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Minutes 11-20-95 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1995, AT 7:00 P.M. P~ESENT Vernon Thompson, Chairman Mike Haag, Zoning and Site James Miriana, Vice Chairman Development Administrator Arthur Berman James Cherof, City Attorney Ben Uleck Robert Taylor, ~Alternate Barkley Garnsey 1. ACKN~EMENT OF MEMBERS AND VISITORS Chairman Thompson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and introduced the members of the Board, City Attorney Cherof, Mr. Haag, and the Recording Secretary. He explained that only five members of the Board are present this evening. He also explained that once this Board makes a decision, the only recourse the applicants would have is to submit another application in one year, or go through the courts. He further explained that all five members must vote in favor of the request in order for it to be approved. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA No additions, deletions, or corrections were made to the agenda. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion Vice Chairman Miriana moved to approve the minutes of the July 17, 1995 meeting. Mr. Berman seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. 4. COMMUNICATIONS & ANNOU3~CEME[SIZ~ Chairman Thompson advised that Mr. Garnsey was not able to attend the meeting this evening. MINUTES BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOSTON BEACH, FLORIDA NOVEMBER 20, 1995 5. OLD BUSINESS PUBLIC HEARING A. Case NO. 210 Location: 100 East Boynton Beach Boulevard Property Owner: Papa John's Boynton Beach Requested Variance: Request for relief from Section 11 .J of Chapter 2 - Zoning of the City of Boynton Beach Land Development Regulations for rear setback variance. Vice Chairman Miriana read portions of the application, including the applicant's statement of reasons justifying the requested variance for a reduction of the required rear setback from 30' to 21 '11" At this time, all witnesses were sworn in by City Attorney Cherof. Bemmie Eustace of Interplan Practice, the architectural and engineering firm representing Papa John's, stated that Papa John's comes before this Board tonight as a result of ongoing discussions with staff. This project has been around for quite some time now. It went through staff review in March or April. She keeps running into problems primarily because of the size of the site. It is a tight site. Papa John's has purchased this site and wishes to develop on it. She came before this Board before for the omission of a loading zone, which the Board granted. Through ensuing discussions with the Planning and Development Board and the City Commission, changes had to be made to the site plan to address other issues that arose. This has resulted in the need for a rear setback variance. Ms. Eustace advised that the pond has been relocated because of a mosquito issue. She has tried to address all the issues with the adjacent property owners. The dumpster was redesigned and relocated. However, this still remains an issue with staff and the City Commission. She was asked to provide a pseudo loading zone by Public Works in an effort to accommodate the dump trucks. Therefore, the back end of the site was widened a little. She ended up having to push the building back a little. Because of this, she asked the Board to grant a variance for the rear setback. She said a concrete block wall will be provided as a buffer, and there will be landscaping to the rear of the site. She is trying to do everything she 2 MINUTES BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA NOVEMBER 20, 1995 can to accommodate all of the concerns and needs of staff and the adjacent property owners. There is a certain amount she can do and a certain amount she is limited to. She asked the Board to approve the variance, and she will proceed to the City Commission to resolve the other outstanding issues. Mr. Taylor asked if Ms. Eustace has sought out other variances. Ms. Eustace answered affirmatively. She explained that the Board approved the variance for the omission of a loading zone. Mr. Taylor asked if Ms. Eustace sought out a variance regarding the deletion of the parking space requirement. Ms. Eustace answered affirmatively. She explained that through redesign of the site, she had withdrawn that request, as well as the landscape waiver request. Through redesign of the site because of the Planning and Development and City Commission comments, some issues were worked out so that those variances were not needed. Mr. Taylor asked Ms. Eustace if she has been able to determine that the dumpster will be easily accessible by the trucks. Ms. Eustace said there is some conflict about this with Bob Eichorst of Public Works. This will be addressed at the City Commission meeting tomorrow night. City Attorney Cherof reminded the applicant that the agenda package becomes part of tonight's record, and if there are any other documents that she wants marked, she needs to identify them and make sure the clerk receives a copy of them. Mr. Haag used the overhead projector to review the site plan. Ms. Eustace pointed out that the adjacent Wendy's and some of the other adjacent commercial sites are deeper than the subject site, which allows them a little more leeway with site design. Therefore, some concessions are needed on the site design. Mr. Haag said it appears as though there is access to