Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, so we'll go ahead and get started. This is the meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals for Monday, July 13, 2026. I will do a roll call. I'll start at my right. Here, Tim Nickich. Christy D'Angelo.

Timothy Reddick.

This is then a time for public comment. If there's anyone here that is not part of this appeal that wanted to say something on the record, I do not see anyone. So, just wanted to make sure. Next is the approval of the minutes from our last meeting, which was on June 8th, 2026.

Make a motion to approve the minutes.

Second. All those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. Then onto new business. Just to let you know, kind of the process, I will call your case. The city will start. They will give the presentation to us, kind of tell us the background of the case, information that they have to share. So do you mind if I call you Megan? Please. Okay. So Megan will go ahead and share all of that with us. The board will have a chance to ask Megan any questions that she might have. Then you will be welcome to come forward, present to us any information you have that you want us to hear that wasn't presented by the city or that's different from or changed from what the city may have said. We will again have an opportunity to ask you any questions. You can ask the city questions. The city can ask you questions. We're really just gathering information about the appeal and the appeal process. Once that is done, if there's anyone else that would show up that would want to speak on this appeal, we would let them do that. I don't see anyone else in the room right now, but it's possible that before that somebody else might show up. When everyone is done saying what they need to say to us as the board, we will close that portion of the discussion. And then as the board, we will deliberate. here on the record for you you'll hear our deliberations there are some specific findings that we need to go through and that we need to discuss when we determine whether or not to grant your appeal then you will hear our decision today before you leave so with that this is new business id number 26-03962 the appeal of Heather and Patrick Conway for a dimensional variance from section 22.53 sub 13A and section 22.58 sub 2A1 of the zoning code. If granted, the variance will allow for the extension of the driveway at 851 Oakland Avenue, located within one foot of the lot line. When lots narrower than 65 feet, the driveway setback shall be no less than 7% of the lot width. If granted, the variance will allow construction of a new garage at 851 Oakland Avenue, located one foot from the lot line, where accessory buildings shall be located so that the foundation is not closer than five feet to a lot line.

Thank you. Okay, so this is the property in question, 851 Oakland Avenue, located just east of downtown off of Arcadian Avenue. You'll notice that this lot is a substandard width, approximately 50 feet, and you may also see that many of the neighboring properties are similarly narrow on this block. The applicant would like to extend their existing driveway another 30 to 35 feet beginning along their side lot line, along their existing driveway, gradually angling north for a setback of approximately one foot from the side lot line at its new end point. Code requires a 3.5 foot setback for the size of their lot. They would then like to construct a new garage at the end of their extended driveway. That foundation would have a setback of one foot from the side lot line. Code requires a five foot setback from the side lot line. The applicant provided the survey with the approximate locations of the driveway and the garage shaded in. Again, you'll notice that their existing driveway directly abuts the south side lot line. The red shading would be their extended driveway. The green shading would be their new garage. This property and the neighboring property share a driveway approach. You'll notice a very narrow setback of the driveway on the neighboring property as well. Their current driveway ends at the front of the red vehicle. And you can see again kind of how narrow that lot line sits. When I had gone to take pictures of this property, the applicant had staked out approximately where the garage would be located. The orange arrows indicate the sides of the garage. I have a few different angles here. You'll notice a large mature tree towards the rear of their lot. That's one of the reasons they indicated they didn't want to have the garage shifted back further in their rear yard. They also explored having the driveway angle north more towards the back of their house and building the garage further in, but were concerned about the turn radius, given how narrow their driveway currently is, and also concerned about some existing mature tree root systems that would be located in that part of their yard. And here again, you can see kind of how narrow their driveway turn radius would be if they did try to move it north. Okay, and then the two relevant pieces of code, 22.53, traffic, loading, parking, and access, specifically the driveway section, for lots narrower than 65 feet as measured along the front lot line, the driveway setback shall be no less than 7% of the lot width. Again, their front lot line width is 50 feet, so the driveway setback would need to be 3.5 to comply. with this section of the code. And then the other relevant code, 22.58, accessory use regulations. In specific regulations for garages, that the accessory building shall be placed on a pad of concrete, asphalt, wood, or metal, and located such that the foundation should not be closer than five feet to a lot line. Happy to take any questions.

