Tempe Board of Adjustment Denies Appeal of Quick Quack Car Wash Variance - December 20, 2017
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Tempe Board of Adjustment Meeting - December 20, 2017
The Tempe Board of Adjustment met on December 20, 2017, to consider approval of previous meeting minutes and to hear an appeal of a hearing officer's decision to grant a variance for Quick Quack Car Wash at 5201 South McClintock Drive. The appeal was filed by Rose Law Group on behalf of an unnamed appellant. After a contentious discussion and two votes, the board denied the appeal, thereby upholding the variance.
Consent Calendar
- Meeting minutes from November 15, 2017, were approved unanimously (5-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Sylvia Orioli (resident, 1837 East Harbour Drive, ~600 feet from site) opposed the car wash, stating it is not a good fit for the neighborhood. She presented a Change.org petition with 82 signatures from community members opposing the use. She urged the board to consider the neighborhood's concerns.
- Jamie Burt (property owner) clarified that she and her husband were not informed of the city's request for a 10-foot right-of-way dedication for a bus bay until March 6, 2017, contrary to the appellant's assertion that they knew in 2014. She stated this was a misunderstanding of the record.
Discussion Items
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Appellant (Court Rich, Rose Law Group) argued the variance fails all four legal criteria:
- No special circumstances: Bus bays are common, and the lot is similar in size and shape to other corner lots.
- No deprivation of privileges: Car washes can be built on smaller sites; the applicant could redesign.
- Granting the variance would create a special privilege for this property.
- The hardship is self-imposed because the applicant knew of the right-of-way requirement early in the process but chose to proceed with a design requiring a variance. Rich cited a 2017 Arizona Supreme Court case (Pawn First v. Jacomek) to support that unique characteristics must create exceptional practical difficulties, which he said do not exist here.
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Staff (Karen Stovall, Senior Planner) explained that staff recommended approval of the variance because the city-requested 10-foot right-of-way dedication for a bus bay creates a special circumstance. She stated:
- The dedication reduces the property depth from 200 to 190 feet, a unique burden.
- Strict application would deprive the property of privileges enjoyed by other PCC-1 zone properties (which have a range of setbacks).
- Granting the variance does not confer a special privilege; many nearby properties have smaller setbacks.
- The hardship is not self-imposed because it originates from a city requirement.
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Applicant (Lindsay Shuby, Gammage & Burnham) represented Quick Quack Car Wash. He argued:
- The other three corners of the intersection have 55-foot right-of-way dedications; this site requires 65 feet (the additional 10 feet for the bus bay). That is a unique, special circumstance.
- Without the bus bay requirement, the 20-foot landscape buffer could be met. The variance is only for an 8-foot reduction (to 11 feet 8 inches).
- The car wash will provide 26% landscaping (above the 15% minimum).
- The hardship is not self-imposed; the city requested the dedication after site plan review.
- Quick Quack has already secured a use permit and development plan approval from the Development Review Commission.
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Board Discussion:
- Board members expressed concern about setting a precedent that a bus bay requirement constitutes a special circumstance (Board Member Cullins).
- Others (Vice Chair Lyon, Board Member Confer) believed the city's request for additional right-of-way created a unique hardship not of the applicant's making, making the variance appropriate.
- Board Member Pazakis questioned whether the site could be redesigned to meet the 20-foot setback; the applicant said they would
Meeting Transcript
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to welcome you out to tonight's Board of Adjustment Meeting, December 20th, 2017. Call the meeting to order. I have an open statement for you here. The Board of Adjustment is authorized by the Arizona Revised Statutes and the City of Tempe zoning ordinance. Its function is to grant relief where a literal enforcement of the zoning ordinance would result in an unnecessary property hardship to interpret provisions of the zoning ordinance and to hear appeals from any person or city official aggrieved by the decision of a person responsible for the enforcement of the zoning ordinance. The board has the City of Tempe Community Development Staff summary reports on the items being considered at this meeting, and we'll use this report in their deliberations. To introduce our board members tonight, at our left, we have board member John Pazakus, Board Member Kevin Cullins. I am Vice Chair David Lyon. To my right is board member Jack Confer and Board Member James Frazy. We'll begin tonight, uh begin tonight's meeting by considering the meeting minutes from our previous session from last month. Do I hear a motion regarding said minutes? Make a motion to accept the meeting minutes. Okay. Motion is put forth by board member James Frazy. Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded by John Pazakis. So I'll call for a vote, and I'd I'd like to do a vote by show of hands if that's acceptable to everyone. All those in favor of the approval of meeting minutes as written, show by raising hand. And that passes five to zero. Okay. So I haven't taken care of that. We have one case tonight, which is the quick question quick quack car wash, PL 170240. This is a request to appeal the hearing officer's decision of October 3rd, 2017. If anyone is here that wishes to speak on the case as a member of our concerned public citizenry, we'll ask that you fill out a white slip of paper in the back of the room and bring it down to staff here. And when we get to that portion of the meeting, we'll give you your opportunity to speak. So having taken care of that. If you will introduce our first case. One minute, please. Good evening, Chair and Board Members. My name is Karen Stoval, Senior Planner with the Planning Division. This is an appeal of the hearing officer's decision made on October 3rd, 2017, to approve a variance to reduce the required landscape buffer from the street sidewalk for a maneuvering drive lane from 20 feet to 11 feet 8 inches in order to allow quick quack car wash, which is located at 5201 South McClintock Drive. The existing gas station would be demolished and replaced with the proposed car wash tunnel and self-serve vacuum canopies. Your staff report packet includes the hearing officer staff reports, hearing minutes from October 3rd, the appellants letter of appeal and correspondence received leading up to and following the October hearing. Otherwise, I'm let the appellate appellant make their presentation. Thank you, Ms. Stowell. Okay, board members' questions for city staff. Please, board member Frasie. Couple questions. Um Kieran, I guess just from the very beginning, the understanding from the city to relocate the bus bay from where it is to 180 feet. When was that made and then what was the purpose of relocating the bus bay? Uh chairperson and board member Frazi. Um that comment was made by public works, I believe, at the first time that we uh did a preliminary site plan review for the project. Um the reason was to assist um bus passengers by moving the bus stop closer to the intersection. So if they were on a bus north or southbound on McClentock, they would not have to go as far to get on a bus eastbound on baseline. Thank you. Sorry, also uh a question in regards to that. So the preliminary site plan is that when the owner of the property was first notified that there would be the additional dedication of the right-of-way and the bus bay. So the preliminary site plan uh review submittal was made by the applicant, not necessarily the property owner.
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