Zoning Board of Appeals - Regular Meeting

Yeah, I was chucking that out. Okay. Good evening. The May 2026 meeting of the city of Bowling Green zoning board of appeals is in order. Uh, Mr. Secretary, please call the role. Jerry Anderson here. Jeff Crawford here. Tim Emery here. Bob Mccumber here. Rod Noble here. David Fleer here. Jay Sackman here. A quorum is present. Uh first order of business is the approval of the minutes from the April 2026 meeting as previously previously circulated. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve? So approved. Moved by Mr. Fleger. I'll second that. Seconded by Mr. Anderson. All in favor say I. I.

Opposed. Okay. Okay, minutes are approved. All right, first of all, let me uh welcome you here and um start off the top saying that we understand that zoning and the intricacies of that can be a little hard to understand sometimes, especially when the city tells you what you can or can't do with your property. And with that in mind, I want you to feel um at ease this evening. We're your fellow citizens and we're generally nice people and we're very interested in in what you have to present to us and give your uh due consideration to your your request for your variance. Um as you know um our zoning code provides a mechanism to grant variances where the strict enforcement would otherwise result in a practical difficulty for you. So in that regard we need for you to help us out. Uh you may recall there were seven criteria that were attached to your application and we've paid particular attention to those and uh it's it's up to you to give us credible evidence um of of the situation that would exist where practical enforcement of the code would would cause you a practical difficulty. And that's not necessarily a thing where you want to widen your driveway because you have too many cars or you want to build a higher fence because you don't want your neighbors looking in your backyard. it's a something that's unique to your situation where for instance if it's the slope of the land that prevents you from constructing a fence the way you want to or the shape of your lot that prevents you from putting a building on there the way you want to that sort of thing that's unique to your particular situation. So if you can uh bear that in mind as you give us your testimony tonight that would be very helpful. Um you will be uh invited up to the podium to present your case. Uh the board members may have questions for you. There will be time for anyone else in the audience who wants to to testify as to your case. will give them that

opportunity and at the appropriate time we'll close the public hearing portion of the meeting and uh the board will then discuss uh the case amongst ourselves and um we will um make a decision that would either approve, deny or approve with uh conditions or you know we'll get it resolved tonight hopefully one way or the other for you. Um, appeals uh of the decisions of the board may be uh made to the Wood County Court of Common please. As such, this is a quasi judicial proceeding. There's a court reporter present and she will be making a permanent record of everything that's said. So, we will ask you to swear an oath and that when you do address us that you come to the podium and speak clearly into the microphone so we can get that record um made. Uh there's a sign-in sheet at the back. If you haven't done so, if you would please sign in before you leave. And at this time, if you plan to or think that you might testify in this matter tonight, I would ask that you stand and raise your right hand, please. Okay. Do you swear that the testimony that you will give in this matter this evening will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? So, help you God?

Yes. Okay. Very good. Um, and first order of business then is for Chase or Heather. One of you is going to give us the rundown on this. Yep. All right. I'm sorry I didn't read the case first. Let me follow protocol here. Uh cases from David Chatfield, 225 Winfield Drive has requested a variance to allow the construction of an 18 foot wide driveway addition which is a second driveway which does not lead to the existing garage and allows parking in the front yard which is prohibited. Now we can move.

Okay. Um thank you for that. But yes um as mentioned um there is an 18 foot wide driveway, a second driveway that Mr. Chafffield would like to have constructed. um that does not follow the access management uh guidelines for the city. Um and also allows parking in the in the front yard. Um as um written here, all street parking and its associated parking structures, including garages, parking lots, parking pads, and vehicular accessways may not occur in the front yard except in one of the following circumstances. And it does not meet any of those. Um we go down to number three um of the chart where it says where serving one unit or two dwelling use a driveway may not exceed the width of 20 ft or the width of the garage to which it leads whichever is greater. All driveways must follow the city's access management policies and guidelines. The issue with this one is that the driveway he's proposing does not lead to a driveway. It does not to a garage. Um it goes from the street and arches over and connects into his driveway like a like a semic-ircular shape. And also it's requesting a second curb cut which uh we only allow one curb cut per parcel for the access management guidelines. Um here's the glossery of terms for this. Um if you would like me to recite these um we've spoken about them quite a few times. Um if you don't want me to recite them I can skip over those.

