Board of Adjustment - Regular Meeting

All right, good evening everyone. This evening is our monthly meeting in the board of adjustments. We are committed to a transparent process encouragement.

I'm sorry to interrupt. The court reporter has her hand up. So that usually isn't a good sign.

I just can't see me. Can you see me? Usually I'm in the, in the box. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?

No.

Ms. Wheeler, can you hear us? I can hear you. Can you hear me? We can. Thank you.

Can you hear me?

Yep.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you just fine, but your image still isn't coming up.

Yeah, I can't, I can't, I don't know why.

It's like lock on it or something.

I mean, I can hear you now. I just can't, and I can see you and I'm here. So if you want to keep going without being able to see me, We can. I'll raise my hand if there's a problem. I can't hear if somebody's saying something. Joe, are you talking? Because it's all garbled.

Is this better, Ms. Wheeler?

I can hear that. This is Courtney.

Okay. My question to you is, given the fact that the court reporter does the oath, does she have to be on screen? Can she just do it verbally? And we'll acknowledge that the right hand of the speaker is up.

As far as I know, that's okay. Give me just one minute to look into that.

All right. Thank you.

Yeah, I don't think that should be an issue. I think that's okay.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. If you'd like to proceed, I think we're ready to go.

All right. Thank you, everyone, for your patience. Technology is lovely. This evening is our monthly meeting of the Board of Adjustments. We are committed to a transparent process and encouragement of public comment during our meetings. We will be accepting testimony from all parties. If you wish to testify on any particular petition before us this evening using the Zoom platform, please use the raise hand feature. You can raise your hand at any time. We will recognize you at the appropriate time for the presentation of evidence for each case. If in person, please hand your staff your speaker's cards. Assistant Director Melanie Ripto will be monitoring the hybrid meeting and will be asked to provide names of those individuals that wish to speak. I'd like to call the meeting of the City of Wildwood's Board of Adjustment to order. The board members present today are Bob Morris, board member, Kevin Lux, board member, Anthony Reiner, alternate member, and myself, Jared Frank, chair. The Department of Planning staff present is Joe Vunich, director of planning, and Melanie Ripito, assistant director of planning. City attorney Addison Wheeler and court reporter Courtney Tallman are also present on Zoom. First, I offer to the record of the affidavit of publication pertaining to today's meeting, July 16th, 2026, and take official notice of the zoning ordinance of City of Wildwood, including Chapter 400, Article 2, authorizing establishing the Board of Adjustments powers and duties. Now, let me explain the hearing procedure. Please be aware of the information I'm about to describe is also provided on the Board of Adjustment Public Hearing Procedure handout, which was available online prior and up to tonight's meeting. The hearing is informal in its nature. However, the meeting's proceedings will be recorded by a reporter for future transcription if needed. The petitions are also called in the order listed on the agenda. As the petition is called, I will ask the Department of Planning staff member to read the needs request into the record. Thereafter, the Department of Planning will have opening remarks and a brief slide presentation. Then the petitioner or his or his representative will be asked to state their name and address, be sworn in by the court reporter, make a brief presentation to the board explaining the nature of the requested variance, and present such evidence of witness testimony that may evidence the practical difficulties or unnecessary hardship that warrant the variance. The board will only consider the unique character of the property to determine whether they warrant the granting of a variance. The petitioner's presentation shall be limited to 15 minutes total, inclusive of any questions posed by the board, unless such time is extended by the chair. Board members may ask questions to clarify the facts of the petitioner's presentation. When the board members are satisfied with the material presented by the petitioner, the chair will then ask if there is anyone present or online who would like to speak in favor or opposition of the requested variance. Each speaker will be asked to provide their name and address, be sworn in, then provide their evidence and oral testimony. Witness testimony shall be limited to five minutes, inclusive of any questions posed by the board, unless such time is extended by the chair. Procedurally, the petitioner may request a continuance at any time during the hearing prior to a call for the vote in order to bring in additional evidence or testimony. The board may also continue the proceedings. After the submission of testimony and evidence from all interested parties, the board will ask a staff person to provide the Department of Planning's report on the matter if requested by any board member, the petitioner, or any individual that is participating in person or online. Once all witnesses have been heard, the chair will call for a motion to grant or deny with or without conditions, then the board will vote. At that time, the presentation of evidence relating to the petition is concluded and no further evidence will be permitted. The board may make a decision today. Four members of the board must vote in favor of the variance for it to be approved. Note, today, if only four members of the board are in attendance as today, approval of variance request will require unanimous to vote in favor of the variance to be approved. With this in mind, petitioners may choose to postpone their case without prejudice until the following meeting, at which there will be five members present and will only require four positive votes from the five-member board. If a variance is approved, the petitioner has six months to obtain the necessary permits or establish a use or it will expire. If the board's decision is unfavorable, the petitioner has the right of appeal to the St. Louis County Circuit Court. The appeal must be done within 30 days of the decision. Are there any questions at this time?

