BOA September Minutes

Lakeland Board of Appeals
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
6:30 PM City Hall

I. CALL TO ORDER: Meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Chairman Gerrit Verschuur.

II. ROLL CALL:
Mrs. Jo Ann Cohen Present
Mr. Tom Mitchell Present
Com. Clark Plunk Present
Mr. Charles Thompson Present
(C) Gerrit Verschuur Present

Others present:
Jim Atkinson, Planning Director Victor Bishara, VLB Holdings, LLC
Lon Hill, Renaissance Group
Dick Leike, Canada Woods Commercial

III. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of July 19, 2007 were approved with no objections.

IV. OLD BUSINESS: None

V. NEW BUSINESS:

1.) Action for a Special Exception to permit a dental office in a recently approved commercial building on Lot 4 of Phase 4 of the Fairway Meadows commercial subdivision located on Highway 64 directly east of AutoZone.
Mr. Victor Bishara, the applicant, was allowed up to 30 minutes to present his request.

Mr. Jim Atkinson, City Planner, was allowed up to 30 minutes to present the city’s position. (See Attachment A for Staff Report)

Public comments were heard from the following:
Ms. Mary Ferguson of 3180 Nova Scotia was in favor of the Special Exception request.

Mr. Mitchell moved to approve a Special Exception to allow a dental office on Lot 4 of Phase 4 of the Fairway Meadows Commercial Subdivision located on Highway 64 directly east of Autozone with the following condition:

· The dental office shall be limited to 33% of the total building area (2400 square feet)

Mr. Thompson seconded the motion.

Motion passed unanimously, roll call vote, 5-0.
Cohen Yea
Mitchell Yea
Plunk Yea
Thompson Yea
(C) Verschuur Yea

2.) Action on a request for a variance of 18 feet from the rear setback requirement to allow a commercial building to be constructed within 82 feet of the rear property line on the property located on the northwest corner of Canada Road and Saskatoon Drive (parcel ID L0159 00501).
For the record: Mrs. Cohen recused herself on this item.

Mr. Lon Hill, representing the applicant, was allowed up to 30 minutes to present his request.

Mr. Jim Atkinson, City Planner, was allowed up to 30 minutes to present the city’s position. (See Attachment B for Staff Report)

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Public comments were heard from the following:
Mrs. Jo Ann Cohen of 3144 Woodland Crest Drive expressed her concerns of drainage issues, maintenance of the detention pond and opposed a berm.

Mr. Chuck Pounders of Nova Scotia stated he didn’t think 18 feet variance was that big of a deal versus a visional barrier and felt a masonry fence would be a better.

Mr. Scott Mertell of 3150 Nova Scotia expressed his concerns of drainage issues and a berm.

See Attachment C for written comments.

Mr. Mitchell moved to approve the requested variance of 18 feet from Article IV, Section 1, Chart 2 of the Zoning Ordinance to allow a rear yard setback of 82 feet for a proposed commercial building on the property located on the northwest corner of Canada Road and Saskatoon Drive (parcel l0159 00501) with the following condition:

· The Landscape buffer between the building and the adjacent residential properties shall be heavily landscaped to exceed the requirements found in the Municipal Code regarding buffering between differing uses. The DRC in concurrence with the city forester shall review the detailed landscape plans.

Commissioner Plunk seconded the motion.

Motion passed unanimously, roll call vote, 4-0.
Cohen recuse
Mitchell yea
Plunk yea
Thompson yea
(C) Verschuur yea


VI. ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Plunk moved to adjourn the meeting.

Mr. Mitchell seconded the motion.

With no objections the meeting was adjourned at 7:20 PM.



____________________________
Charles Thompson, Secretary

ATTEST:

____________________________
Sontidra Franklin, City Recorder

These minutes were approved on October 18, 2007.