I think we're good.

Okay. Um here in figure 26 driveways. Uh lots A and B show paved areas that are not defined as driveways. uh and therefore parking on such areas in the front yard is prohibited. Uh lot C shows a driveway leading to the rear parking parking pad where parking is permitted. Lot D shows a driveway leading to an attached garage. Parking is permitted in the front yard on the driveway. Lot E shows a driveway leading to a detached garage and a rear yard uh parking pad. Parking is permitted on the on the driveway in the in the garage and the rear of the parking pad. And again, the issue with this is that the drive the driveway he's proposing is not leading to a garage and it's also in the front. This is a the sketch that was provided uh by Mr. Chatfield for the work he wants to have done. The highlighted area is the driveway he's requesting. It is 18 ft wide. The smallest sliver that you see here on the side of the uh driveway, that part is not the issue. It's the um L-shaped um portion in front of the house. And I need to mention for some reason it's cut off in this image, but three neighbors uh signed and initialed um this paper where they are okay with this happening. It is the two property owners to the north and south of his property and then one caddy corner from his and those are James Huntington and Linton and Scott and Michelle Mau. Here we see an aerial view of the property. And if you notice, um, this is the the one house that does not have a circular driveway, it seems like in the neighborhood. The three neighbors I mentioned that, um, initial the paper in in support is the one here to the north, the one to the south, and then this one here, which is caddy corn to their property. This is an image of the front of the

house, the existing driveway. And this is the area from which the proposed driveway will um begin and arch over in front of the house. Here are a few images um from pecttometry showing the above of the home. And another image from pictometry showing the home and an advertisement was placed in in a newspaper of general circulation as required. A site notice was placed at the site. The other notices required by the administrative code were posted in proper time and location and a letter was mailed first class mail to the tax mailing address of the owner of the adjoining property owners. Therefore, all procedural requirements for the hearing have been met.

Okay. Thank you, Chase. Mr. Mrs. Chatfield, which whichever one or both of you, if you'd come up and state your name and your address for the record, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am Dave Chatfield. I'd like to introduce my wife, Deb Chatfield. She may make some remarks as we move along. I can't say. And with us this evening is Jim Huntington, our immediate neighbor on the north side of our property. I really appreciate Jim's uh being here with us. He signed the plan that you see in front of you. And your address for the record, please. I'm sorry. Your address for the record, please? My address is at 225 Winfield Drive. Thank you. Bowling Green, Ohio. Okay. You can confirm for me that you swore your oath to tell the truth.

Yes. Okay. I have My wife and I have lived in Bowling Green for 42 years. Uh most of those years were on Madison Court. Seven years ago, we relocated to Winfield Drive and immediately were were delighted by the lovely uh landscaping and the beauty of that neighborhood and envious of the circular drives. I'll be honest, it's a it just has a beautiful look. It it it's it's very appealing from the street curb value of the home. Our current driveway built in, I assume, 1952 is very narrow. a modern car.

By the way, we only have two cars, so it's not a matter that that that we're we're looking for places to put our additional cars. But a modern car f is is constrained on that driveway. And and when one person is parked, any person in front of them cannot leave, of course, until they leave. And everyone who pulls in must back out. Here's the real issue. We have guests for dinner. We have guests for for social occasions and it's particularly around holidays and they're there until dark and after dark each one of them backs out onto this street. Winfield Street in turn is a very narrow street. It has no curbs. It has no sidewalks and it's very attractive to walkers and runners and children who are frequently passing by in that street. Now, backing out in the dark in a narrow driveway to a dark street w with with pedestrian traffic is the root concern that we face. There's no available street parking. The nearest alternative to try to perhaps borrow uh a parking lot on these occasions is three blocks away at an auto parts store, I think, off of Pearl Street. And so, so it's just it's it's a it's a it's a hazardous issue. Uh it's a it's a property value issue uh and it's a convenience issue that we're trying we'd like to upgrade the property, install the circular drive and solve those those numerous problems. And um I would like to comment about one statement made earlier. First before I do, my working with Heather and Chase has been superb. They're they represent you well and the city well and and what a beautiful place we've come to. We've never I've never been in this building before these interactions. But I would draw your attention to the sketch of the property.

