Board of Zoning Appeals - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the town election and board of zoning appeals meeting. This board is comprised of town citizens. We are appointed by town council and we serve without pay. We are legal board operating under the comprehensive planning act of the state of South Carolina. Although this meeting may not seem as formal as a hearing in court, all statements must be true and factual and not man not made in a manner to mislead us. Please understand that we must make our decisions within the parameters of state law. State law requires us to grant a variance if and only if we find each of the following four statements are true. Number one, there are extraordinary and exceptional conditions pertaining to a particular piece of property in question because of its size, shape, or topography. Number two, these conditions do not generally apply to other properties in the vicinity. Number three, because of these conditions, the application of the ordinance to a particular piece of property would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the utilization of the property. And number four, the author authorization of a variance would not be of substantial detriment to adjacent property or the public good or the character and the character of the district will not be harmed by granting this variance. Moreover, state law prohibits us from granting a variance simply because the property could be used more profit profitably if the variance was granted. We are not concerned with the use of the property. The use of the property is determined by others. We ask that you confine your remarks to the issue at hand. Should we make a decision you believe is incorrect, you may appeal our decision to the circuit court within certain time limits provided by state law. In cases such as that, excuse me, in cases that such an appeal is made, it is important that the circuit court know who testified at this meeting. Please sign in, please sign the sign-in sheet and identify yourself before speaking. Thank you. I am Troy Fight and uh we'll call

our meeting to order. Um I see deletions on the agenda. Okay. And under new business, variance 26 2026-1V. I hear from staff, please. Good evening. Barry and Donna Stamy have requested a variance from the town of Lexington's non-portable shed setback requirements to allow a non-portable shed to be located 1t 3 in from the adjacent property line at 100 Kelway Circle. The zoning ordinance requires non-portable sheds to maintain a five a minimum 5 foot setback from adjacent property lines.

Okay. Any questions for staff at this point? No. Is someone here to speak on this? Please approach the podium. Please state your name and your address for the record, please. My name is Barry Stamy. Address is 100 Kway Circle, Lexon, South Carolina 29072. and I'm Donna Stamy. Thank you for coming.

So, what do you have to tell us, Mr. Stamy? Um, obviously the reason we're here is to see about the variance uh on our property. Um, we had moved, we've been residents of Lexing for approximately 20 years and just after our children were grown and off with families, we needed to downsize considerably. So, we did and we moved to Birkshshire neighborhood. um in in June of last year and after we had gotten rid of a massive amount of stuff knew that we were still going to need a building and so we looking at our property and I know you have a uh I know you have a plat of our property looking at the plat of our property we're trying to look and say hey where's the where's the best place that we could put this based on the way our property is laid out and so we decided on the on the right side of our house looking at our house because that is a short piece and on our backyard as you look at that past our patio about 6t back it is about a 45 degree drop off so there's no you know they want the they want the outside storage sheds to be in the backyard behind a fence that's not possible on our property because of the 45 degree angle drop off there's and we didn't it's not like we have a large building it's it's 8 feet wide 8 by6 it's not a large building and so we decided it would fit right there on the right side of our house all the way back toward the back of our property as far as it would go is where we decided we would do that. Okay. And so before we even and so once we decided that we had talked with our neighbor Carol Brantley and said, "Hey, here's we want to put a building right here. It is going to be close to your fence because there's not 5T I mean there's only about 12 ft from our house to her fence. So there wouldn't even be enough room. we would have to cram it up against our our siding to make it even fit there. Um, but we talked with her, told her where it was going to be, what it was going to

look like, and she did not have a problem with that. And so what we did at that point, we looked for some buildings and went and looked around, looked at several ones, decided on Phoenix buildings, which is here in Lexington. Um, got a u a detailed plaque of what that looked like, the color, the materials, everything. Got the cost. Um, and talked to the the owner there. And he was like, "Well, you may need a building permit." And I was like, "Okay, so what do we need?" And he goes, "No, wait. What's your address?" And, uh, he said, "No." He said, "Because the building, you're not going to need any of that." Okay. And we were just kind of went by his thinking he was a professional. He does this for a living. Okay, then we don't need one. And that's why we didn't initially come to the town to, hey, we need to get a building permit for this. Okay.