If anyone has any questions at this time on Zoom, please use the raise hand feature and we'll promote you to a panelist.

Hearing no questions, the meeting will proceed. Will the department please read the first request into the record, which will be followed by a brief slide presentation if desired by the board members.

The first case is BA 20-26, Tom Luft at 274 Bountiful Point Circle, Wildwood, Missouri, 63040. The request is an exception to the Natural Resource Protection Standards for the purpose of constructing a new fence upon the property located at 274 Bountiful Point Circle, locator number 24U. 410522. It's in the enclaves at Cherry Hill Subdivision, Flat 4, Lot 44, which would authorize disturbance in the natural resource protection area, which is 100% protected. The length of the proposed fencing in the protected area of the lot is 85 feet. The request is contrary to the requirements of Chapter 420.200, Natural Resource Protection Standards and Procedures of the Subdivision and Development Regulations of the City of Wildwood Municipal Code, as applied to properties located in the R1 22,000 square feet residence district. Chapter 415-120-R1A, 22,000 square foot residence district of the regulations of the City of Wildwood zoning ordinance and planned residential development overlay district ordinance number 865, which was approved by the City of Wildwood City Council on September 22, 2002. and before director Boonage begins the presentation of the slides the department would like to enter into the record the following items chapter 400 article 2 of the city of wildwood municipal code the board of adjustment chapter 415 of the same city of wild municipal code the zoning ordinance the file that's been developed and maintained by the department of planning regarding this particular request and all contents therein including the department's report and recommendation and finally any testimony or evidence that is provided as part of tonight's public hearing thank you thank you and our views no technology is working well for the city oh there we go