I don't see a page number necessarily, but it's the both sketches are the same. The comment was made that the new the new section of the rideway does not go to the garage, but it does. It's a circular drive. you you you turn the corner and you enter the garage if you wish. So So I'm not quite quite clear on why that's a prohibition about installing that second leg of the driveway. It does go to the We didn't color it in yellow, so it's not as obvious, but it does go to the garage. And the first on the left side, the first uh improvement being made is to simply widen that very narrow, barely 9 ft, 9 and 1/2 ft driveway. Widen it to 18 ft. We choose 18 ft because the PA and others tell us yes, you can park a car on that on the side of that driveway and still pass it with a car in order to leave the driveway. That's 18 ft. And 18 feet is less than, as Chase pointed out, less than the width of the garage. The garage is 21 feet.

I'd welcome questions if there are any any questions from the board. Yeah, I do. So, if you have an 18 foot, then what would need to be that leg? Because you can pass two cars, knock back it out. Say again. So if you widened your driveway to 18 foot and it leads to the garage as you're saying, why do you need that additional?

That gets us halfway. But there two two real elements that come into play. One is it provides additional space for additional cars. And at the holidays we may have 15 or 16 honestly cars or or in that range. And on every Sunday we have six or five or seven cars. Uh, so it allows for additional cars and secondly, it raises I believe it raises the value of the property. Okay. And on Winfield Drive, are there signs that say no parking? I understand. I drove by there and looked at I don't believe there are signs. So you can park on it, but I would not recommend it. My truck My truck in a VW couldn't park side by side on that thing. Right. Right.

So I do understand what your what's your discussion there about not parking on there. What often results I I have these little fiberglass I saw sticks. Mhm. Uh so that cars don't drive in my yard. No, I did not totally understand that. In order to just pass on the street, people come into the yard uh and leave ruts. Any other questions? Not for me. By definition, Mr. Chfield, you're expecting people to park in the front yard of your house

temporarily during visits. or most frequently really on that left side driveway that it would conform entirely with the picture in the in the permitted diagram. They would be in the first driveway section and um but even those cars could exit without without scrambling uh with the other cars parked. They could come around to the right and come out the new circular exit. You have a beautiful front yard with a lot of lovely trees. Are you going to save the trees?

We're going to save the trees, but for one rather small oak tree. Uh we've had uh and tomorrow we have a second uh tree tree uh management expert to come out and look at the trees. Our eye is largely focused on that beautiful sycamore tree in the middle of the yard. It's a it's as big as this this podium. and uh we want no harm to come to that or any of the other trees. So uh the in order to achieve that there will be one oak tree rather small one that will be removed to allow us to be as far away from the other tree trunks as possible. And we see many trees in the neighborhood where asphalt comes up it seems within you know a foot or 18 inches of a trunk. We won't be anywhere that close to any of our trees. Rather than take my word for it, Chase or Heather, can you tell us off the top of your head what the uh

standard sideyard setback is for a driveway? Three feet will be more than that. Yeah. By some distance. You're seven feet as I as I read your sketch. Is that Yes. Okay. Any other questions? Anyone else from the gallery would like to speak? Yes, sir. If you come to the podium, state your name and address for the record, please. My name is Jim Huntington, and I live to the immediate north at 221. Okay. Can can you confirm for me that you swore your oath to tell the truth? I already did. Okay, good. Yeah, thank you. Go ahead.

And as far as the trees, my father planted all those sycamores and he said it was the biggest mistake he ever made. They have leaves this big. A little messy.

So, we have leaf wars going on. When I got home in January for a month from Florida, I got my mower to chop up more leaves so they wouldn't go over in my neighbor's yard. Now, as far as the circular drive, I put mine in when I built the house in 82, and I didn't build it wide enough up by the house because I wanted to be able to have two cars a breast. So, I widened the whole thing. And it makes a lot of sense. And I felt so bad for my neighbor because all the parking, they have a lot of events and I'm gone in the wintertime. So I told him, "You're welcome to park cars in my drive when I'm gone." And they did. So as you can tell, I have no problem with the driveway at all.

Thank you. Yeah, appreciate it. And the sycamore should all go down. All right. Uh we'll we'll close the public comment portion of the hearing and um any discussion, gentlemen?