Just if I'm reading these two codes in conjunction with each other, they could have a garage that's three and a half feet from the lot line, but the foundation has to be at least five feet from the lot line? Is that what I'm?

So the 3.5 feet is specifically for the driveway. The driveway, okay. Yeah, the garage is the five foot.

Five feet, okay.

Yes.

Can you go back to the picture that showed the staked out there?

Yes, yeah, maybe this one best shows it.

Whose fence is that, do you know? Is that on the lot line, is that the neighbors?

I do not have that information.

Okay, I can ask them when they come up.

The closer one.

Yeah, the closer. That one.

Is there a neighbor in compliance to the, let's call it the South 847?

So certainly not the driveway setback. It's within, I don't have the exact width of the neighbor's lot, but the driveway setback would not be. It was unclear if the garage setback is within the regulation without having a survey of the neighboring property.

Do we know if they've spoken to their neighbors already and how their neighbors feel?

I would defer to the applicant when they provide care. Okay, when they come up.

I get it.

Can you actually go to the area that's why they're out too? Thanks.

And just a reminder, too, the neighbors are notified of the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, so they would have received the notice, just in case you didn't know.

They would have received notification and an opportunity to have responded, correct?

That's correct.

Any other questions for the city?

Not currently.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. If Heather or Patrick Conway are here, both of you, when you approach the microphone, if you could please just state your names and your address, presidential address.

I'm Patrick Conway, 851 Oakland Avenue.

Heather Conway, 851 Oakland Avenue also.

Thank you.

What would you like to tell us?

So great job with all the pictures. Thank you. So I didn't have to send those. The main reason here, well, there's a number of reasons, but obviously curving the driveway to go to the north. You can't see it unless I point out in the pictures. There's one of the pictures you can see. Oh, yep. Back up one, please. That one right there. It actually used to be about an 80- or 90-year-old chestnut tree that we had to drop. It was about half that. We'd rather not have to dig through that again, which is kind of the reason why, plus obviously the added footage for concrete, cost-wise, not feasible for us. The driveway itself is on the property line. itself. It's 8 1⁄2 feet wide at the end of the driveway where the front of that red Jeep is. The house is just over 100 years old. We'd rather not bump it. That's why we're asking to go from the zero point on the lot line out to the driveway would actually be about 2 1⁄2 feet off the lot line where it meets the garage. The garage would be a foot off the lot line. We're trying to keep it as minimal as possible and use the length so we can park our jeeps in there so we can work on them if we have to. Currently right now, something goes wrong during the winter, it's a bear. The neighbor's lot line is six inches off their fence.

So in defense is on their on their property, it's 6 inches off 6 inches set in yes to the to the South.

So it's 6 inches on their size where that is set up to. Their garage. When they bought it, they tore down the old garage and put one on there. It's just about four and a half feet off the lot line. We have other neighbors who were built years and years ago. They're three feet off. There's a structure a couple doors down that's a foot off, a couple doors past that. Their garage is either on the lot line or a foot off. The neighbors across the street, it's a foot and a half off. They used to have a garage. The slab is still there. So we're just trying to not have a garage in the middle of the yard.

Can you go back to the pictures that are staked out? Thanks sorry.

And here yeah the picture she has. The arrow in the bushes that's actually the start of the garage door a foot to the South of that is actually where that would be a foot off the lines a foot and a half off the fence post.

And there is a state there.

Yeah, it's just it's hidden in the shrubs. It's hard to find. We marked that off roughly because Heather is very visual. So I have to do stuff like that when we're doing stuff in the yard so she can understand it. So the one on the left, the second one that's not marked would actually be the width of a nine foot garage door. And then the one on the right, it would be 14 of 14 foot wide garage. The ones in the back are the foot off the lot line, and then 14 foot garage width. And we got that, rough estimates, but it'd be about 24 feet long, enough for both sheeps to fit in.

So it is a two car?