the dumpster enclosure from the Wendy's site. Chairman Thompson asked if there has been a redesign of the proposed building. Mr. Haag said the site was redesigned to accommodate some concerns that the Planning and Development Board and the City Commission had. That led the applicant into this specific design, which pushed the need for a variance. Ms. Eustace said there were some building elevation changes. MINUTES BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA NOVEMBER 20, 1995 Vice Chairman Miriana asked if this is the only thing that has to be settled or if Ms. Eustace still has to go before the City Commission for final approva. Ms. Eustace advised him that she has to go before the City Commission for final site plan approval. Mr. Taylor asked if the setback is reduced to 21' from 30', and a masonry wall is installed, along with landscaping, is that going to allow access to the dumpster without having to back around and try to position the truck in a precise way. Ms. Eustace admitted that it is going to be tight. She said the details will have to be worked out with Mr. Eichorst and the City Commission. She believed there is enough room for the buffer wall. Mr. Eichorst had recommended 22' so the delivery truck will have room to park and have the service vehicle be able to get passed in the event that the dumpster service was coming at the same time as a delivery. In doing that, she had to widen the pavement. In widening the pavement, that reduced the area from the curbing to the rear property line. She would prefer to have a little more of an area for landscaping and buffering and reduce the drive isle width. Chairman Thompson said the Board was told at thelast meeting that deliveries would be made at odd hours. Ms. Eustace said the trucks would deliver very early in the morning. Recognizing that the applicant has sought out multiple variances, Mr. Taylor asked Mr. Haag if there are alternative uses of this property that would not require these types of variances. Mr. Haag said this property is located in a specific zoning district which allows many uses. This use is acceptable in this zoning district, but there are several other uses that are acceptable. However, it is hard to tell if there would be problems with site restraints. You would more than likely have to have a dumpster and parking spaces. It looks like it is being generated by the size of the building. Ms. Eustace said that building is the smallest prototype that Papa John's has. In fact, she believes they have discontinued using this prototype because it is tight, operationally. It is tight to function within the building. Mr. Taylor asked if there are inefficiencies associated with the size of the building that might manifest themselves. Ms. Eustace did not think so. She said a bigger building makes it easier and provides more elbow room. However, functionally, Papa John's has worked with this size building for a number of years without any problems. In response to Mr. Berman, Ms. Eustace advised that the applicant meets the code with regard to parking. One of the reasons the building is pushed back is because there is a requirement 4 MINUTES BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA NOVEMBER 20, 1995 for a 27' drive isle in the front because of the two-way traffic. There is a wide sidewalk in the front of the building, which is required per the Americans with Disabilities Act. Mr. Taylor asked which issues remain unresolved as far as the residents are concerned. Ms. Eustace thinks the residents are concerned about noise and rodents. The pond has been relocated because the residents were concerned about mosquitoes, even though there is a concrete wall there. The elevation of the building was changed significantly, at a very high cost to Papa John's. The residents were concerned about increased traffic down N.W. 7th Court. Papa John's is willing to put up signs and speed bumps; whatever is needed to keep the speed down. However, the delivery people, unless they are going to be delivering to the rear of the site in that residential area, are going to be going out to Boynton Beach Boulevard. Chairman Thompson asked about distance as it relates to Wendy's. Mr. Haag advised that Wendy's has a drive through isle on the west side of the building, and there is also some parking there. Their site extends back further into the property and there is parking behind that. Therefore, there is quite a distance from the rear of the building back to the property. No one else wished to speak in favor of granting this variance. Richard Prince, 334 N.W. 7th Court, spoke against granting this variance. He lives three houses behind the Papa John's site. At the City Commission meeting, he said an analogy was made that this was a ten pound bag of potatoes trying to be put into a five pound bag. Their building and plans are too big for this property. Papa John's was requested to make some changes. He did not see a plan that shows they tried to turn the building at all. The only thing they have done is ask for a variance to move the building back to make more room on their site. He expressed concern about the dumpster being right on the property line and attracting rodents. They are putting the handicapped parking space on the opposite site of the building from the doors. They are counting on the garbage truck coming throughWendy's. However, nobody from Wendy's said this was acceptable to them. He did not think a garbage truck can make the turn to get behind the building and pick up the dumpster. Mr. Prince said Papa John's has never asked the residents for their input. He said his neighbors could not attend this meeting, and he was here to speak for the whole community. He said the residents are not opposed to having a building or any kind of business on this site, but this is too big of a building for too small of a slot. It is going to increase traffic flow, and many children play in this neighborhood. He asked the board to deny this request. No one else wished to speak against the granting of this variance. 