalties of perjury. All testimony should be relevant, although we do not adhere to formal court rules of evidence. All material that you submit to this board becomes evidence. If it can be copied easily, you may request that it be returned and our secretary will do so. Following all testimony, the Board will promptly go into deliberations, have time to consider the presentations by all parties and any related materials presented, as well as ask questions of each party as desired or necessary, and then vote immediately following each case. No participation by the public will be permitted during the deliberations unless requested by a Board member. Written notifications from the Office of Zoning and Development confirming the results of the hearing will be sent within one week. The only matters this board will address are the zoning issues related to the applicable variance, special exception, or an appeal as advertised and stated in the public's agenda for this meeting. Please address and confine all comments to that specific subject. In the interest of time, the chair reserves the right to caution any speaker who has strayed too far from the subject at hand and to request that a party remove his or herself from the room if disruptive to the proceedings. The board will decline to mediate disputes that are not related to the case. Please note that this board does not have authority over the policies, procedures, and operations of the departments of the City of Atlanta. We will be addressing zoning matters pursuant to the City of Atlanta Zoning Ordinance as it relates to the relevant facts, the particular application and comments and evidence from the parties that are before us and are speaking in either support or denial. One other matter should be mentioned. Differing viewpoints may be presented today, and it is possible and even probable that not everyone will agree with or be pleased with the decision of the board. However, this board intends to make fair decisions based on the relevant facts of the case and in accordance with the relevant ordinances contained in the City of Atlanta zoning ordinance. After this hearing, result letters reflecting the board's decision will be available seven business days from the date of this hearing. Finally, no demonstrations will be permitted in the chambers. Please refrain from any applause or dialogue when any person is speaking, and at the conclusion of a particular application hearing, please depart the chambers in a quiet and orderly manner. At this time, we ask that you turn off or set to vibrate all cell phones, paging devices, and flashes from cameras so that we can proceed with as little disruption as possible. I will now entertain a motion to adopt the published agenda.

Mr. Chair, I move that we adopt today's agenda with the exception of moving the following cases to the top of our agenda for consideration of a possible deferral or withdrawal. Case number V-25-211, case number V-26-001, case number V-26-090, and case number V-26-091.

Phillip Perry, second. We have a motion that has been made and properly seconded. All those in favor, state your name and say aye or nay. Phillip Perry, aye. Aisha J. Thomas, aye. Kevin Bacon, aye. The motion passes. I will now entertain a motion to adopt the published agenda.

Okay. Mm-hmm. Okay. Mr. Chair, I move that the following cases be moved to the consent agenda. Case number V-26-089, case number V-26-092, and case number V-26-094.

Is there any board member who wishes to remove an item from the proposed consent agenda for review and comment? No, sir. Seeing none, is there anyone present here today who wishes to be heard or comment on any item listed on the consent agenda? Seeing no one, is there a second to the motion?

Philip Perry, second.

We have a motion that's been made and properly seconded. All those in favor, state your name and say aye or nay. Philip Perry, aye. Aisha J. Thomas, aye. Kevin Bacon, aye. The motion carries.

Case number V25-211, appeal of Veronica Moreland of a decision of an administrative officer in the office of buildings for property located 687 Cascade Road Southwest, from approximately 60.8 feet on the west side of Cascade Road, and beginning approximately 336.4 feet from the southwest intersection of Rogers Avenue and Cascade Road. Zone Mixed Residential Commercial Conditional Beltline Overlay in Town South Commercial Corridor Overlay. Landlot 139 of the 14th District of Fulton County, Georgia. Owner 677 Cascade LLC, Council District 10, MPUT. The recommendation is for a deferral.

Is the applicant present? you have an opportunity to speak on your deferral or you can pass on that if you wish. Since this is listed as a deferral, the intent was not to get into the merits of the case today, just to move it and take action on that deferral. So the only thing we would hear today is discussion on if you wanted to talk about why it's being deferred, but it's not necessary.

You need to come to the podium.

You need to come to the podium. If you wouldn't mind, just come to the podium, please. And if you wouldn't mind, please state your name and address for the record.

Veronica Moreland. 687 Cascade Avenue, Southwest Atlanta, Georgia, 303.10. Cool.

Thank you, Ms. Moreland. Usually when a case is recommended for deferral, we won't talk about the property or get into the issues with the case. We do give the applicant who's requesting a deferral to speak if you want to talk about why for any reason, but it's entirely up to you.

Okay. Can you tell me exactly why will it be deferral?

Okay, to bring clarity to this, I received a request from your attorney on requesting a deferral.

Okay. Can I ask you a question? With that deferral, will I be able to get my business license for this year?

