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Minutes 07-14-86MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING HELD IN THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT CONFERENCE ROOM, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, MONDAY, JULY 14, 1986 AT 7:00 P. M. PRESENT Vernon Thompson, Jr., Chairman George Ampol, Vice Chairman Lillian Artis George Mearns Paul Slavin Ben Uleck Raymond Eney, Alternate Danny O'Brien, Alternate ABSENT Robert Gordon, Secretary (Excused) Alan Newbold, Chief Plans Inspector Chairman Thompson called the meeting to order at 7:00 P. M., and introduced the Members of the Board, Mr. Newbold, and the Recording Secretary. Mr. Eney sat with the Board, and Mr. O'Brien was in the audience. Chairman Thompson recognized the presence in the audience of Councilwoman Dee zibelli, Councilman Robert Ferrell, and Bob Fauser, an interested citizen. MINUTES OF JUNE 9, 1986 Mr. Mearns moved to accept the minutes as received, seconded by Mr. Eney. Motion carried 7-0. ANNOUNCEMENTS None. COM/~UNICATIONS None. OLD BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS Case %105 Applicant/ Owner: Goldie Fisher - 1 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 Request: Relief from R-iA zoning requirement of 60 feet minimum lot frontage to be reduced to 50 foot lot frontage Relief from 7,500 square foot lot area to be reduced to 6,625 square foot lot area Address: 731 N. E. 8th Avenue Legal Description: Lot 44, Block 4, LAKE ADDITION TO BOYNTON, recorded in Plat Book 11, Page 71, Palm Beach County Records Mr. Slavin read Fact ~4 from the fact sheet, which stated one year is required before a subsequent application affect- ing the property can be filed. The same variance was denied on November 4, 1985. Mr. Slavin moved that Case ~105 be postponed until November 10, 1986 at 7:00 P. M. Mrs. Artis seconded the motion, and the motion carried 7-0. Case ~104 Applicant/ Owner: Boynton Leisureville Community Assoc., Inc. Request: Relief from Appendix A-zoning, Section ll-H-16-e (1), (4), (5) (12) (b), (c), (d) and (e) requiring a total of 188 parking spaces for a swimming pool, outdoor athletic courts, golf courses, and condominium recre- ation buildings to be reduced to 52 parking spaces currently provided. Alterations to Leisureville Clubhouse Section 10. Address: 1807 S. W. 18th Street Legal Description: Parcel J. Tenth Section of Palm Beach Leisure- ville, as recorded in official Records Book 2408, Page 1097, Public Records of Palm Beach County, Florida Chairman Thompson read the six criteria the Board bases its decisions upon. They also base their decisions upon what they see when they go out on the site. Many times they find the City has placed a hardship because of upgrading the - 2 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 property, or the County has taken rights-of-ways. see whether it is a self-imposed hardship. They also Chairman Thompson pointed out that this Board is not a majority Board. It is a voting Board of seven Members. Any five Members voting in favor of the variance will grant the request, and any three negative votes will deny the request. Acting Secretary Slavin read the application and the responses to the six questions in paragraph 5. There were a lot of people from Leisureville in the audience. As many people were involved~ Chairman Thompson said if they had something they should know, the Board would like to hear from them. However, he warned that he would stop them if the same thing was repeated and repeated by different people. If there were two or three representatives, the Board would appreciate hearing from them, and if someone else had some- thing to say, the Board would then hear them. Wilbur J. Lynch, President, Boynton Leisureville Community Association, said he lives at 1912 S. W. 16th Avenue. He did not have much more to add to their request. However, the survey was filed with Betty Boroni, city Clerk, on June 25th. He had a copy of the new survey, if the Members had not seen it or wanted to see it. As they said in their application, Mr. Lynch affirmed that the 892 homes are there. The clubhouse will not be used by any more people. They are going to use the rooms for multi- purpose rooms so they can get some of their activities that are now in the main hall, using up hundreds of dollars of air conditioning, into smaller rooms. This will not impact on any more useage of the clubhouse, but will give more room for them to spread out, and will give more room for the smaller activities. Mr. Slavin asked what year the clubhouse was built. Mr. Lynch answered that it was built during 1975 and 1976. He thought they opened it up for use in December of 1976. Mr. Slavin wondered what the Codes on parking spaces were in 1973, 1974, and 1975. To him, it sounded like it was grand- fathered in, where they inherited something from the developer. By today's standards, the fact that they were adding footage, and the footage requires "X" amount of parking spaces, according to the footage, Mr. Slavin said the permit was - 3 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 denied. He asked if