5 MINUTES BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA NOVEMBER 20, 1995 Mr. Haag stated that this request is for a variance for a setback. It is going before the City Commission tomorrow for final approval. Mr. Taylor was not sure whether or not logistically some of these issues are going to be addressed. There appears to be some conflicting viewpoints with regard to access of the dumpster and whether or not the building has been appropriately redesigned to address the directive from the Commission. He was not sure how to position himself because he was not sure how these issues have been resolved. In response to Chairman Thompson, Mr. Haag said the access onto the Wendy's site to pick up the dumpster is still an outstanding issue. However, that is part of staff's comments and will have to be taken care of and looked at by the City Attorney. Vice Chairman Miriana said he has not seen or heard of any agreement with regard to Wendy's parking. He said this looks like it would become a throughway from Wendy's onto 7th Court. He also felt the configuration was crowded. Chairman Thompson pointed out that the Board is concerned only with the setback. Motion Vice Chairman Miriana moved to grant this variance. Mr. Uleck seconded the motion. A roll call vote was polled by the Recording Secretary as follows: Robert Taylor Nay Ben Uleck Aye Arthur Berman Aye James Miriana Aye Vernon Thom pson Aye The request for the variance was denied. MINUTES BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA NOVEMBER 20, 1995 6. blEW BUSINESS PMBLIC HEARING Location: Southeast corner of Congress Avenue and Woolbright Road Property Owner: McDonald's/Amoco Requested Variance: Request for relief from Article IV, Section 2.D of Chapter 21 - Sign Code of the City of Boynton Beach Land Development Regulations for height of sign variance. Vice Chairman Miriana read portions of this application, including the applicant's Statement of Use and Justification. Anna Cottrell, 1532 Old Okeechobee Road, West Palm Beach, and Clark Bridgeman, Project Engineer with McDonald's Corporation, were present. Ms. Cottrell said there is one item left on the justification that was submitted. It relates to the impact on public health, safety, and welfare. As indicated in the justification statement, there is no adverse impact on public health or safety associated with this variance request. The menu board in question is not an advertising sign. It is simply a device that provides an efficiency in the operation of the McDonald's or any other drive through restaurant. In this case, it is the absolute minimum in terms of its height in order to meet the requirement that the height not be greater than five feet, and the variance not greater than 25 percent above that. In this case, some compromises have been made in the placement of the menu board. Typically, they are several inches between the ground and the bottom of the board. In this case, it will be placed as close to the ground as possible in order to secure it and to meet the wind load requirements and other structural requirements. Chairman Thompson asked what the difference is between this sign and the signs of the other two McDonald's in Boynton Beach. Ms. Cottrell said they are the same. The reason that this sign needs a variance is that the other signs were permitted under the old sign code, and there were greater allowances under the old sign code with regard to the menu board height and size. Therefore, in order to stay with the standard design, the variance is required. 7 MINUTES BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA NOVEMBER 20, 1995 Mr. Bridgeman confirmed this statement. He said the menu board wil be put in a discreet area and landscaped nicely. It will not create an unpleasing effect to the general public. There was no one in the audience to speak against the granting of this variance. Vice Chairman Miriana was glad the sign will be facing the south side and not the street. Mr. Haag used the overhead projector to review the site plan. Motion Mr. Taylor moved to accept the variance of 1.125 feet to allow the construction of a menu board at a subject McDonald's/Amoco facility to a height of 6.125 feet instead of 5 five. Mr. Uleck seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. 7. OJ~IERJg~I N ESS None. Chairman Thompson hoped to have a full Board by the next meeting. Vice Chairman Miriana suggested putting a little pressure on the City Commission to try to get some members to serve on this Board. Chairman Thompson reminded the members to call City Hall if they intend to attend the Annual Board Dinner. 9. ADJOURNMENT There being no further busineSs to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 8:09 p.m. Eve Eubanks Record i ng Secretary - One Tape