Zoning Board of Adjustments - Regular Meeting

Good morning, everyone. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the zoning board of adjustments meeting. I'll call this meeting to order on Thursday, May 22 at 6PM. First, I'll just sort of read out some required things because of the Open Meetings Act. Due to limitations of the Texas Open Meeting Act, the board may only discuss items posted on tonight's agenda. All other inquiries will be forwarded to staff. The board will strive to ensure that meetings are conducted in a courteous manner and in an atmosphere free of intimidation, defamation, personal affronts, profanity, and threats of violence. We'll start with roll call.

Cody DeSalvo. Here. Hayat Kurunfel. Here. Maddie Roberts. You've got her absent. Daniel Summers.

Here.

Thank you. Shawna Temple. Here. And Andrew James.

Here.

And we have a quorum plus one.

Excellent. Thank you. We'll move on to item three, citizen comment period. Is anyone signed up for citizen comment? Okay. Move on to the consent agenda. We have item four, consider approval of the regular meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve the minutes?

A motion.

Thank you. I have

a second.

Thank you very much. Any discussion? Great. Can we do a roll call?

Hayat Kerenfeld? Yes. Daniel Summers?

Yes.

Shauna Temple? Yes. Andrew James?

Yes.

And Cody DeSalvo? Yes. Motion passes. Great. Okay. We'll move into our public hearing. At this time, I'll open the public hearing. Staff, I believe you have a presentation for us.

Yes. So, let's start with the caption, VR2606, two five eight five South IH 35 fence variance hold a public hearing and consider a request by Vladislav Mogil, Austin Imports for a variance to section seven two six two g one of the San Marcos development code, which states that a fence located within the first layer along a primary frontage shall be 48 inches or less in height and 50% open to allow a six foot tall metal panel fence. So good evening, everyone. Lauren Clanton, chief planner, here to present this item. The property we are discussing tonight is approximately one acre.

It's located along the IH 35 Frontage Road and is, just a little bit north of Clovis Barker Road. According to the comprehensive plan, the property's designated commercial employment medium and surrounding uses include retail, a hotel, a nonprofit, professional services, some multifamily, and the Highway. As far as the zoning of the property, we see general commercial, and the request tonight is for a variance to our screening standards within the development code. So according to section seven two six two g one, fences or walls in the first layer must be a maximum of four feet in height and 50% open. The request before us tonight is for a six foot security fence, to serve the auto repair business on the property.

And this fence will be constructed of metal panels, which means that it won't have the gaps for 50 of the fence required by code. So, the variance also covers the request to be 0% open. Here, we can see the exhibit submitted by the applicant. In your packet, the building is added. Staff kind of estimated the location of the building as it is today.

And on this slide as well, we've just singled that out for you. Here, we can see photos submitted by the applicant. So here is the driveway from the frontage road. And, additionally, we have received an example of the fence that, is proposed. In evaluating the request, staff referred to the criteria of section two eight two four a.

Staff found the request consistent with criteria one, two, three, four, five, seven, and eight. Staff had a neutral finding on criteria six and nine, and staff finds the request inconsistent with none of the criteria. And finally, public notices were mailed consistently with state law, and no responses were received. That's it for my presentation. Staff is here to answer any questions, and the applicant is here as well.

Great. Thank you. Would the applicant like to make a presentation at this time?

So, Mogul You can just You're welcome to step up to the podium. If you can give your name and address, we'll get you started, and you'll have three minutes.

Okay. My name is Vladislav Mogul. I work at 2585 South I 35 and next building over as well, 2801, I think, or 2601, the South South I 35. We experienced some break ins into the customer's vehicles, loss of my own truck and a trailer on 2585. And yeah.

And so we're looking for some kind of closure so we can not have people just walking through and, you know, steal stuff. I did had issue with catalytic converters being cut out of the vehicles as well. So I would love to have some kind of privacy around that area so we don't have that. So I can actually take customers' vehicle and store it safely from break ins and loss of their property. So that's all that I have. Great. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Staff, do we have anyone signed up to present anything or speak on this topic?

Yes. We have one person signed up to speak virtually.

Okay.

I can see Philip Topikov online. We'll go ahead and promote to panelist, and I believe that requires to click yes to the pop up. And, Philip, can you hear me?

Yes. I can hear

you. Alright. When you're ready, please give your name and address, and you have three minutes.

My name is Philip. The address here is 2601 South Interstate 35. I work in Austin Imports with Ladislav Mogul, and we do work on customers' vehicles. And, basically, as he's as he stated as well, we we're trying to we're trying to enclose the property next to us. So code allows for fencing in front of the building, but the building is set all the way at the back, and that creates creates an issue because we won't be able to use most of the property.

We already have a privacy fence on one side between us and the next building over, and we obviously have that large building on the other side of the property. And so we have all this empty space that we we aren't able to utilize, which is, I would say, about 60, maybe 70% of the property, and because we aren't able to enclose it. And I did a little digging and research about what the process is like and basically based on based on where we are and what's going what's happening with with with our neighbors and what's happening with the the way the property is set up, we had this. We're basically we were able to present this variance to y'all. That should be it for my case.