Sure. What he said was if it was a larger building, because when we first went in, he said, "Where do you live?" We told him he lived in the town. And he said, "Okay, you might need a building permit." And we're like, "Okay." And he said, "Well, let's see which one you're going to get." We told him it was going to have to be small. and he's okay well good news is that size of building you don't have to get one it was basically presented to us as the the rules were based on the size of the building we didn't know that we should question that we so anyway which turned out not to be true right um and and we apologize for that

and apparently that's told to a lot of people is what we found out from from this builder or from this place who does the buildings so that being said u we went ahead and got all the information we took pictures I think you have all the information we took pictures of the building where it's located at, what our yard looks like in the backyard. Um, and we got all that information and we submitted that to the HOA board, the architectural board who has to approve that. And so about a week later, we got a letter back that said, "Hey, that's approved." We had a very detailed letter of where it was going to be, what size going to be, the color, what the materials is made of, and once they come out, it's exactly what it was. What we submitted is exactly what we have. Um, so at at that point that's my wife's a home mom was at work one day and someone from Lexon County had come by and said and and looked in the yard said, "Hey, uh, you need a uh a building permit for that and told us where to come to." And so we came, you know, she called me at work. I left work. We came that day and talked to this young lady here and she told us, "Hey, you need to get, you know, you're going to have to get a a variance hearing for that." And so we that's obviously why we're here and get that scheduled. Um and then after that,

okay, and then after we did that, okay, we went back and we were trying to get our stuff in order because we knew we had about a month to get everything together. So we wanted our approval from the HOA and we also wanted to talk to Carol and ask her if she would mind to just put it in writing that we did talk to her because at the time we didn't know. There was another issue with talking to Carol as well because we have one of those big 3x3x3 utility boxes in in our front yard in the corner. So, we also needed to make sure she was okay with us coming through her driveway because there's no other access to our backyard. There's just no other way to do it. And she was fine with that. So, after we um realized we needed to get a permit, we asked her if she would mind putting that in writing. And she said absolutely, no problem, type something up and I'll sign it. So,

which we have that letter with us today. Okay. Where she had signed that. And uh just to read this, let me just read this. It says, uh, "My name is Carol Brley. My address is 118 Cottage Lane, Lexon, South Carolina. My property is adjacent to 100 Kellway Circle, which is owned by Barry and Donna Stamy. Prior to purchasing their building, Barry came to me and told me he was planning to place a 8 by6 in storage building at the back of his property between his home and mine. He told me it would be close to the privacy fence because of the limited space and ask if there were if I had any issues with that. I told him I did not have a problem with the storage building or the placement of it and it has her signature on that and so I can give that to whoever needs that. Would you like to see a copy as well?

Yes, please. This is Carol here. Okay, you can I'll take them to the bench. Oh, you I gave That's the only I'll bring it up. That's the original needed for the record. Yeah, that's fine. On top. Yeah.

Okay. So, bringing us to last week, um we had an HOA meeting, our annual meeting where the board listened to concerns about the unfinished building. And um the board assured the residents that there would be an HOA approved privacy fence because that is in the gallons. That's also in our HOA um request when we want to do the building. but because there's only way to get one way to get in. We had to get the building there before we could build the fence. So, that has not been done. The board assured the residents that that would be placed in when and if the variance was approved. They also confirmed that the submitted plans and placement are exactly what we submitted to the board and they stand with their approval. Um, of course, after that meeting, we went on and got the letter to Carol. The next day we talked to her again, make sure nothing had changed. She said that it was fine and she um without hesitancy signed the the letter for us to bring today.

So looking at, you know, going over what you had initially said at the beginning as far as the the shape of our yard, the shape of our yard restricts where we can put this building. There's nowhere in our yard because of the shape of our yard cuz it goes straight down one way and it's angled this way and then drops off and then drops off in the back. There's not 5 ft anywhere unless we put it in the front yard and obviously we're not going to do that.