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair and members of the board, as has been practiced over the years, the department does provide a brief slide presentation relative to the request that's being presented to you tonight. The first slide that's been presented on screen is an aerial photograph of the subject site that's highlighted and the surrounding properties, all part, generally, of the enclaves at Cherry Hills. You may be familiar with the enclaves at Cherry Hills. Used to be the Cherry Hills Golf Course. Oh, there we are. The next is an aerial photograph of the subject side ahead of at a smaller scale more detail provided the subject property is the Center home and lot and, as you can see it backs to common ground and within that common ground. is a public easement for a multiple use trail also i would note the property owners have installed a line of shrubs at the back property to provide i would assume is some privacy and security The next slides are photographs that were taken by the Department of Planning and would like to extend its appreciation to the property owners for letting us visit the site. This is a view of the rear of the property, the house, the backside, and the rear property line. The shrubs that are mentioned are in the center of the slide, and as you can see, the multiple use trail. Again, just walking down the trail toward the northwest, just a better view of the shrubs that form the line along the boundary line and the trail itself. Onclays of Cherry Hills was a nice project because many of the larger trees that were part of the golf course were able to be saved. Some of these obviously have been planted, but just a nice shaded lot for the most part. This is a view from the rear property line looking toward the northwest between the two homes, the subject property for the subject home is on the right hand side of the slide. I would note that the adjoining property to the West does have a fence that fence was authorized by the Board of Adjustment via variance. Again, just kind of zooming in on the back of the lot and the home itself, giving you a perspective of the public access and just the character of the property. This is a view more toward the west near Old Fairway Drive from the trail. There are two fences, the shallower fence, the one to the left of the screen. That particular property owner did request a variance. That variance was not supported by the board. So they fenced the area that was not within the protected area and mentioned the property that adjoins the subject site to the west did receive a variance from the Board of Adjustment. And so you can kind of see the difference between the two there. These are slides that were provided by the petitioner. I think he or she has a flare for it. It looks almost like a setting from a magazine. But this is what they see from their back patio up the rear patio doors, the line of shrubs. And then again, sorry. And the liner shrubs and then I think this gives a good view of the trail and how it be Anders through the common ground area near their law. Try it again. Again, just a view of the trail near its proximity to the property and the shrubs themselves. Now, again, these shrubs are deciduous types. So for a certain part of each year, they do not necessarily have all the leaves on them. And just another slide of the back of the property. These were images provided by the petitioners. And as you can see, they're wanting to fence the rear yard area. As calculated by the department, represents about 85 feet of additional fencing that would be installed. And here's the description of the lot. And as you can see, on the southernmost part of the lot, which is at the top of the plot plan, the area that is beyond the resource protection line is that which is the subject of the variance tonight. And if there are any questions regarding the slides, the department would be glad to answer them. Thank you.

Thank you, Director Muenich. At this time, will the petitioner please come forward, state his or her name, address, relationship to this property, and we'll get you sworn in by the court reporter.

Hi, good evening. My name is Thomas Luff. My address is 274 Bountiful Point Circle, Wildwood, Missouri. I'm the homeowner, along with my wife, Deborah.

Thank you, Mr. Luff.

Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to give in this cause will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Thank you.

All right, Mr. Leff, if you could please explain the nature and request of the variance. And as a reminder, you have 15 minutes to present, inclusive of the board's questions, unless the chair adds additional time.

Thank you. Absolutely. Yeah, we have lived in our home for 21 years. So this is not a new request. This isn't, you know, we didn't just buy this house. We've had it there for a long time. We love it. And we do love the trail. We are big walkers ourselves. We see people walk by every day constantly by that trail, which we love. We do have lots of people that walk by, lots of dogs that walk by, and we love it. But what we've learned is not all dogs love each other. And our dog tries to protect her yard, and she does have invisible fence, but that always doesn't stop. Other dogs coming in, obviously, they don't have that electric fence. So we've had squirmishes kind of come up from time to time. And we just don't want anybody hurt. We don't want anybody's dogs hurt. And it's just kind of a safety thing. We've tried the shrubs. We've tried mulch. I've tried some things to try to create that barrier, and it just has not seemed to really work. um and i obviously um that's kind of the request for a similar fence that's throughout our entire neighborhood many there's many fences just like this um and we just think this would provide the safety obviously our pad and keep kind of our line um within that and it's just a unique property that backs literally right up to that to that walkway i'm happy to answer any questions any questions thank you all right thanks

Are there any speakers in the audience that would like to speak in favor or opposition to this request? As a reminder, each speaker has five minutes to present, inclusive of the board's questions, unless the chair allows additional time.

If there's anyone in attendance via Zoom that would like to speak now, please raise your hand and we'll promote you as a panelist.

It does not appear so.

All right. Mr. Leff, I do have one question for you. I'm sorry if you don't mind coming back up. Have you had a chance to review the department's report? I have. They have a recommendation with a few recommendations or a few contingencies, if you will. Any concern there?

