Board of Zoning Appeals - Regular Meeting

and advisory board. It was only appeals meeting. Um could we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty andice for all. Could we have a roll call, please? Roger BR here. William Hutton here. Cynthia Hassel here. Dan Faulner. Kathleen Hill here. Four present. We have a quum. All right. The next item on the agenda is the minutes for the March 25th, 2025 meeting. I'll make that motion to approve those minutes. Do we have a second? I second. Do we have a roll call vote, please? Roger Brack, yes. William Hutton, yes. Cynthia Hassel, yes. Kathleen Hill, yes. Four eyes, zero nays. Motion pass. Right. Seeing no item for old business. There apparently is no old business to come before us tonight. Correct. Okay. We will move to new business. We have Z-25-04 petition of Ro Raza Group, Inc. for developmental variance title section 18.6 6 C to allow an accessory building of 23 feet 6 and 1/2 in by 8 ft 6 1/2 in greater than the allowed 15 foot located at 844 169th Street in a C1 local commercial district in the city of Hammond. Has all notification

requirements been met? Yes, they have. All right. Do we have the petitioner here? And could you please step forward, state your name and address and sign in? Good evening. Chris Moore with Nice Engineering. I'm here representing Octar Zaman. um working on the property the project in the property of 844 169th Street and we're looking into uh construct an accessory building in the parking lot of the existing facility. The building uh that we're planning on utilizing it's a pre-engineered metal building. The the purpose of the building they do geotechnical engineering uh investigation. Is that correct? Um, and the work that they do, they when they're doing construction, they'll do soil borings and soil investigation for uh construction. And the equipment that they need to utilize is a drill rig. It's a track is that one's a track mounted. This one is a track track mounted drill rig. And it's you don't drive it to the sites. You have to transport it to the site. In order for it to be transported, it needs to be put on a larger truck. And the rig on the truck is an excess an excessive height. and you can't just put it into a regular garage. You don't want to leave this equipment outside. It's very expensive and very I would not necessarily fragile, but you don't want to leave it out in the weather. So, he's looking to get a building constructed to where we can store this and some other material inside the building to make sure it's protected from the weather. And that is our request. In order to do that, we have to have a door height of 14 ft, which with the rest of the construction of the garage will give the height of the garage itself uh in excess of the allowable height of the building. And that is our request.

And just for the record, can you just speak to um the setbacks and Yes. So we Let me get all my paperwork in order. So we made all the setbacks. Um I got to find my notes. So, the rear yard set back is we're 15 feet 6 in um from the back. We are 70 let's see here looks like 73 feet from the front property line um which is more than half the air uh half the distance from the front and then 40t from the property line to the east. So, we meet all the all the required setbacks in the building. And then um you're locating this where half the building is um in a fenced in area. Yes. and the the existing fence goes around the property to the east. U we're going to put it in the middle of the area. And the reason why we configured it in the way that we did is to allow the the truck rig to pull into the parking lot, pull into the garage, and then pull back out or into the storage building and then pull back out through the uh east side of the property. We added another drive out to 169th in that area as well for the purpose of the rig. And that has already been constructed. And the so the truck will be coming in in that direction going to the east and then back out to the north. And then um I think in our discussions we had talked about that the um nature of the business um that your traffic movements will go to Calivan Avenue. Yes, we do. We want to every the sites are all over the place. So, it depends on exactly where it's at, but the majority of the sites are going to be um to the north and south. You're going to go straight out to Kat Avenue. So, it' be the ideal location to go to.

And then um I would presume that the likelihood of it going east is minimal. Very minimal. Not saying that's not going to happen, but it's not going to be on a regular basis. Hey staff members, did you have anything else you want to bring out at this time? No, not at this time. Okay. Any questions from board members? I don't I do. Okay. Go ahead. Is this a habitable building? No. Well, habitable as in living or No. Habitable as being occupied by human beings? Yes, it'll be conditioned. So, is there a toilet in here? No. So, we're not planning for that right now. We're not planning on that right now. There's a toilet in the building right next door when it comes out the need. Not saying that we're not going to do it in the future, but right now it's not planned. Okay. When he says habitable with people, what kind of people are you putting in? Well, the the employees when they're in there working with the rig if there's anything that they need to do. So, they're not living there or anything? No, no, no. So, they don't need a handwashing sink. They don't need an emergency eyewash in case something happens while they're working on it. Right. It's the building itself is not done, but at the end of the day, there's a good chance that we're going to have a wash sink in there as needed. We're going to have sewers in there. We're going to have water planned in the future. Do we have enough parking spaces? Yeah, they meet the requirements. They do. Okay. What about the ADA access lane? I'm sorry. the ADA accessibility, the access lane next to that parking space. I don't see that on the drawing. Um, you talking about the parking lot by 169th.

