Board of Adjustment - Regular Meeting

all right well welcome everyone um part of our agenda today is appointing board seats so um Amy if you wouldn't mind just kicking off the meeting and then we can get to that okay I will call the meeting to order at 11:30 um roll call of board members Amy Tate Timber Sarah mud Al Edwards Adam fro great um do we have any um additions to the agenda okay um so we need an approval of the minutes from December 4th so mve second okay um I think correct the three of us are are alternates voting too no no we have who who who are remind us who's yeah I yeah I Adam and Edwards are alter that's okay great so yes you're voting okay all right that work okay um all in favor say I I I okay um we don't have any old business new business um welcome new board alternate members um it's nice to have some backups we haven't had that in a while so that's great very nice um and then we need to elect officers we do a chair a vice chair and a secretary um would you continue be willing to continue this chair I was to nominate you I would prefer to nominate you we have to like Ro B for it or exactly um sure I I think that's fine I mean we have to

vote on it but what about you okay that sounds great okay um who would like to be Vice chair I'll do that okay and then Sarah would you mind serving as secretary I be happy to and I guess what that entails is um you don't have to take notes they still take notes but um officially what what does that entail feel like that I was that at some point but I don't think I did anything you know historically your staff um serves as your reporting secretary um so it I guess in the absence of the ability staff to Ser that capacity okay so I would entertain a motion to approve the previously mentioned slate of officers so Mo say second okay all in favor hi I great okay so um next up is our file 2444 for Meadows Drive do I need to read the statement or do you the staff present first yeah so we um we did provide a script we do that with the Planning Commission and um we think it works really well so if the chair wouldn't mind getting the opening script okay um the lake sorry just open it again and I do have a physical copy too if you need it that might be better at one point I ruined my screen so it's not as dark or it's too dark okay great um the Lake County Board of adjustment will now conduct a public hearing the statement I am reading shall be incorporated into and made part of the record on these proceedings the board of adjustment has jurisdiction to conduct a public hearing on a zoning variance application under Section 3 .

21.4 of the Lake County Land Development code the purpose of this hearing is to consider whether the zoning variance application should be approved in considering that matter the board of adjustment will address the approval criteria set forth in section 3. to 1.5 of the Lake County Land Development code the the procedure to be followed in this hearing will be as follows one members of the the board will disclose any expar Communications to County staff will make an initial presentation three the applicant May then make their presentation four after that any other persons either supporting or opposing the application may present evidence um I don't think we have a big enough crowd that we need to limit to a number of minutes at this point um supporting and opposing Witnesses may be questioned by the board once questioning is concluded no further question is permitted unless granted by the chair the applicant May then present any rebuttal evidence the parties and Witnesses are asked not to submit redundant irrelevant or cumulative EV evidence if someone has already made the point that you wish to make simply say so the chair will also require that all comments be made to the board and that there be no dialogue between the applicant and members of the audience at the conclusion of the the evidentiary portion of the hearing the chair will entertain a motion to close the evidentiary portion of the hearing and the board will discuss and weigh the evidence then there will be a motion to close the discussion phase of the public hearing the chair of the board of adjustment will entertain a motion on the application the motion may take the form of the following recommendations approve the application with no conditions approve the appliation with recommended conditions

approve the application with newly defined newly identified conditions or deny the application the planning director shall make a record of any substantial discussion on the motion and include that in the record the board's decision will be in the form of a finding of fact are there any objections to the jurisdiction of the board or to the form of substance of these proceedings okay hearing none I will now ask each Board of adjustment member if you've had any expart communication to disclose it and if so it's redundant and if so disclose them now I've had no expart take indications concerning the application I have not I reach out your resident asking about plowing and stuff but we did not discuss the application okay I've had no communication with the applicants I have asked some clarifying questions of Staff but that's it had some conversations with the homeowners prior to my position to this board okay uh we live in the same neighborhood so at that time I was a concerned resident okay um excuse me just one minute before we going is this a continuation of the prior hearing think that's true is that true we did have to Ren notice it so um we didn't set a date at that time so I guess what would it be Define us oh okay so there was not continued to a date certainly there was not okay so it is it is a continuation but there's new evidence that's been brought forward but the evidence presented the prior prior hearing is still still relevant okay okay no thank you for asking that