Um um as far as other properties in the neighborhood, there's there's not other properties in the neighborhood that's ours is kind of a specific one. All the probably 90% of the properties in our neighborhood are able to have a building in the backyard because they don't have the kind of drop off. Yes. Now, there are a couple that also that are in the same situation as us. So, it's not like we're the only one, right? But the majority of our homes have decentiz backyards where and there are other other buildings in yards in our neighborhood,

right? And um you know there's like I said before there's really no other you know if we don't get the variance there's no other place for us to put the building. There's really not. And when we looked at where we were going to put it we tried to put it as far it's as far back as we can actually put the building. And once we put the privacy fence up and my plan is to put the large pallet oak palm trees up which will kind of overshadow I mean you you have to actually turn your head and look back. It's not it's not like you can drive by and it's like here's this big building. It matches the exact color of sighting on our home. It wasn't an inexpensive building. It was it was an expensive one. And so um and as far as the other thing, the adjacent property, you know, I have the sign letter from Carol. She's finally we've talked with her several times regarding this. Um,

and that's something else that I was going to say as far as the placement. The yards from our yard down towards the front of the neighborhood, which would go by Carol's house, and they go they kind of slope they kind of slope down. So, it's already got a drainage situation where it goes down on the outside of the hill. So, it has not in any way affected the drainage. No runoff. It's it's kind of already set for that. So it um you can actually get behind our building. It's you know like was it 15 in or whatever. So it is you can get back there if you needed to things like that as well. So, she didn't have any concerns and

plus and then through the uh with the HOA's um approval to me that just says they know that it's a nice building and it doesn't look any different than the other buildings in the neighborhood other than the placement. Okay, that's all we got. Any questions for the applicants? Uh you're pretty specific on the 1 foot 3 in from the property line. Yes, sir. Uh how did you come up with that? And was it surveyed in or No, no. What happened was when I knew we had to do this, I think that's a field on the application for the variance and I went outside with a ruler to see exactly how far it was. But is that the from the fence or the property line?

That's from the the fence is on the property line. That's what we were told. So, you don't know that for sure. That's right. That's what Carol said the fence was on the property. Yeah. We don't have a survey. We do not have a survey of that. And I basically I measured from the fence to the the back of the building. Well, we have no way of knowing if that if we grant a variance that it's going to be 1 foot 3 in. That's the problem because that's what you're asking for.

I mean, we can take that detail out. I mean, I I don't we were just put that the variance can't be as general as to just say you haven't. You're asking for a specific setback because you've gone against it. Um, you stated a couple of times, well, let me not speak. Is Go ahead. No, I'm sorry. Please. I'm done. Brad, do you have anything? No, not yet. Gentlemen, right? Okay. You stated a couple times there's nowhere else in the yard that it could go. Yes, sir.

And where was that? Cuz I'm looking at I understand the drop off. I do understand the drop off. I've seen your photographs. I see a lot of other space. It's but would you take away the five foot when you take away the five foot on the other side it's going to be right on I mean it literally probably be touching our home it's doing that now well there's about 3 ft from from our home to where it is now sir the other question you said as far back as you can go looking at the photographs that you've provided seems to be some blocking that was required to level it is that correct

it is just Because it our house it comes down there's the yard. That's the drainage situation your wife mentioned. Yes sir. Again looking at the yard and the pictures that you provided I see two trash cans. Yeah. Behind the building that are sitting those are typically I'm not I'm not a trash guy but I've got trash cans. And when I built my corral for mine I know I built it four feet. So I'm guessing that's about 8 feet of space there. Is there a reason we didn't because you were able to level it? Speak. I I was polite and let you speak. I'm going to try to keep speaking. Okay. Sorry. Is there a reason we didn't take advantage of that space to at least get it behind your home?

Yes, sir. Cuz when he brought it in, the guy the machine that he brought it in, he couldn't do it from the other side. He had to pick it up from that side and pull it in that direction is what he told us. And so he had to be able to get out. And so there was very minimal space with a piece of equipment that he used and able to make a turn there to get out. Okay. What is this? Is this a picture of the other side of your house that was submitted? Yes, sir.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, sir. Is anyone here to speak against the variance? My name is uh Joe Tansing and I am a former president of the association and I'm speaking largely in behalf of myself. Okay. I came across this issue just a couple of weeks ago uh because I wasn't paying close attention. I live closer to the front of the subdivision. But to make a long story short, I had never encountered in my five years as president an invariance issue. And I thought, well, let's go, Joe, and find out what this is all about. It's fun stuff, baby.