Well, as my opinion, u I don't think it'll all stand out because there's numerous cars or driveways on Winfield and I don't know if anyone went down Scott Road, too. There's couple uh driveways on on that road also. So it actually I I agree it would probably improve his value of his house. It would not stick out in the neighborhood. Safety reasons backing out. Uh I can I can see that too. Not that it's a heavy populated road, but you know someone's walking at night. Sometimes it's hard to see that stuff.

Want to make a comment? We close the public part. You don't. Sorry, Jerry. I know that our zoning code with comprehensive reform that was approved in 2023 placed a heavy emphasis on parking in front yards. It's left to us to decide what were we really after then because we know of some situations, some areas where it's parking for residents and it will they'll always be there in the front yard. This doesn't sound like that. It sounds like parking in the front yard, but it doesn't sound like that. Right. Right. They're there. Right. Apparently, we're all invited. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Sunday dinner is Okay. Let's let's let's keep it here amongst us. So this is I don't know that's that to me was the biggest hang-up I have with it. I would add that uh I'm influenced by the fact that these uh city access management committee comprised of the municipal administrator, public works director, planning director, city engineer, and utilities director looked at this and four of the five people said they didn't have a problem with the circular driveway. And that uh that weighs fairly heavily in my mind.

Anything else from you, David? No, not really. I mean, is if there was adequate room to put the a turnaround point in the back of it and to park in the back and widen the front would be a a method to keep that parking out of the front yard. Truthfully, Jeff, I I would just reiterate what or I agree with what exactly what Jake Stockman said. Those were my feelings exactly. I have no issues with Tim. Yeah. To me, this we wanted to prevent people from paving their front yard and parking a bunch of cars in it. To me, this plan seems distinctly different than that. And it

it would be in keeping with the character of the neighborhood because almost every house in that neighborhood does have a turnaround. And the thing that uh appealed to me most was the safety argument. Anytime you can improve public safety, that's a yes vote for me. So, I don't I don't I don't see too many downsides to it. I I don't see too many like main objections to it.

Okay. I drove by your place three times looking at this. And to um echo what Jerry first brought up, the the intent in the zoning code update a few years ago to keep parking out of the front yards. I tend to agree with what Tim and I think Jerry alluded to also. So, is this is a little bit different case I think than what the intention probably was there. The u uh access management uh committee also weighs on me. Um I was worried about the trees. I'm glad to hear that if we lose a sycamore tree, that's an acceptable casualty, I suppose. Um but um I I I wrestled back and forth with that. I thought about what David brought up with the 18 feet allowing for two cars a breast. Uh but I guess overall I I really don't see that uh it's a problem. If you were going to take down the more than that one tree I'd be concerned because I think that would alter the character of the neighborhood. But if you're telling us that you're not planning to do that then that takes care of that concern for me. So all right. Um, anyone care to make a motion for the disposition of this case?

I move that we approve the request as or the as requested. Okay, it's been a second. Okay. Moved by Mr. Crawford, seconded by Mr. Sachman that the variance request be approved as submitted. Any further discussion? Okay. Mr. Secretary, please call the role. Jerry Anderson, yes. Jeff Crawford, yes. Tim Emer, yes. Pat Mccumber, yes. Brad Noble, yes. David Fleger, yes. Jay Sachman, yes.

Your request was approved. Uh, if you'd make sure you see the planning department and have your permits all in order and thank you for coming in and thank you for taking such nice nice care of a nice piece of property in town. Well, thank you all very much and have a great evening. You as well. Any uh lobby visitations? anyone thing for us?

I want to make sure the board is aware that the city has went live with our uh online digital permit and application portal. So, um it's been a few weeks now and I think it's went pretty well and um just want to let you know if you ever need assistance or if you hear a resident that needs assistance to please let us know. We definitely are helping people as much as possible and we have a kiosk in our office because we understand everybody has different abilities when it comes to technology and um we also have changed the zoning board application. So when you go online it will have that the seven criteria right there that um does require that the applicant fill out each one. So um just wanted to point that out but um again happy to help if you have questions and it's just new. It's changed but it's good change.

Yeah. Very good. I I looked at it and it's I think it's going to really nice for folks. Anything else? Motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. I'll second that. All those in favor? I returned.