I did read it and, you know, I planted those burning bushes 20 years ago and I love them, but I could see how more of an evergreen would, you know, Screen that fence year round. So I'm open to that. Absolutely. If that's what the city of Wildwood would rather see, I'm happy to look into that. Absolutely.

Yeah, I think the departments, while the departments speak for themselves, but it sounds like they just want to kind of work in conjunction with you to come up with something. And the equipment used, nothing greater than, do you know any, was there going to be anything heavier? No, no, no, no, no, no. So you're good with all that, it sounds like. Okay, perfect. Thank you. And we had no speakers, correct? Okay. Would anyone like to hear an oral presentation of the department's report? Audience. Would the department like to make any final comments on this? All right.

Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Mr. Chair, members of the board, the Department of Planning is supporting this particular request. The rationales for that support are identified in the findings of fact, which is part of the recommendation report prepared by the city. The department would note that The additional conditions relate solely to the natural resource protection standards. First and foremost, we do allow some disturbance without the benefit of a variance if the work is done by hand. In this particular instance, knowing the soils out in Wildwood, we figured at least take some piece of equipment, so we wanted to minimize the weight. The weight of the equipment, compact soil, and the soils, the sponge we use for stormwater purposes. Secondly, the evergreen trees, I'd be surprised if it would be more than three or four. And certainly we'll be glad to work with the property owners to come up with an appropriate solution. It's not to be onerous. It's just, again, trees are... our friends to the city in terms of the stormwater management. It stops the rain from impacting the ground. It basically breaks the fall. And so it's just a good thing to have. And we believe it's an appropriate request. But all in all, the extent of the variance is limited and the impact in the department's opinion is minimal. And so from that perspective, we are supporting it. If there's any questions, Ms. Ripito or I'd be glad to answer them at this time. Thank you.

Thank you, Director Mnuchin. Any questions for the Director?

Thank you again.

At this time, we will close the proceeding for a vote. Can I have a vote, a motion to approve, a motion to deny, or a motion to approve with conditions?

I'll make a motion to approve with the conditions as stated by the Director.

Do we have a second for that?

I'll second it.

Mr. Morris, how do you vote?

All right.

Say that again, Mr. Morris. Mr. Morris, can you vote again? Yes. I didn't catch that. Oh, I'm going to vote for it. Okay. Mr. Lux?

Approved.

Mr. Reiner? Approved. And I approve as well. Congratulations. Your variance is approved with the conditions as stated in the recommendation report. We'll move right along to the second case when the department's ready.