Well, your opening two or three minutes was revealing to me, you know, that there is a space in between the two houses by law that has to be maintained, that has to be upheld and and I don't think this is, but that's but so there's two issues here. There's a various issue which you people are involved with. But the issue that many of our neighbors have got involves the building itself, the placement of the building, the size of the building, uh why it's on the sideyard and not in the backyard. And as president, uh we revised this the covenants during my term. It had been written by the builder uh Sentax and it was largely about them and what they're going oh they were gone and I thought it's time for us to buff that out and put in where we're going now. And so it came across the fact that that these buildings were going to be part of Birkshire. And and the important thing to think about right now is that the first eight or 10 or 12 or 15 years of that place, nobody left unless they died. The original owners came in, they kept. So there was a spirit about this new place, this new Bergkshire that was very, very important. And and that maintained itself in these documents. We just presumed, I guess, that we would always have people around that understood that the building should be behind and not looking from the street buildings. And it's contained in nice coverings, by the way. One little sentence that says it should be behind the house. It can be almost anything you want, but has to be you can't be seen from the street. Well, this has been seen from the side street. It's you can there it is. That's an issue. And there'll be others if the people will come up with pictures and things that talk about the building itself. You're talking about the variance and that's kind of cool. I hadn't really didn't know much about that sort of thing. That's issue number one. But issue number two is what does the neighborhood think about that building. And the third and final issue that I would make is that I am confused

about how it was approved to begin with. You know, I I know it was I know that Darby or whatever his name was did it, but he didn't do it in relation to these covenants which clearly state should be behind the house. It is a very large building. It's the largest thing out there next to the homes. I'm not complaining. I'm not casting any stones. I'm really making an observation of God's been there for 16 of the 23 years. And it's, you know, it's unsettling to me finally that this has caused this kind of division in the neighborhood because we've never had that either. It's been pretty much the same old gang the last two or three years. Some of that gang has left gone to their internal home. And that's kind of sad because those were people that were on my board that helped build that neighborhood that helped make it the very popular place. Homes don't last there much more than a few days or maybe a week or two. They sell quickly because why? because it has been maintained to a certain standard. A certain standard. And that did not include buildings on the sidey guard. Okay? You know, that was a small lot. It was a small house. Uh it was only going to contain so much to start with. Uh not not more. So again, I'm not trying to be nasty or carping or be in any way insulent. It's just that it's a departure from what Birkshire has been about for 23 years. I'm sure other people have got things to say and I wanted to provide a context for whoever's going to step forward.

That does not protect the investment we have in our house. That does not protect the investment and that is a concern. I mean this is in my case that's a pretty good size investment I have. I'm an 80y old guy. I'm done working. I'm done getting bonuses, you know. I'm done cashing them big checks. I'm now cashing them to the people I have to hand them to. It's a reverse cash. Anybody have any you have a picture you want to show or Okay. Thank you, Mr. Ty Singer. I appreciate that.

My name is Barbara King and I'm a neighbor there. I've lived there 10 years and u one of the reasons we moved there was because the neighborhood was so it was a close neighborhood and it was look very wellkept and people pretty much listen you know paid attention to the rules. Can I hand you this picture? Yes, of course. This is what it looks like. Yes, ma'am. We have that that's in our package. Okay. This is between between this two houses in color. Yeah, concrete block. Mhm.

And the lady that um the lady that lives next door, the lady that lives next door, I have a letter from her that she u opposes it. She does not want it there. She opposes it. It keeps her from getting into accessing some of her property. Um and also all of this would be from the front. This is the back of the house. So, it starts actually at the back of the house and goes back. And one of the concerns, too, is this is so close to these two houses. Were they a fire, I mean, both those houses would probably go, but um we just want to keep our neighborhood the way it is. That's one reason people we never have to advertise. We never have to advertise to sell a house because it's such a well-known, well-kept neighborhood and we have people calling wanting to know if we that we have a house coming up for sale. Um, our former president couldn't be here tonight, but he gave me some um notes to say. He said, "The building is not on a good foundation, the block is leaning, and the ARB does not review utility easement. This is covered on city building permit and any part of the building on the easement will should be fireproof materials and the building starts on side of the house not in the back. So it actually starts right at the side of the house. It doesn't start on the back of the house. And and it's just nothing like we've had in our neighborhood. And we just we want to keep our neighborhood the way it is. And um and I don't understand if I were looking at property and I knew I was going to have to have a storage building, I don't

think I would look at anything that didn't have proper room 5 ft for for a storage building. So any questions? Uh the letter that you have, is that from Miss Brantley as well? Can we see that, please? Um, and any any letters or pictures will need to be given to the clerk once you're done. Okay. Well, that's not That's not Miss Brley. That's Lynn Kane. Oh, that I'm sorry. That's another neighbor. Okay. Okay. So, it's from Lynn Kaine. This is from Lynn Kaine. Do you want me to read it into the record? Please. Please.