Two car length, yes. Currently, the way we have it now, every night we go home, look at the calendar, who's first out in the morning for her job at the hospital or my job. We rearrange stuff, but anytime anybody comes in, they have to park on the street. Otherwise, they're blocking the sidewalk, which we're adamant about not doing because we have a lot of nice neighbors. It's not the best intersection. We've actually had people drive through our yard before. um to go around cars when uh there's accidents out there which is pretty frequent so we'd rather not have to have to use the street as an option for parking if we don't have to so when looking at this the front left arrow is where the garage door would start not where the actual garage would start where the garage door would start it's a foot more towards the fence which would be a foot and a half off the fence a foot off the lot line And most of those shrubbery is, they're on our lots. Our plan with that is to actually, as long as it's reasonable, when they're dug up, if we have to dig them up to put the foundation on, is to move them to the left. There's a big gap there by the back where the back of the garage would be, and replant those in there. Because I actually really like them. They're nice flowers. But we would not be disturbing any of their shrubbery in the process.

And their garage is back farther still?

Their garage is back towards the back of their lot on our side. And the front corner of their garage is about four and a half feet off the lot line. But it was pre-existing when the previous owners, Ken and Mary, they lived there for 40 or 50 years.

And the reason you don't want to have yours back there is because of the tree, the mature tree that's in the backyard?

Yeah, yeah. And it's got... Pretty wide root system over there. We're trying to do everything we can to keep it alive. There's animals living under there and we're constantly just doing maintenance on it as it is.

Can you show the view toward the back of the tree?

And now. Wait, ish garage back there is about 3 feet off, but again that was built when the code was 3 feet.

But that's the garage for the neighbors behind us, not the ones for Ricardo.

They're directly to the east of us.

And why is it that you couldn't just angle the garage more to the left?

We'd rather not go into the yard anymore because it's such a narrow yard. The front left corner here. Again, we have that old chestnut tree when we bought the house. There was no, no, that was the black walnut, the black walnut and the chestnut on the other side. Huge trees. They were both half dead, so we had to drop him a lot of work by hand. And we'd rather not have to dig and tear all that up because I'm worried that once I start tearing up, it's going to tear my patio up. It's got a brick and stone patio.

How big is the garage structure going to be?

Approximately 14 by 24.

Is that otherwise in compliance with the zoning code? I was just going to ask the same question.

I don't have that part of the code in front of me. Maria, would you be able to advise?

Okay. Thank you. Any questions? Other questions?

I do, but I'm not sure if... My question is whether or not if we as the city have any record of compliance for the neighbors around them. Because everyone seems to be out of compliance with their garages in regards to lot lines from what Mr. Conway was saying.

I believe the other garages on the neighborhood were built before change the 5 feet. It's it's a really old. It's an instant. Like I said, our house is 100 years old. Yeah, and they're all pretty much about the same and you've never had a garage on your property. No, no.

Any questions? You're on, yep.

Okay. What's the reaction in the neighborhood have you gotten? Nobody's obviously come to us if they've been notified. What are you hearing from your neighbors that you've talked to?

They're all positive. We went door to door because we were out there measuring with the measuring tape and finding lot lines. The neighbor directly to the south said, well, we didn't apply for a variance. which, okay, you didn't apply for a variance. I'm not sure really how that affects me.

Okay.

So, but everybody else, as we went up and down, like I said, Taylor's house, the yellow house, four or five houses down, we're out there measuring Brian's old house. You might all know Brian. He just built a pergola a foot off his property. His garage is about two and a half feet off the property line, so. Thank you.

All right, thank you. There's nothing else. Thank you. You can have a seat we will I Don't think there's anybody else here that wants to speak on this so we will close that portion of it and we'll In my experience there's a lot of

Areas around the city where you have these tight driveways with each other. They're sharing concrete, et cetera, et cetera to get back to a garage. I owned a home that had a tight variance with my neighbor. Okay, concrete. For both driveways was like 7 inches apart. So it just depends on the neighborhood. Older older neighborhoods probably. different kinds of lots and that kind of thing. And so I'm struggling a little bit here because I don't see a problem with building a garage on a lot tight to the lot line. If it's the driveway and it's a matter of the turning circumference to get into a driveway, I don't also, in my mind, see that as a problem by what I'm looking at, that the radius has to be that large, could be slight. So that's where I'm coming from to start.

