We will call the meeting.

Uh this meeting of the broken arrow um Board of Adjustment to order.

Roll call, please.

Michelle Bergwall here.

Rebecca Hinkle.

Here.

Kamara Washington.

George Jesquire.

Here.

Judd Hatch.

Here.

Okay.

First item is the uh review and approval of the Board of Adjustment mini meeting minutes from March the 9th.

Does anybody have any questions?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Michelle Bergwall.

Abstain.

Rebecca Hinkle.

Yes.

George Jessquire?

Yes.

Judd Hatch.

Yes.

Okay.

The first item, item A under public hearings.

Uh, I'm told has been moved forward to a future meeting.

So that one will not be addressed this evening.

So we'd be moving on to uh item.

Oh, a motion to okay.

Gotcha.

I motion to move the meeting.

It's a motion to continue.

What a motion to continue?

Yes.

A second.

Okay.

Uh Michelle Bergwall.

Yes.

Rebecca Hinkle?

Yes.

George Jessquire.

Yes.

Judd Hatch.

Yes.

There we go.

Okay.

Okay.

Now we are moving on to item B, which is uh 26-462.

Yes, this is public hearing consideration and possible action regarding VAR dash 002593-2025.

Fort Worth apartments, approximately 0.32 acres of the downtown residential overlay district five to request a variance from section five of the downtown residential overlay district regulations to modify driveway width.

Located approximately one fourth mile north of West Houston Street, also known as 81st, and one half mile west of 9th Street, also known as 177th East Avenue.

This VAR request VAR D-002593 involves 0.32 acres within DROD area 5, and it is a request to uh waive the driveway width regulations.

This property is currently addressed as 202 East Fort Worth Street and is in the process of being developed into a 15-unit multifamily flat.

This property is comprised of four lots of the original broken arrow town site.

Parking regulations require that there be one parking space per one bedroom unit, meaning this development would require 15 parking spaces.

For a variance to be granted, there are four conditions that must be found by the Board of Adjustment.

Number one, unnecessary hardship, the application of the ordinance to the particular piece of property would create a necessary hardship.

Analysis.

The DROD does allow row houses to have 20 foot maximum driveway widths.

It should be noted that flats and row houses are very similar developments in density and use.

Number three, public good.

Relief if granted would not cause substantial detriment to the public good or impair the purposes and intent of the ordinance or the comprehensive plan.

Three, or sorry, the analysis.

The variance, if granted, would allow for more dense housing to be constructed in the DROD.

That itself is the goal of the DROD.

There are other existing driveways throughout the district.

There are various widths, including some one-way drives with widths as low as 15 feet.

Number four, minimum variance.

The variance, if granted, would be the minimum necessary to alleviate the unnecessary hardship.

If a two-way drive needs to be a minimum 26 foot in width, then a one-way drive could be considered to need a minimum of 13 feet in width.

The applicant in this case is requesting to reduce the width of the one-way driveway to be 20 foot.

Recommendation.

By state law and by the city of Broken Arizona ordinance for variance to be granted, all four criteria listed above must be met.

In staff's opinion, the request for variance to reduce the minimum driver width of the downtown residential overlays meets the four conditions for the board to grants variance.

Therefore, staff recommends that VAR-002593-2025 be approved.

And the applicant uh is in attendance.

Okay.

Would you like to uh speak?

Yes.

Yes, please.

Justin Abruin, Walls Design Collective, 123, Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

So I have a few points.

I know we spoke about this before, but I really want to drive home a few points here if you'll be patient with me.

So the first one is that the uh in discussions with city staff and the engineering um variance criteria we've been approved by the city engineer and by fire to meet the life safety requirements for this particular site.

Um my second point is there's not really good examples within the downtown of driveways really being beyond 20 feet, which was stated by staff.

We did a complete review of the downtown to kind of look at the different areas, and the majority of these would be two-way type driving aisle situations where again to repeat the point this is a one-way drive with access through the alley.

Um Fort Worth Street, just to show one example that the street itself is roughly 20 foot in width, and we're talking a one-way drive being 26 feet, basically cuts into more than half of the developable area of our entire site to meet the setbacks, the landscaping, and everything else that would be required.

So I think what we're trying to try to say is that there's not a precedence for such a high width requirement, as well as if you look at the zoning code standards anywhere else in town, they comply with what's exactly present in town has been proven to be a safe safe standard in the past at roughly 20 feet, and that 20 feet really is the maximum driveway width if you look at one-way aisles throughout the city.

Um that kind of accounts for the parallel parking that would be on the east, requires a 14-foot drive aisle, and depending on the degree to which the angle parking, which would be on the west side, it ranges between 14 feet and 20 feet.

Uh all relevant downtown plans, uh the downtown master plan, the comprehensive plan, and the D-rod encourage the kind of higher density residential type uses.

And there was one other statement that was within the D Rod itself under access and driveway widths that states first and foremost, it's intended to minimize conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles.

And in quotes, the standard is also intended to limit overly wide pavement areas that are inconsistent with the rhythm of yards and buildings along a block.