Okay. It states, "My name is Lynn Kaine, a homeowner in Birkshshire subdivision in the town of Lexington since 2005. I will be unable to attend the zoning board meeting tonight per doctor's recommendation. However, I do want my voice heard regarding the variance request regarding the storage shed in question at 100 Kelway Circle measuring 19 ft long and 12 feet in height. I am opposed to allowing the shed at this property because one shed doesn't meet the architectural standards in the HOA bylaws. Page two, top paragraph stated, "An improvement, modification, or change to a structure which cannot be seen from any street or other lot within the community, but prohibit the same improvement if it can be seen from any street or any other lot. This large shed can be seen from the street and the back of the shed next to the neighbor fence can be seen approximately five to seat six feet above the six-foot fence. All the neighbors for at least five homes can see the large structure as they walk out their back doors. Another neighbor recently purchased a shed and after it was declined was told by an HOA board member she couldn't have it because it didn't meet guidelines. regarding it was not 5 ft from the fence. She had to return the shed as it would not fit in her yard. If this variance is allowed for another homeowner is requesting he allowed to place his shed 1 ft 3 in from fence will certainly not meet the standard. If allowed, this would look like favoritism and not equal treatment for community homeowners. If allowed, this could be setting a precedent for the future when homeowners feel they can get by with

doing all as they please without asking for approval upfront. I do not feel the homeowners plan to plant trees will solve the issues. How do you plant trees in a 1 foot 3 in space? Plus, how long will it take for a tree to grow to cover a 12t high shed? the homeowner knew or should have known the shed was too large to fit in his yard. Allowing him to keep the shed as is would certainly um be unfair to other community homeowners who have abided by set forth guidelines which has led to the being a well sought after for many people wanting to live in Birkshshire and she lives at 104 Cottage Green Lane. You did you did good reading a handwritten letter.

She's got beautiful handwriting. Thank you. Anything else? That's it. Anyone else like to speak? Want me to put in your record? Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am. I'll take that as well. Thank you. I'm Marcia Smith and my husband and I, Leon, we have lived in Birkshshire for eight years. We love it there. And I served on the architectural review board. I mean, we've we've got our book here, a big book that everybody has in their house. We asked them to keep it for, you know, keep it for new people that move in. Well, as the architectural review person, you know, it talks about um the ARB is made up of members appointed by the board of directors. Well, hey, I was the only member, the only ARB member for several years. So, uh I never approved an ARB form just by myself. You know, if somebody fill one out, it came to me. But hey, I wouldn't I wouldn't approve that thing by myself. I got all these people in my neighborhood. I've got people on the HOA. So when I got one of these forms, I made sure somebody else signed it. Not just one person that signed this form. Only one person that was not who wasn't active as an ARB person. I would go to the HOA president and they would sign the form too. We had at least two signatures on the form always. Um I welcomed the new neighbors. I went to visit new people that came into our neighborhood. Yeah. I'd sit down with them. I'd go over the book. I'd go over the architectural uh review board rules. I

wanted them to know about and I mean even at annual meetings I'll let people please look at this book and please look at the architectural standards about construction paint siding brick roof exterior lighting fences decks patio sheds driveways mailboxes etc. B, please look at this. I know this has nothing to do with the variance, but I want you to know that that only one person in our neighborhood signed that form, approved it. He shouldn't have done that. You know, it should have it should have been looked at by someone else in the HOA truly. It should have been signed by another person. Uh but anyhow, yeah, I I welcomed the neighbors, sat down with them and showed them. And I can tell you this, if they had bought brought that form to me, I would not have approved it. I knew the former lady that lived there. She'd been there for many years. I knew what her backyard was like. There was no backyard. No backyard. Um, and our door where my husband and I live. We're three doors over from the Stamy's. Our door was open the day that the shed was delivered to their house. And I was wondering where is this building going to be placed because the yard is so small. And I was so horrified when I saw that the shed, it wasn't in the backyard, you know, where you can't see it. is not supposed to be seen that it was placed in a very small area between their house and Carol Brantley's house for all to