It is my understanding that from the information that I received that your attorney is working with the city, so that's the reason why the deferral was being requested.

Okay.

Okay. All right.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Can I go now?

Yeah, yeah. If there's nothing else to discuss, you're free to.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. If there are no others, I will say that we will now go into deliberation and I will entertain a motion.

Mr. Chair. On case number V-25-211, I recommend that we defer the case to a regularly scheduled meeting on October 8, 2026.

Phillip Perry, second. We have a motion that has been made and properly seconded. All those in favor, state your name and say aye or nay. Phillip Perry, aye. Aisha J. Thomas, aye. Kevin Bacon, aye. The motion carries.

Case number B26-001, application of Harold Buckley for a special exception to reduce the on-site parking spaces from 135 spaces to 20 spaces for a conversion of retail suites into a sports bar for a property located at 1151 Chattahoochee Avenue Northwest, finding 210.25 feet on the north side of Chattahoochee Avenue and beginning 296.71 feet from the northeast intersection of Ellsworth Industrial Drive and Chattahoochee Avenue. Zone I-2 Heavy Industrial, Upper West Side Overlay, Landlot 187 of the 17th District of Fulton County, Georgia. Owner Alfred Knott, Council District 9, NPUD. The recommendation is a denial without prejudice.

Is the applicant present? Seeing none, we will now go into deliberations, and I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Chair, based on the findings of fact of the staff report, but not... No, that's for passing a case. Yeah, okay, sorry.

You just need to make a motion to defer or deny.

Deny.

Oh, deny without prejudice.

Right, okay. I thought it was this one right here. I don't know. Okay, got it. Mr. Chair, on case number V-26-001, I recommend that we defer this case. We actually accept the city's recommendation for denial without prejudice.

Phillip Perry, second.

Before we take a vote, I just want to clarify that the motion is to deny without prejudice?

Correct.

Correct, okay. Then we have a motion that's been made and properly seconded. Please state your name and say aye or nay. Philip Peary. Aye. Aisha J. Thomas. Aye. Kevin Bacon. Aye. The motion carries.

Case number V26-090, application of counter-chrome for a special exception to increase the height of a retaining wall in the front yard from three feet to five feet for property located 1422 Memorial Drive Southeast. Excuse me. Fronting 50 feet on the north side of Memorial Drive and beginning 350 feet from the northeast intersection of Whiteford Avenue and Memorial Drive. Zone R4A, single-family residential, land lot 208 of the 15th District of DeKalb County, Georgia. Owner, Connor Crum, Council District 5, NPUO. The recommendation is for deferral.

Is the applicant present?

Seeing no one, we will now go into deliberations. Entertain a motion.

Okay.

Mr. Chair, on case number V-26-090, I recommend that we defer the case to regularly scheduled meeting September 10, 2026.

Phillip Perry, second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. All those in favor, state your name and say aye or nay. Phillip Perry, aye. Aisha J. Thomas, aye. Kevin Bacon, aye. The motion carries.

Case number V26-091, application of Gail Mooney for a variance to reduce the east side yard setback from 7 feet to 0.3 feet for the construction of a new single-family dwelling for property located at 2213 Ridgedale Road Northeast, running 52 feet on the south side of Ridgedale Road, and beginning at 323.8 feet from the southeast intersection of Rockyford Road and Ridgedale Road. On R4, single-family residential, Landlocked 205 of the 15th District of DeKalb County, Georgia. Owner Stacey Lee, Council District 5, NPUO. The recommendation is for deferral.

Is the applicant present? Seeing no one, we will now go into deliberations and entertain a motion.

Mr. Chair, on case V-26-091, I recommend that we defer the case to a regularly scheduled meeting September 3, 2026.

Philip Perry, second. Motion has been made and properly seconded. All those in favor, state your name and say aye or nay.

Philip Perry, aye.

Aisha J. Thomas, aye. Kevin Bacon, aye. The motion carries.

The following cases are on consent. Case number V26-089, application of Jared Kaiser for a variance to reduce the west side yard setback from 7 feet to 3.5 feet for the construction of a new screen porch for property located at 1825 Alameda Avenue Northeast, front and 50 feet on the south side of Alameda Avenue, and beginning at approximately 127.70 feet from the southeast intersection of Ridgewood Road and Alameda Avenue. Zone R4, single-family residential land lot 238 of the 15th District of DeKalb County, Georgia. Owner Jared Kaiser, Council District 5, NPUN. Case number V26-092, application of Jeff Anderson for a variance to reduce the rear yard setback from 15 feet to 7 feet for the construction of a pool for property located at 1124 Hudson Drive Northeast, running 59.65 feet on the north side of Hudson Drive and beginning 229 feet from the northwest intersection of Virginia Avenue and Hudson Drive. Zone R4, single-family residential landlocked, one of the 17 districts of Fulton County, Georgia. Owner Jeff Anderson, Council District 2, NPUF. Case number V26-094, application of Catherine Johnson for a special exception to allow active recreation, a pool, and a yard adjacent to a street for property located at 1530 Marbrook Avenue Southeast, fronting 96 feet on the north side of Marbrook Avenue and beginning at approximately 200 feet from the northeast intersection of Blake Avenue and Marbrook Avenue. Zone R4, single-family residential land lot 178 of the 15th District of DeKalb County, Georgia. Owner of Katherine Johnson, Council District 5, NPUW.