Talking about this handicap parking in the parking lot. So, the door the entrance way of the building is um I wouldn't say directly west of that, but it's that's where the building notches out is the access to the building. So, we've got the ADA parking stall with the gourd out area to the north of it. Is that where you're Please help me, Mr. Poland. What do you call that access lane next to the parking? The ADA access lane next to the parking space. Thank you very much. I don't see that identified on here. It's the area that's gourded out to the north of the parking spot. You see the large striped area? probably have to be on the right side of the the park. Uh ADA allows it to be on either side. Okay. Thank you. I have a few more questions and I'll try to be quick about them. On the south side, do we need to have a landscape buffer between the parking and that residential area on this? So, that is going to be the landscape. We're planning on putting grass in there. We don't I don't think there's a requirement for a landscape buffer, but it is going to be green space between the garage. Between the garage and the fence, but what about between the parking? Parking, it's not required. It is We're utilizing the existing parking lot. Okay. Sorry. No, this equipment sits on a trailer type thing for moving it. It's more like a flatbed truck. Okay. It's not a trailer. All right. Is it presently sitting there in the parking lot? It's on the site. It's on Keep it on the site right now. Yes. Okay. So, it's also dangerous for any kids or any people in the area to be climbing on there or anything like that. It is. Right now, it's in the fenced in area, so it is protected, but yeah, you don't want to

leave it out and for people to get on it. We It's It's too too expensive a piece of equipment to let anybody even. It's too dangerous to be climbing on, too. Yes. You don't we don't want any kids around. So, we keep it in a in the fenced in lot right now. The last question I have, but I reserve the right to ask any further questions. Do you have another sign? Is this a full barn? Uh, it is a pre-engineered metal building. No, I understand that, but I don't I'm looking at your drawings and I don't see any foundations or anything. No pre-engineered metal building. I wouldn't call it a pole barn, but it's a pre-engineered metal building. Thank you. Madam Chairman, I do have one additional question. Okay. Um, in our discussions, uh, Mr. Moore, we talked about the exterior material on the building. So, would you please relate? So, the as you see that we gave a a rendering of the building, the and we've gone back and forth talking about this. So, we're trying to replicate the existing building the best that we can. And that's why we have the 8 foot brick uh ways coating is how they call it on the front of the building, which matches the existing building as well as the windows in color and style. And then the vertical sighting on there uh resembles the existing building as well that we have on site. I can ask this question. Thank you, Mr. Pen, for bringing that up. What's supporting this masoner? the I I don't have the design of the building with me, but uh that's going to be designed and handled by the architect and they will make sure that that's done properly. I can't speak on behalf of the building. I do everything on the site. So, the equipment will be sitting on like a concrete slab or there is will not be a concrete. No, it'll be concrete. Okay. Yes. So, there will be a floor. Thank

you. Any other questions? All right, we are open for public comments or questions. Anyone in the audience or anyone online have any questions or comments they would like to ask? You're good. Good. Sir, did you put your address when you signed in? Yes, I did. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other any questions? Any comments? Any questions? Any comments? We will close this portion of the public comment and move on. Um, I don't think we have to answer any other questions or concerns. Any other questions from the staff? No, you don't need to board members or we're ready to go into as far as the staff report. I don't have any questions. Okay. Okay. We have the staff report, please. Yes, we staff report was shared with um the board members reads as uh we'll read the recommendation. So staff has reviewed the petitioner's requests and recommends that the BCA grant the developmental variance for the 23 foot6 in peak height should the board feel the petitioner has met the standards subject to conditions. One final technical review of the construction drawings, civil drawings and site plan. Two, final approved design for accessory structure which satisfies city planning concerns in regards to infill construction being compatible with the existing neighborhood.

to find our proposed findings effect. All right, we also have as far as proposed findings of fact any questions, comments from board members. I don't No, I think we see as far as the garage is definitely set back substantially from our area. And we also have a part within our staff report um recommendations that will need to be also met by the staff. So do we have a motion to adopt the staff report and the proposed findings of fact and the recommendations of the staff as official findings of fact? I'll make that motion to approve. I'll second. You have a motion and a second. Could we have a roll call vote, please? Cynthia Hasso, yes. Roger. Yes. William Huden, yes. Kathleen Hill, yes. Four eyes, zero nays, zero extensions. Motion pass. Right. Now, do we have a motion in regard to D-25-04 for the developmental variance for the accessory building height greater than 15 ft for 844 169 street?

I'll make the motion to approve long as the petitioner uh meets the standards and condition in the staff report. I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Roll call vote, please. Cynthia Hassel, yes. Roger Rob, yes. William Hutton, yes. Kathleen Hill, yes. Four eyes, zero nays. Motion pass. Okay, we should have good weather to start construction. Thank you. Thank you. Right. We have any comments from the commissioners? Any comments from the staff? Yes. Um staff is uh asking that uh we reschedule the May BCA meeting. It is currently scheduled for May 28th, which is the Wednesday after Memorial Day. Um two of our staff members will be out of town during that time period. And um we would s suggest that we consider rescheduling the meeting to uh June 3rd, which is Tuesday, the following Tuesday. Yeah, I'll make that motion. Well, would we like to jet combine the May and June meeting? I don't think so. Okay. So, I make a motion June 3rd. Yeah, I I'll second that motion. Okay. And then um for the record, Cynthia, is that going to be okay with you? That'll be fine. Okay. Thank you. I have no idea if it will be okay with me. Be honest with you. Okay. I don't know what I'm doing. So, we have three members who agree to it at this point. You have a quum then. Pardon me. You will have a quorum. That's really my point. That's the main thing. Okay. Do we have a

motion to reschedu the May 28th meeting 2025 to June 3rd, 2025? I'll make the motion to approve. Second. We have a roll call vote. Has Dr. Yes. William Hutton? Yes. Kathleen Hill? Yes. Four eyes, zero nays. Motion pass. All right. Anything else to fire from the staff? Um well, with that being said that we've changed the meeting, we are expecting um two cases for this meeting and that we now rescheduled. I assume you are expecting meetings for June 24th. We'll play that by year. Okay. All right. Any public comment? You have a motion to adjourn. I make that motion. I'll second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you.