Mr. Newbold had the Code dating back ten or 12 years on parking spaces. Mr, Newbold did not have that COde with him, but referred Mr. Slavin to the Fact Sheet. Mr. Slavin read Fact 93, which said that prior to Ordinance 975-19, which was adopted on June 3, 1975, there were no parking standards for recreation buildings in a Planned Unit Development (PUD) zone, other than what was approved by the Planning and zoning (P&Z) Board (ordinance 62-9). He pointed out that "62-9" meant the ordinance was adopted in 1962, and it was his opinion that this was grandfathered in. Chairman Thompson pointed out that there has been a big change here, and he did not think a change could be grand- fathered in. Here, they were asking to change something. If it could have been approved as grandfathered in, Chairman Thompson thought perhaps the Building Department would have made that decision earlier. Mr. Slavin disagreed, saying the Building Department could not make any decision if it was contrary to the Code. That was why the applicant was here. Mr. Slavin said it was true the addition was being made to the clubhouse proper. According to the new Code, so much parking space is required for so much footage. Mr. Slavin read from a memo, dated June 2, 1986, to Edgar E. Howell, Building official, to Bert Keehr, Deputy Building official, that under the existing parking sections the Leisureville Section 10 clubhouse and other facilities require the number of parking spaces listed below: 1. Clubhouse 2. Two pools 3. Shuffleboard 4. 9 hole golf course 5. Proposed addition 110 32 1 36 9 Total Required Spaces 188 Mr. Slavin said that was as of today's Code. Chairman Thompson brought out that most cases that are grandfathered in are usually settled before they get to the Board. This case was checked out 'thoroughly and was not grandfathered in. Mr. Slavin thought maybe he was thinking of what hap- pened in other developments here. What he was getting at was, say they put~ 72 parking spaces in an 80 unit building. - 4 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 Mr. Slavin told Mr. Ampol the ordinance today came in 1975. According to the Fact Sheet, The ordinance at that time was adopted in 1962. It specifically states that if it met with the approval of the P&Z Board, it was good. Mr. Slavin stressed that it is a PUD development. No new buildings are coming in there, and there will not be any increased density. Councilman Ferrell said he and Councilwoman zibelli had to attend another meeting, but he wished to speak in favor of the variance. He thought the bottom line was the actual impact for the number of square feet of the addition, which is already within the existing structure and is not that significant a change. Councilman Ferrell was not sure of the square footage in the addition but, in itself, he thought it was only enough to maybe justify, if the City had a stricter Code, the space on the addition, which would be quite a small number of parking spaces. He estimated about six or seven spaces just for the addition itself. What has happened was that the whole thing has come under the new Code all of a sudden. He did not think the impact would be different because the number of people that live there is the same, and the use will be the same. Councilwoman zibelli wished to ditto Councilman Ferrell's comments. Leo Feinstein, 1390 S. W. 17th Avenue, got the impression that the people on the Board think they are expanding the clubhouse. They are not expanding as much as 1/2 an inch. Mr. Feinstein said they have the walls and want to put a ceiling on them and windows. That is all they are doing. Chairman Thompson did not think anyone on the Board was under that impression. The Members agreed. Mr. Feinstein's point was that everything will be within the walls that are already existing on the building. Chairman Thompson reiterated his prior comments about whether it should be grandfathered in, and asked if anyone else wished to speak in favor of granting the request. There was no response. Chairman Thompson asked if anyone wished to speak against granting the variance. Danny O'Brien, Alternate Member of the Board, said the club- house is grandfathered in with 52 existing parking spaces. - 5 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTONBEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 Since it has been built, he has gone by the clubhouse a few times every year, and knows that not very often, but every once in awhile, there are times when they have parking problems. Mr. O'Brien said the Board was faced with the question of the applicants enclosing what he calls decorative walls. The applicants were adding 875 feet, which would require roughly n~ne more parking spaces. The Members looked at the survey. on the blueprint, Mr. Lynch said the walls are "bearing walls" and not decorative walls. Mr. O'!Brien thought a study should be made wherein, with the glreen areas around there, they would be able to accommodate the nine additional parking spaces, which he did not think had been addressed. He did not think the applicants should be required to put in the parking required for