Thank you, Chair. The second case on the agenda tonight is BA2126, Joseph Schlag of 2900 South Brentwood Boulevard, Missouri, on behalf of the owners Thomas and Michelle Roberts, 2300 Wildwood Forest Drive, Wildwood, Missouri, 63038. The request is for an exception to the natural resource protection standards for the purposes of constructing a new attached garage addition upon the property located at 2300 Wildwood Forest Drive, locator number 23X620075. It's in the Oaks at Wildwood subdivision lot form. The request would authorize its construction within the 25 foot foundation setback under the natural resource protection area of the lot, as well as within a portion of the 100% protected area itself. This request is contrary to the requirements of Chapter 420-200, Natural Resource Protection Standards and Procedures of the Subdivision and Development Regulations of the City of Wildwood Municipal Code, as applied to the property located in the non-urban residence district. In Chapter 415-200, 090 the NU non urban residents district regulations of the city of Wildwood zoning ordinance the homeowner proposes providing an area on the Western Western side of the home greater than the existing area sought to be disturbed three thousand nine hundred and seventy three square feet removed and three thousand nine hundred eighty nine square feet added in board one And before Director Boonage begins the presentation of the slides, the department would like to enter onto the record the following items. Chapter 400, Article 2 of the City of Wildwood Municipal Code, Board of Adjustment. Chapter 415 of the same City of Wildwood Municipal Code, the Zoning Ordinance. The file that has been developed and maintained by the Department of Planning regarding this particular request and all the contents contained therein. including the department's report with recommendation. And then finally, any testimony or evidence as provided as part of tonight's public hearing. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As soon as the presentation's brought up on screen, I'll begin. Thank you, Ms. Ripita. Mr. Chair and members of the board, as with the first case, the first slide that's before you tonight represents the site relative to the surrounding properties in the vicinity. This particular lot is part of a seven property, large lot, single family subdivision that was approved many years ago by the city of Wildwood. Given that it was approved by the City of Wildwood, it does contain the requirements for the natural resource protection standards and procedures, which is the subject of tonight's request. To the right of the slide is Fellowship of Wildwood, if you're wondering what all of that is, and that's a place of worship. This particular slide's been provided, again, in aerial photograph, to kind of give a perspective of where the existing improvements are, which include the single-family dwelling, border to share, and a garage. But more importantly, as you can see from the topographic lines, which are represented by the white numbers, this site does have topography associated with it, particularly to the western 2 thirds of the overall three-acre lot. The department did visit the property and went to the front door and rang the bell. No one was home, apparently. So I did not enter onto the site. So the best I could do is take photographs from the private street. So the first slide of the subject site is from the private street looking north toward the dwelling. This particular site is provided to kind of give you an idea of the buffering between the subject site and the immediate neighbor to the right on the slide or what I would consider to the southeast. This is a close-up, again, from the roadway of the existing Porte de Cher and the garage. This is the area of construction. The intent is to place the new detached garage behind these two structures and utilize the existing driveway access area, turning pads, et cetera. From the department's perspective, it appears to be a logical approach. This is just a different perspective, again, to highlight the buffer between the neighbor to the southeast or to the right and where the construction is planned. This is a close-up. This is from the cul-de-sac looking toward the north, northwest. That's the adjoining neighbor and home. Again, the construction is to the opposite side. And here is the plan that has been submitted by the petitioner relative to the new construction. And as you can see, a portion of the proposed structure does extend into the 25 foot foundation setback from the natural resource protection line. That 25-foot distance was in place to ensure that building foundations were not built too close to the resource protection line, requiring an over dig and actually disturbing an area that was intended to be protected. The corner of the proposed structure is what is encroaching into the natural resource protection area. And as Ms. Ripito mentioned in her reading of the advertisement into the record, the property owners are proposing a swap. So what is taken away will be added. So the protected area on the, what I would consider the northeast corner, will be disturbed and the area where the slope is greatest will be added and so from the perspective of the department the swap is a component of the overall proposal and if there are any questions regarding the slides the department would be glad to answer them at this time thank you any questions thank you thank you

At this time, will the petitioner please come forward, state his or her name, address, relationship to the property, and we'll get you sworn in by the court reporter.

Good evening. I'm Joe Schlagg with Throat & Co. Architects. My personal address is here in Wildwood, 2772 Autumn Run Court, where our office is 2900 Brentwood Boulevard in Brentwood, Missouri. Any relationship to the property? Yeah, we're the architect with the owner, and the homeowners are here as well.

Thank you. We'll get you sworn in, Mr. Schlagg.

Please raise your hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to give in this cause will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Schlagg, if you could please explain the nature of the request to the hardship or practical difficulty necessitating the variance. And as a reminder, you have 15 minutes to present, inclusive of the board's questions, unless the chair allows additional time.

Thank you. Yeah, first of all, thank you to the staff, because their presentation really knocks out a lot of what we would present in the first part. But as was mentioned, the homeowners would like to do an attached garage and then on the site i'd make sense to put that attached garage near your garage parking pad turn around driveway so we're going to maintain that access to the garage and then given the fact that the site is sort of triangular shaped in that northeast corner it's hard to fit that garage in without coming into the nrpa area so and uh we're so we're proposing to just take the nrpa that we have to encroach on and

move it to the other side which is near sort of the pool and outdoor development that they're proposing and uh essentially that's that's it any questions thank you thank you you know what i almost forgot asking the same thing as the last petitioner i did want to ask at the other department's report they it's one condition and it's very straightforward. I get a report on all of them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I think we, it's a requirement. Yeah.