Thank you.

Great. Thank you so much. Can you remind me when do we get to

ask questions? After the motion? Yeah. Okay.

Great. I will now close the public hearing. Do I have a motion on this item?

I motion to approve. Seconded.

Great. Okay.

Is there any discussion?

Given staff's finding that the motion to approve was consistent out of eight out of the 10 and the two that weren't were inconsistent or not inconsistent, kind of leads me to believe staff would have approved it had they had the ability to. Given the nature of the break ins and everything and where it is on the I-thirty 5, I don't think it posed an issue to approve it. I

agree. Yeah.

It's consistent with the neighbors and Yeah. Their

I did have one question for staff. When I was reading the analysis, didn't see a note about the TDLR regulation that was cited as justification for the improvement in variance. And I wasn't sure if staff had a position on that evidence or if there was anything we needed to consider there.

And there was a little bit of a reason that that wasn't mentioned. Yeah. In writing the staff report, we took that into account. And as member Summers mentioned, the result was a consistent criteria and two neutral. Because staff isn't imposing that regulation that a vehicle storage area needs to be enclosed, at least from the perspective that I was writing from, it was physically possible to park cars on the property.

Got

it. However, that is another reason that the variance is needed because, by law, the front portion where the cars are parked needs to be enclosed. Enclosed.

Okay. Shana, did you have anything you wanted to add? Mm-mm. Okay. Great. If there's no other discussion, then I think we can go to our roll call vote.

All right. Daniel Summers?

Yes.

Jonah Temple? Yes. Andrew James?

Yes.

Cody DeSalvo?

Yes.

And Hayat Kerenfel? Yes. And the motion passes.

Thank you so much. Okay. Let's go on to item 5B. We'll start with the at this time, open the public hearing, and we'll start with a presentation from staff.

VR2608, 211 Lee Street Fence variants, hold a public hearing and consider a request by Gloria Salazar, Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos for a variance to section 7,262 g one of the San Marcos development code, which states that a fence located within the first layer along a primary frontage shall be 48 inches or less in height and 50% open to allow a fence to be six to eight feet in height. Good evening again. Lauren Clanton here to present. The property, a corp so the property originally in the staff assessment was 2.7 acres. We have received some feedback from the applicant, who has given us a little more detail.

And the property that we are dealing with tonight is a smaller parcel that occupies about the bottom one fourth of this block.

Okay.

So we are looking at more of a one half to three fourth acre parcel. Jumping back in, the property is located at Northeast Of Lee Street and South LBJ Drive. And per the comprehensive plan is designated conservation cluster. Surrounding uses include single family and multifamily residential. We have the housing authority to the south, retail and services, a restaurant, and a church.

The existing zoning is public and returning to the same section as before, we're dealing with, a portion of chapter seven, which requires that fences or walls in the first layer must be a maximum of four feet in height and 50 open. The request we see tonight is for a fence six feet in height, and the material of the fence will be wrought iron, which means it will be 50% open. Here, we can see the exhibit submitted by the applicant. And as we look at this photo of the corner of Lee Street and LBJ Drive, we can see the existing garden. We can see an existing three to four foot fence around it.

And, additionally, we can see what in context, what the six foot fence might look like. A correction that staff wants to provide to the packet is to not note that the fence is eight feet in height. If you take a look in the packet, some of the neutral responses by staff came from the eight foot height. In speaking with the applicant, we've clarified that even though parts of the fence are eight feet tall, for example, you can see that in the quote that was submitted, those will be buried. So the maximum height of the fence will be six feet.

In reviewing the request under the criteria of section two eight two four a, staff found the request consistent with criteria one, two, four, six, and eight. Staff had a neutral finding on criteria five, seven, and nine, and staff found the request inconsistent with criterion three. This concludes my presentation. Staff is available for questions, as is the applicant.

Okay. Would the applicant like to make a presentation, Mrs. Salazar? Thank you. Absolutely.

Good evening, CBOA commissioners. I am Gloria Salazar. I am the cofounder

and Missus Salazar, I'm sorry. Just for the record, could we get your address too?

Oh, sure. I live at 1614 Mockingbird Road.

Thank you.

I am also the office coordinator for the Centro. I'm here tonight to answer any questions that you may have regarding the fence variance. And I do wanted to I wanted to also point out this what she just pointed out about the fact that even though the fence there is some indication that part of it would be eight feet, It's really, I think, the posts that are gonna be buried two feet, so then it brings it down to the six feet. Also, I feel kind of bad because, like, the guy before me had criminal activity on his property, and really, we're just trying to keep out the deer.

So A different but legitimate problem.

And the fence is gonna sit on the fence line that is already existing there, so they'll pull up that chain link fence and put that fence up. Just for information, we have been working with the city on getting this fence and garden done. So the city has, obtained funding from the Keep Texas Beautiful grant, and Amy Tomides has been our contact and lead for the creation and the, completion of that garden there. It looks beautiful. The fence will be installed by, Mission Able and CentroVolunteers. And if you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you.