see. Um, I like y'all, believe it or not, but I remember Barry telling me that they had moved from this house, this huge house over 4,000 square feet into Birkshshire, which and I mean they're in a much smaller house. And um he he had like rental units, storage sheds, you know, cuz he had so much stuff in this house, you know, what's he going to do with it all? But I have to tell you, I'm not a peeping tom, but my door is open and you see the people coming up the street. Uh but anyhow, when that storage unit, I mean, when I saw where it was, you know, where it was placed, well, Barry, he jumped in his truck and he started going. I know he was going to wherever the rental unit was, he had stuff in his truck. He's just driving it up, driving down the the side of the yard, the other side of the yard, taking it and putting it in the shed. That's what he was doing. This displaced storage shed. Um I don't agree with this. We we have rules there. There are so many there's emphasis placed on detached struct structures and the architectural standards. I mean there's many of them in here. I can I can read them to you if you want me to.

No, I've got the not necessary. Yeah.

I've got the pages here. But I want to I want to say something. You know, we these standards are here about these detached sheds and all, but you know, we we voted in an amendment in July 2023 by the residents, the Birkshshire people, and it was regarding ex exterior standards. And the explanation for this one was maintaining a cohesive look for all houses in the neighborhood helps keep our property values from decreasing. And this is what we want in the Birkshshire neighborhood. And that's all I have to say unless you have questions. No, here's the form if you'd like.

I've we've got that with the singer. Thank you, Miss King or Miss Smith. Excuse me. Marshia Smith. Marshia Smith. I did write it down so I would get it right and still didn't get it right. Her effort. Anyone else have anything to say that hasn't already been said? Okay. Um, we will now discuss. Do you have is anything you guys want to ask other than us chatting? I think I'm good. Okay. Yep.

All right. Just for the record, I want to start by personally saying to the members of the neighborhood in the HOA, we have no jurisdiction over your HOA. If we have to assume that what's put in front of us is true and is honest. And if we have a letter with a single signature, I tend to agree with you. As a former HOA president myself, I sign nothing alone, including checks. Everything has a backup. However, that is not under our jurisdiction with the variance. But I do appreciate you bringing that to our attention. So, just want to get that first. So, what we got folks? I want to hear your opinions. Well, kind of feels like our fourth requirement for a variance being not a substantial detriment to the adjacent property or the public good and the character of the district will not be harm.

Seems like the uh the fourth structure or fourth piece of our piece of our variance says that it cannot be of substantial detriment to adjacent property, public good or the character of the district will not be harmed by granting the variance. seems like we have quite a few neighbors who feel like it's going to be of substantial um harm to the district that they live in. Okay. I agree with that statement. I do too. Yep. I'd also like to know, Mr. Chairman, did they have to buy this size building? Maybe a smaller one would have fit better. I had that thought as well.

Yeah. And and I'm not here to fuss, but we get this more often than I'd like. We get put into a position to fix a situation that we didn't create. I'm sorry that you're builder or shed provider misled you. That's unfortunate. Um but it's putting us in a situation where I can probably I agree with Justin. I can probably add look at the first three and yeah, we could shoehorn something in, but based on letter and a couple of folks showing up and trust me, normally we're in this room by ourselves. Yeah.

And to see this number of people showing up, did you have an opportunity to buy a different size other than 16 by8? The smallest thing they had was 12. Okay. Also too, there was some question that let me Did you pick that up or do I need to repeat what he said?

Applicant stated that 8 by 12 was the smallest that they had. Um, also the placement and I'm going to do this really elementary. If this is your house and this is Miss Brantley's house over here ab up here. So the shed, this is the front. This is the back. Is this shed like this or like this? And I'm not worried about couple of inches, but is it overlaying the side of your home or is it in line with the rear corner of your home?

It's back. It is back. If our house is here, if this is our home and this is the back, this is the shed here. It sits like this. It's back toward the back part of our property. It's not sitting No, I'm saying it doesn't It's not this situation. If I came over and shoved the shed to the other side of your yard, I'm going to bump into your house is what you're saying. If I pushed it straight across your yard, am I going to bump into your house? Okay. Well, that was a It's like I'm teaching kindergarten here trying to figure out how to make this point. Not you, it's me. Yeah, that's not easy to demonstrate. Yeah.