um okay I guess County staff may now make their initial or continued presentation than you all right I'm just share this except I don't see it so I actually don't need it so um as we just discussed this is a continuation of the hearing from December 4th 2024 um the board decided that we would give the applicants a little bit more time to um present evidence to justify variants and so just for for those for those new members we'll just do a quick overview of of what staff discussed in their first staff report um this is a variance request it is a um request for a 10 foot relief from the side set facts and um staff through a zoning review determined that um the pineer and Subdivision plat called out a plat note that the building setback shall be 20 ft and so we made the determination that that meant me the building setback was 20 ft on all sides and so um the applicants to build their desired three-bedroom home are requesting that that 10t relief from the side setback and initially um their argument was that the um to if they were granted this variance that they could preserve some of the Open Meadow there is a parcel to the east that is labeled as conservation development within the with within the Lake County comprehensive plan um and so they thought that that was um in line with the definition of conservation development um there are also Wetlands that are near the parcel but not on the parcel and so they wanted to stay kind

of as far away from um those Wetlands as possible so that was kind of the basis of the first argument however the board came back and and wanted to see more um more planning specifically around the utilities or the septic system and so the applicants did come back with their septic system design they worked with Plat River Group LLC to finalize that design and through the design report the engineers um they found a high level of clay and rock in the soil and so that is a very impermeable um material and you need a permeable material for the soil treatment area and so um that requires a mounded system and also a mounted system is required because of the high water table located on the lot and through um discussions with David Wilson our former owts um or environmental health specialist he said that that was um pretty unique to the subdivision he hadn't he hadn't um worked with any perits that that showed a high level of clay content in the soil and so um when this happens a larger septic system or owts design is required and so the engineer came back with a two mounted septic system for soil treatment area and um really to meet all of the SEPTA required for the septic system and the home um the applicants argue that that um the the side setback variant is is necessary to build their desired home and um while we didn't while we weren't

provided a design of smaller home and a smaller septic system to see if a home could be fit um within the within the 20ft setbacks um David Wilson confirmed that it would have to be significantly smaller to fit with in those setbacks just due to the orientation of the lot um and so that is really the new evidence that has been brought forward to staff and I did want to make one additional note um just to re reiterate this there is ploted access to the lot but there's not currently constructed access to the lot it was previously a condition of approval that they proved that access but we're going to look at that during a zoning review anyway so we decided to um kind of keep it keep it within that and and um not add it as a condition of the so the original the desired square footage of the home is 2300 ft right correct so what would be what is there any further definition of what smaller would be no that's that's what we can't quite determine um but just based on the size of the septic system so David said if they were to come back with a smaller home it would still need to be a two- mounted system um and with the same the same dimensions not exactly it would be slightly smaller but he said the soil treatment area would still have to be fairly significant um okay and I have one clarification to um if

um anybody has had expar communication are they still allowed to discuss and you know Give opinions and that sort of thing [Music] um um I would say that um it is up to uh I think in in respect to Adam's uh communication with the applicant um they might want to minimize their his particular um discussion and involvement within it he is of course not going to be a voting member today um but I think that um you might suggest that you may want to think about just clarifying questions but but I think there has been an identification that perhaps there was a little bit of advocacy but we allow you to Define that in sorry I just want to make I haven't had that experience before so um okay um so next up we can have the applicant make their presentation I'm not sure if you have an additional one from last time or um nothing major um CC does a great job on explaining kind of the situation uh we did kind of highlight some of the peculiar first of all sorry janess couldn't be here she had to go away on work and so it was unfortunate for us to be able to make the timing I happen to be on winter break so I could make it during the day so last time I don't know if you saw me I was attending from my classroom um but yeah so she couldn't make it today uh the other thing that she had mentioned was the peculiarities of the site had come up earlier and wanted to quickly talk about that the clay being a peculiarity with regard to the septic system and then also the idea that we found this is one