I would have to agree with you. In regards to. I guess my standpoint is more than all the rest of the neighborhood is already there even at the 3 foot variance that used to be there's a lot of homes and garages that are out of compliance for the 3 right so to grant this we would at least be aesthetically in line with all the rest of the properties. In that area, you know, given the fact that it is a 100 year old. There's no. That's not going to be. Cost wise and with the economy with the economy that we're currently across the board. Not that that's our problem, but it's a thought.

I guess I agree with all that I think to enjoy your property, even if you haven't had a garage for 50 years on that property and now it's time because of storage concerns of traffic concerns in the neighborhood. I find it. People driving across your property to avoid traffic and things like that. If that's true, that's you know. That requires some other things, but still. to take the two cars and get them away from the traffic, away from the street, away from maybe blocking the sidewalk and that kind of thing, I think carries some weight in this circumstance. Definitely. Christine?

Yeah, I think when looking at the property and we're looking at whether or not there are exceptional or extraordinary circumstances or conditions of this particular property in relation to the properties around it, I think it's a substandard lot. I think it's narrower than a lot of the ones that the code is designed to. apply to so I think there are some extraordinary circumstances related to this lot that others in the neighborhood have the ability to have a garage and put a garage in and a lot of them are non-compliant and maybe got variances maybe put them in earlier maybe they've been there you know for a long time because the neighborhood is older but certainly that is you know something that they should be able to enjoy and I given some of the tightness and the turning radiuses and a lot of the roots and things that are existent in this lawn, I think it's going to have to be pretty narrow to the fence and probably the only place they can put it up. Yes. Makes sense. I would agree. So from that perspective, I might be in favor of granting the variance.

Motion to vote.

Well, we got to go through the findings.

Okay. And that's why you're leaving.

Do you want to run through them?

would be happy to all right thank you all right for the appeal of heather and patrick conway for a dimensional variance from section 22.53 13a and section 22.582a1 of the zoning code if granted the variance will allow for the extension of the driveway at 851 oakland avenue located within one foot of the lot line When for lots narrower than 65 feet, the driveway setback shall be no less than 7% of the lot width. If granted, the variance will also allow for construction of a new garage at 851 Oakland Avenue, located one foot from the lot line, where accessory buildings shall be located so that the foundation is not closer than five feet to a lot line. Finding one, that there are exceptional or extraordinary circumstances or conditions applying to the property in question or to the intended use of the property that do not apply generally to other properties or classes of uses in the same zoning district.

Affirm.

Christy DeAngelo, affirm.

Tim Reddick, affirm.

Finding two, that such a variance is necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of substantial property rights possessed by other properties in the same zoning district and in the same vicinity.

Tim Nekic, affirm.

Christy D'Angelo, affirm.

Tim Reddick, affirm.

Finding three, that a variance is not being requested solely on the basis of economic loss or gain, and that self-imposed hardships are not being considered as grounds for the granting of a variance.

Tim Nicketts, affirm.

Christy D'Angelo, affirm.

Tim Reddick, affirm.

Finding four, that the authorizing of such a variance will not be of substantial determent to adjacent property and will not materially repair the purpose and intent of the zoning code or public interest.

Tim Nicketts, affirm.

Christy D'Angelo, affirm.

Tim Reddick, affirm.

All four findings affirmed unanimously.

So based upon those findings of fact, I will make a motion to approve the appeal of Heather and Patrick Conway for a dimensional variance for the extension of the driveway and the erecting of a garage at 851 Oakland Avenue.

Tim Reddick, second motion.

All those in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. Your variance has been granted. You are free to go. Good to go. All right, then we just need an adjournment.

So moved.

Go ahead. So moved, seconded. All in favor, we're adjourned. Thank you very much. You run an official meeting. I try.

Thank you.