Any other questions? No. No, sir.

Step up to the mic, please. We've been approached by several other neighbors who have apologized for the the things that have been said to us about this because no one several excuse me not no one several people have told us it is a nice building. We can the the fact that it was state that stated as fact that you can't see buildings from the front is is not true. It is not a true statement. The middle we have when you come down our street we're the on perimeter but there is a circle around the middle and people in that middle part also have a building and you can see it from wherever. It's not a true statement. It is a nice looking building. you almost have to it's it doesn't stand out. It was not an inexpensive building and it was not an inexpensive building. it. Um, and

and let me let me add one thing. you know, during our HOA meeting, I' I've got to during our HOA meeting, I know this has nothing to do with the variance, but I know, you know, as these people speak and you would not believe, and I know you being a president, you probably been to Ha meetings have been kind of hostile and different kinds of things, but we were told by one resident who come up here to speak that our property looked like a trailer park. And then another resident that came up here to speak earlier made the comment during the HOA meeting. Wouldn't it would be a shame it would be a shame if someone burned it if someone burned it to the ground.

Thank you. Those I'm going to I want to I want to No, I I'll let you speak now. It's my turn. Yes, sir. I will stop you next time. I'm not here for I I raised two daughters. I'm not here for he said she said. Right. I wasn't at your HOA meeting. I made it very clear that it has nothing to do with what we're doing here. Okay. I don't disagree with you that sometimes they can be hostile, but that's to use the colloquialism, y'all need to keep your laundry in your yard cuz that's not for here. Sure. Okay. What we're trying to get down to one moment, sir. What we're trying to get down to is based on what's put in front of us. And as I stated at the beginning of the meeting, we have four points

by state law. This is not something that the town of Lexington decided. This is not something that town council or the county decided. This is state law that we have four points that we have to meet. Right. And that's what we're trying to figure out right here. Yes, sir. May I say one more thing, please? Long as it doesn't have to do with the cost of the building because I'm also need to let you know that I could give a I don't care how much the building cost. No, I wasn't. I was going to say I I was saying that just because saying that it hurts the the feel of the neighborhood or whatever. That's the only reason I was saying it. We do not set I'm going to interrupt you because we're going over the same thing again. We do not set precedent, right?

If you were here and another family was here and the same thing was going on, it what we do for you, we don't do. We don't put one business. Everybody stands on what was put on this sheet by you in front of us based on state law. So, is it something new? Is it something that pertains to not an HOA issue? Yeah, pretty much. All right. I'm trusting you. No, I'm just I wrote your name down, Mr. Ty Singer. That's fine.

I have a gavvel. on so many lists now sir that really you have to be standing align I think um again the context context this is a variance which again I learned more in the first couple of minutes than uh it was interesting very fine and we do have a few buildings that uh you can see partially from the street the issue here is this is seen almost entirely from the street and that to me I'm going to stop you because I understand what you're saying I can see the photos. We've all seen them. Um, and I was not at the Hover A meeting. Miss King was nice enough to bring them to us in color to see them as well. Um,

the is a neat thing. That's a neat separate issue entirely and I'm with you guys on that. Uh, I didn't know much about the size event. That's the reason we're all We're here about once a month. You can call Jessica and come hang out. We're a fun bunch. I go to a lot of meetings, but anyway, but we're so fun. We added two people in the last two months. So, there you go. This is newbies. Yeah. All right. Thank you. I was not at the HOA meeting the other night, so wasn't me. And I will say just for my own purpose, going back to Mr. Tammy and all of you, everybody loves the HOA when it goes a certain way, but damn it, they don't show up for meetings unless something's on fire. All right. So, at this point, any other discussion from the board? No. Any other questions? No.

Do I have a motion? I'd like to make a motion to deny the variance. I have a motion on the table to deny the variance. Do I have a second? You have a second. I have a second. I'd like to have a roll call vote, please. Brad Cington. Uh, agree with the motion. Yes to the motion. Ron Fischer, yes to the motion. Troy, yes to the motion. Justin Brown, yes to the motion. Ryan, yes to the motion.