their exist- ing square footage but felt they should put in the parking r~equired for the additional square footage. Mr. O'Brien knows how the parking symetrics of the golf course are, and he did not think the applicants had exhausted every possibility. Although he was not looking at nine parking spaces, he thought they could put in at least five or six parking spaces. If the applicants were going to say they were closing in bearing walls, Mr. O'Brien said in the future, the Board will have to look at any existing building in the city of Boynton Beach that comes in for expansion, no matter whether they are enclosing a carport, etc. Mr. O'Brien felt the Board would be setting a precedent and asked the Board to consider that the applicants be required to have nine parking spaces for the 875 square foot addi- tion. He pointed out that they are way under the present day Code, but was not saying they should be penalized for that. Mr. O'Brien was saying the Board should make the applicants meet the Code for the addition they were putting on the clubhouse because if he would come in tomorrow, have a business downtown, and want to close in 500 square feet, he would have to put in additional parking spaces. If the Board would allow this, Mr. O'Brien said they would have to allow him to do it for his downtown business. He asked the Board to consider what they were stepping into. Mr. O'Brien recommended that the Board postpone this so the applicants could go back and see what they can really do. He brought out that they were coming in with a plan and say- ing they cannot put in any additional parking spaces. Mr. - 6 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 0'Brien walked the site on Saturday, July 12, and said they cannot put additional parking in there without interrupting the golf course. Mr. O'Brien again asked the Board to realize the ramifica- tions they would be running into if they did not ask the applicants to come back in and show they had exhausted all of the possibilities of meeting part of the Code. They could say they are grandfathered in with the clubhouse as it is, but they want to add 875 additional square feet, and they can ask for a variance from nine parking spaces for the 875 square feet to five parking spaces, along with the variance of not bringing it up to Code. Mr. O'Brien thought then, the Board would not be setting a precedent. Chairman Thompson asked if the nine parking spaces Mr. O'Brien was talking about would be in addition to the 136 spaces the applicants were asking for. Mr. O'Brien answered, "No." Mr. O'Brien was saying the applicants should ask the Board to waive what happened in 1975, but the applicants were asking for an addition to the clubhouse, which would require nine more spaces. He told the Board to give the applicants what they had there for 11 years and then give them a variance on the addition, if they do not require the parking spaces. What Mr. O'Brien meant was that it was really a double sided question. Mr. Slavin pointed out that the Building Department rejected the application in total. Mr. O'Brien's recommendation was something entirely different. Mr. Slavin asked if the appli- cants should come in with a new proposal, say they do not have room for the nine parking spaces, and the Board could work on that and table this (so the applicants will not be encumbered with another filing fee), or should the Board proceed with the original request. In Mr. Slavin's opinion, the applicants might not be adding any more space to the building, but they were converting footage to useable space, which had never been there before. According to the Code, that useable space would require nine parking spaces. To take the whole ball of wax the way the applicants proposed it was one thing, but if they wanted to break it down, as Mr. O'Brien suggested, that would be another thought. Mr. Slavin said the question was how the Board felt about it. He thought the people of Leisureville were also entitled to consideration. This was not an arbitrary Board, and Mr. Slavin pointed out that they are also not unilateral. - 7 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 Mr. O'Brien informed the Members that he does not own a building in the downtown and was using that as an example. Chairman Thompson advised that each case is based on its own merit. Mr. Slavin added that no precedents are established by the Board. Mr. O'Brien wished to explain it at a different angle. The applicants are enclosing what is now open. They will add 875 square feet of floor area, as defined in the Building Code of the City. Once they add that 875 square feet, Mr. O'Brien said the applicants are required to provide certain amenities. He repeated prior statements and then emphasized that the applicant has not shown him any way that they could have added one parking place. In other words, they are not asking for the minimum variance but are asking for the maxi- mllm. Mr. Slavin stated that was what he said when he said the application was rejected in total by the Building Department, the way it was presented. The applicants came here for relief. The question was