Absolutely. Okay. Is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak on this item? Anyone? And then, staff, did anyone sign up for this agenda item?

We have no additional speakers.

Okay. Great. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. Do I have a motion? I second.

Let's go into any questions or discussions related to this one. I was gonna start just by saying I think the, like, the thing we're trying to decide is whether or we're gonna let them have the extra three foot. I did sort of look at this part of the neighborhood, and it would be sort of unique. I couldn't find anything similar to it. But I think, ultimately, if done well, it won't detract from the nature of this part of the neighborhood. So I am in favor, I think, of an approval in this case.

I guess I've got a question for staff. I know you said the height of the fence, what was in the packet and what the department had reviewed had changed. Does that change the inconsistent number three, think you said, inconsistent. Would that make that neutral or change that at all?

Just to double check, criterion three is whether the property can be used even if the variance is not granted. I think that was the

one that was inconsistent. Yeah.

Yeah, it is.

Staff would probably hold to that inconsistent conclusion. The garden exists now and is operating with a four foot fence. And because we are witnessing that happening, the conclusion is that it could operate without the variance. However, the majority of the responses were positive and and seeing no issue with the fence.

Yeah. Thank you.

Also, as anyone that has experienced gardening in San Marcos, a four foot fence poses zero threat to a deer. So it makes gardening a moot point almost if there's no protection. So that's my

2¢.

Should knock on wood. The deer have not found my garden. Thank you.

I'd like to comment on that, if I may. Yes, please. Go ahead. The reason I believe that the deer have not been knocking on our door is because it's been raining so much, and they're able to stay in their area and find food. But once we get further into that time when we don't have that much rain and they start looking around for food, and if we're watering our garden, then they're gonna find some really good food. So that's the other reason for wanting to talk. Thank you.

Thank you.

Chana, anything you wanted to add? Just wanna check-in.

Yeah. Not to be too graphic, but, we have a neighbor with just one of those regular chain link fence like they have right now. And, sometimes the deer get hung up on that, and it's really awful. Yeah. So I think the other one would be much, much nicer.

I think there's also in favor of this, there's a little bit of an aesthetic value that it may bring, over the the chain link, but not sure. Any other thoughts?

Just wanted to make sure that this was only going to be for the garden and that it wasn't extended out. If they wanted to extend it out around the whole property, I did not want to see that. It that didn't seem inconsistent with the neighborhood. So I just wanna make sure that wasn't possible.

I can respond to that, sir.

Okay.

We do plan to continue the fence around, but it is only gonna be a four foot fence because we are a cultural center, so we have a lot of programming going on with children. And we do not have any space in the back, even though the initial photo showed that we had all that space in the back. We truly don't. It's just like maybe four or five feet. So there's not enough space to allow kids to go out and enjoy leaves and all kinds of stuff as they create their art.

And so we are looking to put to continue a four foot fence along the front on Lee Street and have that connect to the front of our building and then create a gate there so they can so we can take them out there, and they'll actually be in an area that is confined for the children. Perfect.

I have no problem with the forefoot. I just want to make sure it wasn't eight or six to eight all No. The way

It's a forefoot.

Okay. And can I ask a follow-up while you're there so you don't to go back and forth? So the forfeit fence you're talking about, it's also going be wrought iron 50%?

Yes. Okay. They're going to be it's going be the same. So that other project is going to be done by a scout who's trying to secure his Eagle Scout badge. And so he is contacting the same person that the city got the fence for, the garden, to get that same material, same brand, just smaller. Great. And we were concerned about the deer getting hung on the fence, so it is a flat top fence, not doesn't have spikes.

Got it.

Appreciate it. Thank you. And one more note from staff, just that whatever is built will go through the permit process, and I am certain that whatever extensions are proposed will be worked into the fence permit.

Great. Thank you.

I think that they had already addressed that with me, that the other fence that the extension would not be in against anything that is already in place for the fence of that area.

And just so that we're Four foot. Just so that we're being very clear, especially for the public record, we're really just talking about this first project and the fencing that's gonna end up being about six foot tall.

Female Right. Around the garden area. Around the garden area

and nothing else. Nothing else is in scope for our approval at this point. Any other questions, comments, concerns from the? Okay. We can move into a roll call vote.

Chana Temple? Yes. Andrew James?

Yes.

Cody DeSalvo?

Yes.

VANILA Hyatt Kerenfel?

Yes. Yes.

Daniel Summers?

VANILA Yes.

STEPHENS: Thank you so much. We'll move on. Yeah, absolutely. We'll move to item six. This is the question and answer session with the press and public. The board and staff may respond to questions related to items on the agenda. Is there anyone in the chambers who wishes to speak on this item? And, Lauren, do we have anyone signed up? Lauren None. Okay, great. We'll move to item seven, adjournment. May I have a motion to adjourn?

Lauren Motion to adjourn. Second.

Have a motion and a second. Let's do roll call.

Cody DeSalvo? Yes. Hyatt Carunfo? Yes. Daniel Summers?

Yes.

Shauna Temple? Yes. Andrew James?

Yes. Excellent.

Meeting adjourned at 06:26PM.

Thank you.