I'm sorry, you did not get your variance. Thank you. Um, while you're But uh, I listen to y'all. Y'all going to listen to me now. I want it's mostly for these people out there that don't come to town hall. I want to sincerely thank you all for coming out tonight driving in 5:00 traffic. We have to do it, too. That's why Justin barely made it. But more importantly, I want to thank you for being present. And we live in a world right now where everybody thinks if they get on this and Facebook that makes them part of government. That is not part of government. We appreciate you coming out. And as I stated earlier, there are town council meetings. There are these meetings. We have um planning meetings. And you said it, you ain't got nothing to do because you're retired. These are entertaining. And I do appreciate you coming. And I encourage you to be involved to come out and see because this staff here does amazing things for our town. And so much of the time what's what you read on Facebook and what you see out there is not true. Come and be involved. We we appreciate you being here. And that's

to tack on to that. We will be on meeting. Uh to tack on to that, I I encourage you all to sign up on our website to receive alerts about these meetings. Um we will have a vision plan um advisory committees starting soon of what the vision of the town should be and we would love to hear from you all and so it would be great if you sign up for that so that you will be notified when we have those stakeholder meetings to participate. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Um, we've got a little bit of left do. If anybody wants to leave, don't feel like you have to sit and listen to this part of it. We can take a couple minute break if somebody wants to go. Thank you.

You said you need this back. What is it? It's what you gave me. Your copy. No, you made me a copy. Sorry. I just want to say thank you to the panel. Thank you. Do you? No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't come up here joking, woman. Okay. I think right now

I think right now we're full on this committee, but see that lady right over there? That's Jessica. She's freaking awesome. share your name with her because and she can let you know the opportunities because occasionally we've had we were in training last year and one of our members had to quit during training because she was on two different boards. So, we ended up having to pull somebody quickly. Well, yes, ma'am. Do you know I'm approaching 25 years? I started on the parks I started on the parks board. Oh, sweetheart. Are you hitting on me, bro? There you go. Then we're on the same page.

Thank y'all very much. But dude, talk to talk to Jessica. There's plenty of opportunities. And if one of these dudes leave, I'd much rather have what you up here with me. So So what are you saying? You want one of us to leave? I didn't say that. If you sign up, it'll even send you our agendas so that you can see them. That is me. Auto60 square ft. They could have got 96. Okay. Reach out to me and I'll get you an application. Letter that they wrote. Y'all take care. The letter that they wrote. We'll wait. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. So, that finishes that. Um any business from the town or first off, uh minutes from last month? Um any changes, additions? Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? Make a motion to approve the minutes as written. Second. Second. All in favor say I. I. I. Brad can't vote. He wasn't here. So, minutes are approved. Um, anything upcoming other than the two guys on the end. Yeah. Have got like 37 hours worth of training to do. Brad is lucky because attorneys are um Uhuh. exempt from that training. So, Brad Brad does not have to do that. We won't torture him. I've already done 16 hours.

I get torture. Yes. Um so as far as an update with um next month we will have a meeting. I do have one application. Um that meeting will be held on hold please. March 5th. Right. No pressure. Um the 5th. Yeah. March the 5th. Right before March 5th. What do they call what is what does Haros call it? the whole week of before no that the festival that goes from the 6th all the way through St. Patrick's Day with events all the time. I don't know. Yeah. Anyways, sorry.

Fun times. Um, also with that, we are working with our sign consultant. Um, and we are hopeful to have stakeholder meetings for different prompts to get some feedback from the community in March. So, I know that y'all have all been um along that road with us as far as that is concerned. And so we we hope to have that in March. If if and when we have those stakeholder meetings, I will notify y'all so that you can participate if you would like.

Um and we will also run a social media campaign along with that with a survey for people to fill out as well. So if you see it on our website, please do me a favor and share that with your neighbors and friends that are in the community. Um I'm trying to think vision plan advisory. Please pay attention to the website for that as well. Like I said earlier, there will be upcoming things with that. And I think that is all I have right now. Cool. I got it on my calendar, so we should be good. I don't see any I don't have any conflicts that I'm aware of. Okay. And Brad, just for the record, since it's still going out, I am very happy to have you as a member up here with us. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

Yep. When Hazel contacted me and said that you were interested, I thought, "Wow, somebody that knows how this works." So, no offense, bro. It's interesting to have him on that side of the bench. Yep. So, um, anything else? I have a motion to adjurnn. I make a motion we adjourn. All in favor? I. We are journed.