whether the Board should go by the one package or break it up into units. Chairman Thompson advised that the Board had to act on the request only and could not deal with anything else. They were not to read anything else into the request. Chairman Thompson asked if anyone else wished to speak against the granting of the variance. There was no response. Acting Secretary Slavin read a letter dated July 1, 1986, from Alice T. and Rolland U. Michelin, 1719 S. W. 18th Street. Mr. and Mrs. Michelin hoped the Board would allow the variance to reduce the parking spaces to 52, as currently provided. They wrote that rarely is the parking area filled, and to require 188 spaces would be a big waste. Acting Secretary Slavin also read a letter from Veronica Rose and John J. Walsh, dated July 10th, which urged that the Board grant the requested relief. They expressed their approval of the alterations to the clubhouse, that repre- sent an improvement to Leisureville Section Ten, which reflects credit on the city. Chairman Thompson said Leisureville was asking the Board to grant a variance for 136 parking spaces. He did not think it was the Board's concern whether anyone would like to give up a golf course for more parking spaces. - 8 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 Mrs. Artis brought up the fact that there were no parking standards for recreation buildings prior to June 3, 1975. She felt this was a hardship imposed by the City because of the adoption of ordinance 975-19. Vice Chairman Ampol agreed that the hardship was created by the City and not by Leisureville. Mr. Mearns commented that it has existed all of this time with the parking spaces they have now with obviously no big problem. He felt it was the applicants' own problem if they did not have adequate parking because it was for the utili- zation of the property owners. He also agreed with Mrs. Artis. At the outset, Mr. Slavin recalled he said the applicants were adding, and he was told that it was not so. He ~ointed out that they actually are adding additional, useable footage. If anyone wanted to deal on schematics, they had the space and were closing it in. Mr. Slavin remarked that this was built in the heyday of the developer's power. Chairman Thompson did not think this was a hardship created by the City. At that time, the city made a decision that was acceptable by the developer. In other words, Chairman Thompson said it could be used as it is now for another 100 years, so the city did not create a hardship, and they were not saying the applicants could not use their property. Chairman Thompson has always gone along with additional space at clubhouses because most people walk from where they live in the area to the clubhouse. Not having a place to park and having to walk could be a hardship in itself. Chairman Thompson reiterated that he did not think this was a City imposed hardship because they were not being denied the use of their property. Mrs. Artis's reason for saying hardship was because there had been no standards. Had there been standards at the time, there would have been sufficient parking spaces. What they have is far below what the ordinance calls for now, and Mrs. Artis explained. As the building stands now, Chairman Thompson said they could use what they have. They were here because they wanted more space. When you do that, you have to come up to Code. Mr. Slavin said the developer's guidelines were the Planning and zoning (P&Z) Board's ordinances of 1962. The site was - 9 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 approved with 52 parking spaces. While the overall square footage is the same as when it was a Planned Unit Develop- ment (PUD), all they ar.e doing is creating more workable footage. Because of that, they went to get a permit, and the BUilding DePartment had to go by the Code. Mr. Slavin agreed that the City did not impose a hardshiP on the appli- Cants, and he elaborated. He referred to the golf course and asked what they would take away from the Senior Citizens. Mr. Slavin alluded to the seminars Board Members have attended and expounded on how the applicants want to improve their life. He felt the Board had to work on the entire package, accept, reject, or give the applicants an alter- native, if they feel they can put in nine more parking spaces to accommodate the additional workable footage, and table this until the next meeting of the Board. Usually, the Board does not have alternatives, but in this issue, there appeared to be one. Chairman Thompson thought perhaps there was a hardship then, and there is one now. He referred to parking spaces fo~ clubhouses. There was discussion. ~ Mr. Slavin remembered in the past, they had issues where they tabled requests and set dates for completion. He asked Chairman Thompson if he thought the Board could tell Leisure- ville they were sure they could find nine spaces, and this should be tabled, so they could come in with a new request. Chairman Thompson replied that the Board had to wOrk on what it had, and added that it was not a policy of the Board to table business at hand. Mr. Slavin moved that the request