of I think the only correct me if I'm wrong subdivision that has less than 2.5 acre lots that has 20 foot side setbacks all setbacks in Lake County for lot sizes that are ours are 10t side set backs and 20 foot from the front so this that is peculiar to our location um and just doing a drive around I did ask um I put in a request for information about what the current side setbacks are on a lot of the houses in our neighborhood most of them don't necessarily fall inside the 20 ft a lot of them fall outside the 20 ft already um and so I'm I'm looking at some of the the prior ilcs and site surveys just to see are we are we out of whack with the rest of the community in that area and it doesn't feel like we are I don't have S Sur to share with you but as driving around and looking and checking out the aerial maps and trying to see what I can find it felt peculiar to be in that size what's your lot size uh 44 or 411 sorry 3939 so um significantly under the 2.5 acres that re the 20 foot setbacks in the rest of Lake County in the zoning areas like I said any of the others within Lake County have that 20 foot 10 foot and you know when I was reading the plat it's it's kind of ambiguous it says 20 foot setback something to that effect it doesn't which could have been indicated 20 foots FX from the road and maintaining status quo with Lake County 10 footx from the side it's um

not stated set Backs from the side and the front this 20 set back on the original plat from 196 something it's a it's kind of a deep dive into Lake County history with some of the plat stuff so um if you have any questions I don't know if I can provide anything more but happy to answer anything you guys have I just would clarify that the um plant does preate so yeah yeah I had no idea so it would be in my estimation assume that it's 20 ft all around um as many other flats that were pre are zoning that's that's what that entails as the county the 20t perimeter side said backs to other Lots in the subdivision I don't know if staff I don't know if staff investigated that um the ones I did look at yes um I can't speak for all of them so we don't have files for all of them still um but yeah we would like to point out that this is this is our determination you know and it is our determination moving forward and so past Past reviews you know shouldn't shouldn't influence this decision um okay does anybody else have questions is there anybody online I don't think so the other thing you know it's like uh

it's a pretty modest home I mean we're not asking for any foot edge to edge house so I don't know if that matters or not but okay um anybody else have questions or anything for the applicants I don't necessarily have any I appreciate everything in the application and the scrutiny I guess from the December 4th meeting on um you know what what the the influence or those those peculiar ities were um and it does seem that um with that you know increasing regulations and whatnot on Wastewater systems um and your intent and the application to talk the house a little further out of the view shed um seems well intended um so I don't have any large concerns over the application I guess I would out ask fellow member Adam fraud sorry um I I am curious like how I mean thinking about City or other uh subdivisions from your experience in your neighborhood do you think that that setback imposes on snow storage or other issues I don't believe so yeah okay okay CU that's really all that I could think of um any any unforeseen sure things and then I did add had as staff you know were there other variances or exceptions um in the neighborhood just and not wanting to open up the box of you know all these other exceptions coming in but your neighborhood is one pretty well built

out I think yeah I think we I tuned into the last meeting that we had and I think that you guys stated there were maybe five undeveloped properties maybe six somewhere in that I did I looked at the inventory um it yes so they that that is what I found um what I will say is many of these systems are aged though and so upon conveyance to a new buyer this is going to be you'll see Replacements because typically with systems of this age and with this type of um it doesn't happen very often this County in my experience but with the clay and everything they're going to have to update their systems um upon sale and so there will be you know depends on when people sell but there will be Replacements needed in the future that this will become in my estimation an issue in this area yeah because these size Lots by modern standards were not be developed M to comply with um septic regulations and they only get more restrictive yeah so I while I see something in here that says it's not it's not um causing precedent I I feel that this may cause precedent in especially in some of our other subdivisions that have the small lots and so not to say that you know one way or the other we should approve it or not just saying this is going to become a thing right um no longer am I in my real estate business recommending people buy one lot in panarch I'm recommending they buy two and I won't list Lots

