Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting - February 26, 2019
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Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting - February 26, 2019
The City of Frederick Zoning Board of Appeals met on February 26, 2019, at 7:00 PM at City Hall to consider one variance request. The board approved the previous meeting's minutes, heard a staff report and applicant testimony on ZBA19-36V, and ultimately denied the requested variance.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the January 22, 2019 meeting minutes as written by unanimous voice vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No general public comment was offered.
- No public testimony was offered on the variance case beyond the applicant's presentation.
Discussion Items
- ZBA19-36V – Variance for 928 Cherokee Trail: The applicant, John Rennan, requested a 5-foot variance to reduce the required rear setback from 30 feet to 25 feet to construct a 270-square-foot addition to his single-family home. The property is located in the Minoxy Village subdivision, zoned R6 (low density residential), and was recorded in 1954 with the home built around 1958. Staff reported the lot is nonconforming and that over 50% of lots on the same plat are less than 7,000 square feet, making the condition not unique to the property. Staff recommended denial, finding the request did not meet the Section 313 variance criteria, particularly the uniqueness requirement.
- The applicant explained the addition would provide needed living space for his multi-generational household, noted that he had already reduced the addition size, and expressed willingness to install a privacy fence as a stipulation. He argued the five feet would make the room usable and that he was not imposing on neighbors.
- Board members discussed the challenge of applying 2019 zoning standards to a 1954 lot, with some expressing concern about precedent and the legal uniqueness standard. Legal counsel advised that uniqueness must be inherent to the property itself and that a persistent problem affecting many properties is more appropriately addressed through legislative rezoning rather than variances.
- A motion to approve the variance was made by Mr. Arno, seconded by Mr. Sisson, with findings that the granting would not confer special privilege and would improve the neighborhood. The motion failed with three votes against (Dr. Yang, Mr. West, Mr. Sisson) and one vote for (Mr. Arno).
- A subsequent motion to deny was made by Mr. West, seconded by Mr. Sisson, citing the lack of peculiar or unique conditions and absence of practical difficulty or undue hardship. The motion passed with three affirmative votes (Mr. Sisson, Mr. West, Dr. Ying) and one against (Mr. Arno). Thus, the variance was denied.
Key Outcomes
- Application ZBA19-36V was denied.
- The board noted the potential need for legislative review of zoning classifications for older neighborhoods like Minoxy Village.
- Staff announced upcoming city workshops on the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) regarding school, water/sewer, and roads tests, with the next workshop scheduled for the following day (February 27, 2019).
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the February 26th, 2019 meeting of the City of Frederick Zoning Board of Appeals. Before we get started on tonight's business, I usually like to go around have a little bit of background information about how our procedures uh will work tonight. Um, see if there's any questions along those lines uh before we get started. So just as some background on the activities uh and the things that we do here at the ZBA, um it's the responsibility of the zoning board of appeals to authorize on appeal in specific cases a variance from the terms of the city zoning regulations, here and decide special exceptions to the terms of the zoning regulations, here and decide appeals of agreed parties where it is alleged there is an error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative officer in the enforcement of division one of the land use article of the annotative code of Maryland or any uh law adopted under that division, uh which includes the City of Frederick Land Management Code. We conduct all these responsibilities in accordance with the city's land management code in Maryland State Law. Umbers of the bar board are all volunteers and we're all residents of the city. Um we are appointed uh by the mayor, and then those appointments are confirmed by the board of aldermen. Um in the work that we do here as volunteers at the ZBA, we're supported by members of the city staff. Um, and I saw uh you guys chatting a little bit ahead of time, but just for anybody who happens to be watching at home, uh I'd like to introduce everybody. So on my far right and everybody else's far left uh is Ms. Rachel DePo, and she is an assistant uh attorney with the city's legal department. And seated next to Ms. DePoe is Ms. Gabrielle Collard, and she is the division manager of current planning for the City of Frederick with the planning department. And then to my far left and everybody else's far right, it's Miss Jessica Murphy. Uh she does an office manager for the planning department, and uh in addition to all those duties, uh, she supports uh many of the boards and commissions, including the zoning board of appeals in our work uh here this evening. Um little bit uh background about how uh our procedures will work tonight. Um, as you see, we've got five members of the board. Uh and any motion before us um will take a simple majority, three out of the five to pass. Um variances or special exceptions, and by looking at the agenda, we've got a request for a variance tonight before us. Um I'll call the case by number, and then after I call the case, I'll ask the staff for the staff report. And the staff will enter the staff report into the record. Um and at the end of the staff report, the staff may make some recommendations and findings regarding their analysis of the application. Uh that's one element that we use in our decision making process, but it is not the only element. So following the staff report, um, I'll ask the applicant uh to come forward, uh, see if there's anything the applicant would like to um uh expand on or clarify any additional information you think might be useful to the board. Um uh and then in addition, members of the board may ask uh the applicants uh questions about their applications to clarify any questions that we have. Uh following uh the applicant's uh um statement and discussion, uh, I'll ask if there's anybody from the public that would like to get public testimony regarding for the case. Um somebody might still sneak in here before we get to tonight's case, but uh I'm not seeing anybody uh yet so far uh here. Um but any member of the public that would like to um provide some information uh or give testimony relative to the case is certainly welcome to do so. Um following the public testimony, um I'll ask the applicant if they have any closing remarks that they'd like to uh make uh and sort of wrap up their presentation, and then we'll close the testimony part of the case. Following that, I'll call for a motion from the board. Um, as I mentioned by our uh rules of procedure, three votes in the affirmative uh to carry any motion that happens to be before us. Uh in addition, if you happen to be at the microphone speaking tonight, if the first time you're speaking, if we could have uh your name and address for the record, uh that'd be great. If you happen to leave the podium and come back for some reason, uh we might ask for your name again. The reason is is that all of tonight's proceedings are being recorded because anybody who is aggrieved by a decision of the zoning board of appeals has a right to appeal our decision up to the circuit court of Maryland. Uh and that helps the judge who's reviewing the recording keep straight at any one time, who happens to be speaking, um, who may have standing in regards to the case and kind of keep the record straight. So that's why we ask for that information. Any questions? Okay. Well, we're pretty uh easygoing, and if something comes up, you know, feel free to ask uh on top of it. Uh but uh um as I mentioned, before we get to tonight's cases uh tonight, we've got uh a little bit of housekeeping uh business on our agenda to start with. Um item number one for those of you following along with your agendas is our call to order and announcements, and we've completed that portion. Uh number two is general public comment about zoning. So if anybody within the city wants to offer us comments or their opinions about zoning in the city of Frederick not related to tonight's cases, now is the time when they may do that. Uh I didn't think that we would have any takers. Uh so therefore, seeing no general public comment, we will move on to item number three. Uh members of the board, you have before you uh the January 22nd, 2019 meeting minutes. Uh I will entertain a motion. I move for approval.
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