So we're all good there. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. All right. Any speakers in the audience who may want to speak in favor or opposition to this request as a reminder, each speaker has five minutes to present inclusive of the board's questions, unless the chair allows additional time. Come forward, sir.

My name is,

My name is David Rudd, 2306 Wildwood Forest Drive. I am not only the neighbor on the southeast side, I am also one of the trustees. And so in both my capacity as a trustee, I want to indicate... Oh, I need to swear.

I didn't mean to cut you off. I apologize.

This is the first public hearing I've ever attended. You know what?

That's all right. We'll get you sworn in here. All right. I apologize.

Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to give in this cause will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Thank you.

All right. So we're in support in two capacities. I'm one of the trustees, so the HOA is in favor of this variance request. I'm also the neighbor to the southeast that Mr. Vunic pointed to that had the larger vegetation buffer. And as the Roberts neighbor, we're also in support of this variance request. Any questions you may have? No.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Any other speakers wish to speak in favor or opposition to this request?

If there is anyone in attendance via Zoom that would like to speak in regards to this case, please use the raise hand feature and we'll promote you to a panelist. Does not appear so. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anybody like to hear an oral presentation of the department's report? Seeing none. Director Buenis, would you like to make any final comments?

Yes, Mr. Chair, very briefly. Mr. Chair and members of the board, the Department of Planning is recommending support of this particular variance. The addition of the attached garage is reasonable from the standpoint of property's size. The natural resource protection standards do encumber it, but the swap or the transfer I think is positive for the reasons I've stated previously, and that will actually get protected area in an area of the site where it is more steeply sloping and better to be preserved relative to the current condition. The department believes the impact is minimal, given the grade of the lot and the buffer that exists from preserved woodlands. So tonight, the department is recommending that the Board of Adjustments support the variance. We do have the one condition, and this is the standard condition when we alter the resource protection line, that we get a revised plot plan and it be recorded so that For future owners, it's clear where one is and one isn't. And if there are any questions, the department would be glad to answer them at this time.

Thank you, Dr. Muenich. Any questions, any final comments from the board?

Thank you again.

Thank you to the department. At this time, we will close the proceeding for a vote. Can I have a motion to approve, to deny, or approve with conditions?

I'll go ahead and motion to approve on the condition that the new deed be recorded.

Do we have a second for that?

I'll second it.

Mr. Morris, how do you vote? Approve. Mr. Lux? Approve. Mr. Reiner? Approve. And I approve as well. Congratulations. Your variance is approved with the condition as stated. Thank you. Last item of business, approving the minutes. Anything else?

Well, just a kind of a housekeeping item. Typically, the team that's before you is Robin Keefe and I. Ms. Keefe has a number of items relating to historic preservation over the next few months. And with a little arm twisting, I've convinced Ms. Repito to step in, who worked with the Board of Adjustment long before Ms. Keefe started here at the City of Wildwood. So we have a veteran. And I just want to thank her for helping out in this regard. And if you have any questions for her, I'm sure she'd be glad to answer them. And other than that, Mr. Chair, as always, we appreciate your attendance in helping us do our jobs. Can't do it without you. So thank you.

Yes, thank you. Thank you both. And I apologize for the last-minute confirmation. I planned to be here all along. Forgot to tell you I was. That being said, we do have one last item on the agenda, which is to approve the minutes from the June 16, 2026 meeting. Do I have a motion to approve those minutes?

I'll motion to approve.

And the second, please.

I'll second.

Mr. Morris, how do you vote? Mr. Lux, approve. Mr. Reiner, approve. And I approve those minutes as well. So those minutes are approved from the June meeting. And please consider this meeting adjourned. Thank you, everyone.