for variance be granted for the following reasons: 1. When the clubhouse was built, they worked on Codes dating back to 1962. The amount of parking spaces provided for the footage of the clubhouse was acceptable to the P&Z Board at that time. 2. This being a PUD, there were no more apartments or homes coming into the area. Vice Chairman Ampol seconded the motion. After reading the motion, as requested by Chairman Thompson, Mrs. Ramseyer took a roll call vote. The motion carried 7-0, and the variance was granted. - 10 - MINUTES - BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 NO MEETING OF BOARD ON August 11, 1986 Chairman Thompson asked if any Members expected to be out of town at this time. This meeting was subsequently CANCELLED. Case ~105 - 731 N. E. 8th Avenue Goldie Fisher (CONTINUED) Mrs. Fisher could not understand why she could not come before the Board. Acting Secretary Slavin read a Memorandum dated July 7, 1986, from E. E. Howell, Building official, to Chairman Thompson, which stated that the pre-variance com- mittee requested that the case be postponed until the meeting of November 10, 1986 because they discovered a previous variance application on the property was denied. He then read Fact 4 from the "FACTS", which stated that Appendix A, Section 10H(I) requires a period of one year before a sub- sequent application affecting the same property can be filed. Mr. Slavin explained that was why the motion to postpone the case was made. A man in the audience informed the Board that they purchased the property on June 10th of this year. Mr. Slavin informed him that had no bearing on the Board. Chairman Thompson said it used to be six months, but now it is one year. Mr. Slavin did not know who Mrs. Fisher bought the property from but said, in all fairness, she should have been told about this. Mrs. Fisher commented that she had gone to a lot of expense. PRESSURE ON MEMBERS If the Members sometimes feel they are being pressured, Chairman Thompson thought they had the right to bring it to the attention of the Board. Perhaps the Board can put it in the record that they have been pressured by outsiders to make decisions. Chairman Thompson told the Members this Board has the type of power that cannot be touched by any of the Commissioners, Councilmen, or anyone else. He continued that the Courts are the only ones that can turn the deci- sions of the Board. He did not feel the Members should let anyone else influence them, and he warned that it might double back some day. Mr. Slavin stated that he had a couple of calls and told the callers he is one voter on the Board and votes the way he sees the material. Chairman Thompson and Mr. Slavin agreed that this should be in the record. - 11- MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 LAWSUIT At a previous meeting, Mr. Slavin recalled a variance was denied on a piece of property. Subsequent to that, the property owners are suing the City of Boynton Beach. All of the Members received a copy of the lawsuit. Mr. Slavin inquired whether Mr. Newbold heard anything from the City Manager's office regarding this. By the Statutes, Mr. Newbold advised that a petitioner has only one recourse if he is denied by the Board. Either he waits a year, files again, and hopes his variance is granted, or he decides to be heard in Court. The petitioner cannot appeal the Board's decision to the city Council so he has to appeal to the Court. Mr. Newbold told the Members not to look at it as the petitioner just suing the City. The petitioner is appealing the Board's decision to the Court. Mr. Newbold said the Court will hear these things, and there will probably be depositions. The Court may even rule that the petitioner did not follow all of his remedies. Mr. Newbold thought Mr. O'Brien made an interesting point tonight. If the Board had denied the request, and the Court listened to Mrs. Ramseyer's tapes, and it was a reason- able alternative, they may have ruled that the administra- tive decision of the City was a little gross. It went through the Planning Department, the Building official, and everyone else. The decision could have been overturned because there is a Section in Chapter 10 that says you can modify the administrative decision. Mr. Slavin said that was why he asked Chairman Thompson if the Board could make two balls out of it, but the way it was presented to the Board, it was either all or nothing. Mr. Newbold informed him that was the administrative decision that came from the Building official and the Director of Planning. When the case the Board was speaking to comes before the Court, Mr. Newbold said to assume the guy had another alter- native and did not have a hardship. The City Attorney ruled that the case was literally handled properly. The Court might accept the city's ruling, sustain both decisions, and throw it out. That happened in a case at the City of Riviera Beach. - 12 - MINUTES-BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA JULY 14, 1986 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting properly adjourned at 8:05 P. M. Patricia Ramseyer Recording Secretary (Two Tapes ) - 13 -