unless there's one or unless there's two yeah I won't even list a single lot because of this potential future thing a lot of listings 46 and33 small the 33 is especially the 46 is you can still sort of get away with it cu the soil out there is not clay um but the 33s I definitely um lose a lot of listings that way and somebody else sells them but it's going to be it's going to be a thing yeah and I didn't mention this in this hearing I I spoke about it in the last hearing but yeah today for New Lots that utilize a well and septic they need to be two and a half acres M for one residence MH w anarch has the advantage of not having Wells they have a community well system so that also kind of helps that situation yeah and I guess I'd offer I agree this is going to be we're going to see more and more of that um I'd offer that I don't I don't think that the application isn't going to cause that it's that it's that nature of all the subdivisions and this is just the first of many that we might see um Tri by that regulation those regulations one thing I should point out that was in the um septic design report they were kind of looking into why is there clay in the soil and they were thinking maybe the clay was brought over the mountain range from for's ditch historically so there's the potential that it's not present in all Lots in the subdivision mhm okay it could be very to something yeah because it's it's very unusual for um that to be present in this location okay that's a good point I think I did see that in there actually that word

Stitch I just I forgot one other thing um the neighbor on the on of conservation development he sent a letter I believe supporting the variant and that's the direct neighbor to the East and um direct neighbor to the west didn't send anything but he obviously is within that 10 foot step back on that side and the second neighbor to the west I called him he said he was going to send a letter uh he didn't send it yet but um so there is support among the two black neighbors that bought the property so did we receive that yeah it was an email um and it said that they had no issue with the variant so I should have fored that on but I did not um were those owners with houses already on the lot or are they vacant land owners it's the property owner to the east so I think it's 30 something yeah Y and that property owner is exploring um a conservation m i was talk the other ones in the subdivision that you were saying uh one has that cabin on it okay shabin yeah I don't know what to call it yeah um and then then the other one is not got um go ahead just I don't I wouldn't suspect but Adam again are there old like covenants in there or staff that have like fences allowed or anything like that which would cause some kind of black and white discrepancies between neighbor uses not to my knowledge changing

okay but there's yeah there's no way to enforce the covenants either righten yeah yeah okay yeah shouldn't shouldn't uh mix the coven any Covenant the organization with the plat the issue is the plat not necessarily yeah thanks okay any more comments from the applicant or is there anything else you can us okay well I guess I would entertain a motion to close the public hearing so moved sure okay all in favor I I okay um so now we'll talk amongst ourselves but of course in the room but um for this part um okay I'm open to comments suggestions I'll go I would first like to thank the applicant for working with this County staff U to bring forth this Rev ized application thank you I know it undeadly involved time and expense but it was well worth it um I was concerned at the prior meeting about standards and how the county standards apply to the application with respect to special circumstances and the uniqueness uh I am more than satisfied now that the application meets the standards in the in the development code and I will support the gran

I agree yeah I don't have any other questions or large concerns okay you like to I agree too after reviewing everything and listening to what's been said and I think it's reasonable to granted I suppose we well we'll we'll let you off the hook this time um I do appreciate the extra information um that has come about especially with the septic um I I think that apart from building a smaller house it doesn't seem you know it seems that that still wouldn't make a difference on the sides of the septic um cuz it's only going from three bedrooms to two bedrooms to score footage is not actually it'll determine the place on the lot um and how much it covers of the lot but um not so much the size of the septic um so I'm also um in favor of the the variance okay you ready for a motion I'm ready for a motion I move the board of adjustment approve file number 24-44 the request for 10t relief from the building side set back at 16 Meadows Drive Leadville Colorado 80461 for the following conditions one the variant shall expire in 3 years from the date granted if a billing permit is not issued two all statements made in the application and hearing shall be considered conditions of approval unless they conflict with any other conditions of approval and also move that the board find that the approval criteria in Section 3 21.5 of the development code

have been met as evidence in the staff reported the staff report which is a revised report dated 225 second okay um any further discussion nothing for me okay all in favor say I I I okay very thank you thank you thank you um I guess that I'll entertain a motion to to close um today's meeting mov second okay all in favor just leave hi all right you get half an hour of your day back