So, with that being said, uh, we really do hope that you consider this.

And do we have the elevations?

I wanted to also show the elevations just to show that the uh wait for those to pop up.

Is that the ones that are in front of us?

That's exactly those ones there, just to show the quality of the work that we're trying to put there.

We really do find this to be an asset.

This is D Rod Area 5, which is a transition, as we're used to in the zoning world between a residential area and a commercial area, is the increased density that you typically see.

That was off of first an Iola, that is a two-way drive for a apartment style complex.

It does have 20-foot wide driveways.

So with that, we do have representatives here that if you have questions, we can we can answer collectively.

Do you have a site plan of the proposed development?

Yes.

And how many parking spots are you planning for?

Be 15.

15.

And you're required to have 14?

15.

15.

Okay.

And they're all one bedroom.

That I don't know if they are one bedroom.

They are all one bedroom, yes.

And this side only goes to the alleyway, not all the way uh to the next block.

That's correct.

Okay.

Will the alleyway end up being paved?

It'll be improved, is is my understanding.

Okay.

And how wide did you say Fort Worth Street was?

It's roughly 20 feet.

Okay.

It's for is Fort Worth to the south on that like the south on that plan.

That's correct.

So basically you're saying they have to go from a 20-foot wide street to a 26-foot wide driveway as it stands for the right.

Right now.

I guess the point just being the main roadway there, probably 25, 30 mile an hour road is roughly 20 feet.

So pulling into a 26-foot wide drive, intended for one-way purposes, is a very wide gap that really does represent the hardship that we're looking for.

I'm just gonna ask maybe a silly question, but that I mean, obviously, is there George?

If you plan to abstain, you really don't get to ask questions.

Sorry, fair enough.

If I could just add that um the city is currently working with uh some consultants on the downtown master plan, which will add um the one mile section area south of the Rose District uh into the downtown master plan area, and so we'll be looking at the best uses in economic development.

Uh we'll also be looking at whether there have been problem areas with the DROD.

You know, if we're seeing a common request coming forward, maybe it's something that we need to reconsider as we go through that process.

So I think driveway with is one thing we'll be looking at uh with that overlay area.

Once they reach the alleyway, can they go two different directions, or is it just kind of a one-way loop back to Fort Worth?

I believe it's one-way loop back to Fort Worth.

I'm not sure if the intent ultimately uh that might be a question more for uh the developer as far as it going east, but I would assume that it's heading just directly west out to uh first street.

Okay, yeah, normally um alleyways in the city of Broken Arrow have a one-way direction associated to them.

Uh my standing with this one is it's um a one-way going uh to the west, so going out onto Fort Worth.

Okay.

But you know, it's it's an alleyway, so folks will, you know, they can drive sometimes which way they want to, but um but I think most folks would exit out naturally onto Fort Worth as opposed to going the long way and then exiting out on the next um street on the blockover.

Don't they come in on Fort Worth and exit to the first one?

Yes, sorry, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah.

First.

I said Fort Worth.

Yeah, yeah.

Any additional questions?

I think the owner wanted to come up with a question.

No, I was just gonna I don't have any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can you please state your name and address?

Sure.

Uh Jameson Schaefer uh 11541 South 66 East Avenue, uh Bixby uh architect on the project.

Um to answer the question about the alleyways, it does extend a little bit to the east, but I don't even think it extends um much further past maybe a property or two to the east, and so um the only direction is to head west.

Yeah.

The aerial view seemed to confirm that.

Yeah, yeah.

Any other questions?

Somebody would like to make a motion.

I move in approval of the variance.

All second Michelle Bergwall, yes.

Rebecca Hinkle?

No.

George Jessquire.

Abstain.

Judd Hatch.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

That concludes the public hearing.

Need to announce that the motion fails.

Sorry.

Need to announce that the motion fails.

Oh, that the motion fails.

I'm sorry.

Since there was one abstention.

One abstention.

Okay.

We need three votes.

Okay.

So is this not the same as last time?

Is it passed?

That's it.

Yeah.

Doesn't move anything basically.

Yes.

No, the abstention council is a no vote.

If it you have to have an affirmative number of votes for it to pass.

I got you.

I'm with you.

Okay.

Is that possible to continue with the chance of having a full full board?

Well, unfortunately, they already took a vote.

So since the motion failed to pass, that operates as a denial, unfortunately.

So you can appeal it to city council, though.

And if they see your point, they'll send it back down for more consideration.

Is that city council or is that district court?

City council.

Yes.

Yeah.

You can go to sit district court if you'd like.

Oh thanks.

Okay.

You have the option to appeal both both ways.

Okay.

Now we're done with the public hearing portion.

Any general board business?

Not from staff.

Any other comments, questions, remarks?

No.

Motion for adjournment.

Motion to adjourn.

Second.

Michelle Bergwall?

Yes.

Rebecca Hinkle?

Yes.

George Jesquire?

Yes.

Judd Hatch.

Yes.

We are adjourned.