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Minutes 07-10-89MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING HELD AT PRIME BANK PLAZA, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON MONDAY JULY 10, 1989 AT 7:00 P.M. PRESENT Lillian Artis, Vice Chairwoman Janice Lewis, Secretary Raymond Eney Thomas Newton Henrietta Solomon Ben Uleck James Miriana, Alternate (Voting) Medard Kopczynski, Deputy Building Official Don Jaeger, Building Official ABSENT Vernon Thompson, Jr., Chairman (Excused) Frank Palen, Alternate (Excused) Vice Chairwoman Artis called the meeting to order at 7:05 P. M. and introduced Mr. Jaeger, Mr. Kopczynski, the Members of the Board, and the Recording Secretary. MINUTES OF JUNE 12, 1989 Mrs. Solomon moved, seconded by Mr. Eney, to accept the minutes as presented. Motion carried 7-0. ANNOUNCEMENTS None. COMMUNICATIONS None. OLD BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS CASE ~ 133 - Address: Legal Description: Owner: Variance Requested: 860 West Industrial Avenue Boynton Beach Industrial Park North, Lot 1 860 West Industrial, Inc. 1) Parking and 2) Screening Secretary Lewis read the application. Vice Chairwoman Artis read the six criteria from the Code upon which the Members would base their decision. Secretary Lewis read - 1 - MINUTES - BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 10, 1989 the applicant's answers to paragraph 5 (a-f) of the applica- tion. She then read a letter dated May 4, 1989, addressed to the Board, from Paul Leathe, Vice President, 860 West Industrial, Inc., P. O. Box 407084, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33340-7084, which authorized Richard Wo Matthews to represent the owner in this matter. Vice Chairwoman Artis informed the applicant that this was not a majority Board. Any three negative votes would deny a request, but five positive votes were needed to grant a request. Richard Matthews, Vice President, Stor-All Systems, Inc., 1375 West Hillsborough Boulevard, Deerfield Beach, FL 33432, said parking has always been a problem for their industry. Very often, towns throughout the country have applied park- ing standards which are suitable to retail commercial or regular warehousing rather than the self storage industry. The most people they ever have in the facility at one time is five people, even on the busiest day of the week (Saturday morning). Most of the time, only one or two cars are on the premises. With the~ application, Mr. Matthews included a copy of the industry's standards for parking. It recommended ten parking spaces. Mr. Matthews stated that they now have a seven foot high fence. He,believed the Ordinance requires an eight foot high fence. The violation they received mentioned junked cars. As there are no junk vehicles there, Mr. Matthews was not sure the screening pertained to their situation. Mr. Kopczynski thought it was apparent that there was a Code Enforcement action against the applicant. He. advised that a Section in the M-1 Ordinance talks about adequate screening as an accessory use. The applicant wants to rent a section of the parking lot out to people. The issue of screening was whether a seven foot high chain link fence would be adequate screening to screen vehicles or boats in a parking lot. Mr. Matthews informed the Members that the building is 300 feet long and goes straight back. The parking would be in back of the property, where there is the railroad track. The parking would not be seen from the front of the property, and it is a dead end street° A new warehouse built next door will have construction vehicles in the back° They are required to have an eight foot chain link fence with vinyl slatting in the fence. - 2 - MINUTES - BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 10, 1989 Mr. Kopczynski interjected that the issue of screening would not mean anything if the Board did not grant the variance on parking. It seemed to Mr. Miriana that they would be taking away parking spaces and increasing the number of rental spaces, which would mean a greater increase in the flow of traffic. Camping vehicles and recreational boats are in use more often. Mr. Miriana elaborated on experiences he had in such instances, and he advised that recreational vehicles are on an average of 27 feet long. Mr. Matthews said the spaces on the south side of the building are longer for parking. The northeast side will be used for smaller vehicles° They cannot block the traffic patterns because they need to allow trucks in. W/~en the applicant went into this business, Mrs. Solomon said they knew it was zoned M-1. Mr. Matthews responded that the property went into foreclosure and was taken over by Citicorp. Stor-All is managing the property for the bank. Economically, it has not been a successful facility. When they took over the management of the property, around 25 or 30 boats, trailers and cars were parked in the yard. Now there are probably 20. Mr. Kopczynski reminded the Members that the issue was that the Zoning Code requires a certain amount of spaces per square feet of building. At this point, it was not the issue of storage but the issue of reducing the amount of required spaces for the building. If the Board gives the applicant permission for a reduction, the applicant wants to use that space for open storage of vehicles. The second issue would be screening of the open storage. After discussion about parking and screening, Mr. Uleck stated that he did not see a hardship. It appeared to Vice Chairwoman Artis that no hardship had been imposed upon the owner by the City in that space was available. Mrs. Solomon asked whether Mr. Matthews had applied for a Code change. Mr. Matthews answered that he was told he had to come before this Board first. There was discussion about the number of storage units rented, the standards for the industry, and parking. Since the zoning was not changed since the property was purchased, Mrs. Lewis thought they would be setting a precedent by granting the variance. Personally, she would have a problem with granting the variance. - 3 m MINUTES - BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 10, 1989 Vice Chairwoman Artis asked if anyone else wished to speak in favor of granting the variance. Larry Anderson, President of Stor-All and President of the Southeast Region of the Self Storage Association, 2710 Davenport, Delray Beach, agreed that the best way to handle this would be to change the Ordinance. He and the Association have been quite instrumental in having many Ordinances changed. The American Planning Association did a plan and set guidelines which helped City Officials and lay people who serve on Boards to understand. Mr. Anderson asked the Board to approve the variance. If they did not, the applicant's next step would be to go to the Planning and Zoning Board and the City Commission because this industry is the lowest generator of traffic. Palm Beach County just changed its Ordinance because of Mr. Anderson's involvement. There was discussion about storage of boats. As no one else wished to speak in favor of or in opposition to the request, THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. Mr. Miriana referred to the memo from the Planning Director, dated June 29, 1989, which stated that the Planning Depart- ment strongly objected to the granting of the variance to reduce the number of required parking spaces as requested. He thought it was up to the Planning and Zoning Board and the City Commission to determine whether the applicable Codes should be amended. Vice Chairwoman Artis felt what Mr. Miriana said was correct° She also knew space was available and stated that certain decisions would be against the Board's criteria. Motion on Request for Variance on Parking Mrs. Lewis moved to DENY the variance request. (81 parking spaces are required and the applicant wished to provide 43 spaces, which would be a variance of 38 spaces.) Mrs. Solomon seconded the motion. A roll call vote on the motion was taken by the Recording Secretary: Mr. Miriana Mr. Eney Mr. Newton Vice Chairwoman Artis Secretary Lewis Mrs. Solomon Mr. Uleck Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye The vote was 7-0. The variance request was DENIED. - 4 - MINUTES - BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 10, 1989 Request for Variance on Screening The request for this variance was for the screening of the vehicles. If the vehicles are not to be stored there, Mr. Matthews said there would be no reason for this variance. Therefore, the applicant withdrew the request for this variance. ADJOURNMENT The meeting properly adjourned at 7:48 P. M. ReCording ~em~reeY~arry~ (One Tape) - 5 -