Thank you, Madam Secretary, for reading those items listed on the consent agenda. We'll go directly into deliberations and entertain a motion, please.

Mr. Chair, I move that we approve each of the cases listed on the consent agenda as read into the record by Madam Secretary.

Philip Perry, second.

We have a motion that's been made and properly seconded. All those in favor, state your name and say aye or nay. Philip Perry, aye. Ayesha J. Thomas, aye. Kevin Bacon, aye. The motion carries. Those consent agenda cases are approved. If your case was on consent, you are free to leave the meeting if you choose. And then we will get into our one and only case to be heard today.

Case number V25-257, application of Katie Comer for advance to reduce the rear yard setback from 15 feet to 2.5 feet for the construction of a new carport for property located at 214 Alberta Drive Northeast, front of 75 feet on the north side of Alberta Drive, and beginning approximately 310 feet from the northeast intersection of Roswell Road. and Alberta Drive. Zone R4, single-family residential landlocked, 98 of the 17th District of Fulton County, Georgia. Owner Katie Comer, Council District 7, MPUB. Staff recommendation is denial. MPUB recommendation is approval conditional.

Is the applicant present? I'm guessing that's you since you're the only one in the room.

Hi, how are y'all?

Thank you very much. Good. Hope you're doing well. We'll now give you, it's 10 minutes?

Yes.

Ten minutes. Get in the merits of your case. If you would, please start by stating your name and address for the record, please.

I'm Katie Comer, 214 Alberta Drive, Northeast, Atlanta, Georgia, 30305. And we are applying for a variance to build a carport for our family. We currently have a retaining wall. Our house is about 100 years old. And so for us to build the carport for a two-car garage, we would have to essentially take down almost 100-year-old retaining wall, which we're a little nervous about what that impact could do to the property it's withholding next to us. So we would like to build two-car carport that would allow us to keep that retaining wall, but to do that, we need to build within the variance. So we attended the local board meeting back in April of this last year, and we're okay with the recommendation with the variance they provided. We just want to make sure that you guys will uphold that. Our property sits behind a parking deck for Peachtree Road Presbyterian Church. We have approval from their board to build within the variance as well as our neighbors through writing. So the variance that they recommended, we're okay with. But we would like to not take down a 100-year-old retaining wall that's essentially holding our neighbor's property up if we don't have to. But we would also like to build a two-car garage. There is not a residential property behind us. We have photos that were submitted in the packet that showcase that parking deck. That's there. It's used on Sunday mornings. And again, we have board approval from the board of that church.

Okay.

Does that conclude your comments?

Yeah.

Thank you. How much time? You have 8.34 in case you need it for rebuttal.

I'm happy to answer any questions. It's a pretty cut and dry.

I think we can probably assume there is no opposition here. That concludes the discussion period. I will say I'll go ahead and open it officially for deliberation and questions for fellow board members here.

So you're okay with the MPU's recommendation from 15 to 7 feet instead of the, because you wanted a smaller amount, right? We did.

We had a contractor that submitted and we had edited the application from him. We had a contractor that originally did this for us and requested that. But then when we got out there and measured, I think he just requested more than what we actually needed for the build.

Any questions?

No questions. I guess before we make a motion, I'll just go on the record of saying, you know, given kind of the rear condition of your property, of the intervening alleyway and the large parking garage and the willingness to accept the condition, I have no problem supporting this.

Mr. Chair, based on the findings of fact of the staff report, but not with the conclusion and recommendation provided by staff, I move to approve case number V-25257 with conditions from the NPU conditioned on allowing the rear setback to be reduced from 15 feet to 7 feet for the construction of a carport slash garage structure.

Phillip Perry, second.

Motion has been made and properly seconded. All in favor, state your name and say aye or nay. Philip Perry. Aye. Aisha J. Thomas. Aye. Kevin Bacon. Aye. The motion carries. Your case is approved with the conditions.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for your time. And that concludes our meeting today. We are adjourned. Thank you.