 We are live Good morning and welcome to the October 26th Durham Board of Adjustment meeting. My name is Jacob Rogers I'm the chair of the board. I'd like to start by acknowledging that we are conducting this meeting using a remote electronic platform as permitted by session law 2020-3 The Board of Adjustment is a quasi judicial body that is governed by the North Carolina General statutes in the city's unified development ordinance The board typically conducts evidentiary hearings on requests for variances special use permits and among other requests Today's meeting will proceed much like an in-person meeting of the BOA on the screen You'll see members of the Board of Adjustment additionally planning staff and representatives from the city and county's attorneys offices are attending as well Applicants proponents and opponents were Excuse me Excuse me we're required to register in advance and are also attending the remote meeting when a case is called for its hearing Speakers will be promoted within the remote platform. So their video can be seen the chair will swear in applicants and witnesses at the beginning of each case Staff will present each case and applicants will then provide their evidence control of the presentation and screen sharing will remain with planning staff Today's meeting is being broadcast live on the city's YouTube site and the link to this broadcast is on the website for the Board of Adjustment Before we begin the evidentiary hearings on today's agenda I'd like to provide some important information about steps taken to ensure that each party's due process rights are protected as we proceed in this remote platform Each applicant on today's agenda was notified that this meeting would be conducting using a remote electronic platform During registration every applicant on today's agenda consented to the board using this remote platform We will also confirm at the start of each evidentiary hearing that participants in the hearing consent to the matter proceeding in this platform If there's any objection to the to a matter proceeding in the platform the case please continue Notice of today's meeting was provided by publishing notice in the newspaper mailed the property owners within 600 feet of subject properties posting a sign at the property and posting on the city's website The newspaper website and mailed notices for today's meeting contained information On how the public can access the remote meeting as it occurs these notices Also contained information about the registration requirement for the meeting along with information about how to register All individuals participating in today's evidentiary hearings were also required to submit a copy of any presentation Document exhibit or other material that they wish to submit at the evidentiary or hearing prior to today's meeting Materials of the city received from the participants in today's cases as well as a copy of city staffs presentation and document documents We're posted to the board of adjustments website as part of the agenda No new documents will be submitted during today's meeting all Decisions of this board are subject to appeal to the Durham Superior Quark Anyone in the audience other than the applicant who wishes to receive a copy of the formal order issued by this board on a particular case Must submit a written request for a copy of that order So good to see you all this morning Terry would you like to call roll for us sure Kip here Meadows here good morning. Good morning Rogers here much less here one more here manger Here good deal. Does anyone need to recuse themselves from any of the cases today Does anybody need to or would like to disclose any expert take communication prior to today's meeting? Okay? Any adjustments to the agenda? I believe we I know we have one First case has been a postpone to the next meeting again. Anything else Eliza That's the only adjustments that staff would like to announce that b2 1 0 0 0 3 1 it has been requested to be postponed by the applicant Alrighty cool The next thing we've got our minutes from the September meeting I hope that everyone's had a chance to come a review those I'm assuming you have does anybody want to offer a motion for approval motion wretches You got a motion for approval in this direction. Is there a second that I second second Terry take it away Kip Yes Meadows. Yes Rogers yes Richless. Yes. Why more? Yes Major Tarrant yes But shame. Yes Okay, mission passes 80 All right. I know I got a notification that Ian needs to be up on 11 Any other anybody else need to leave earlier the meeting early just in case All right Well, I'm out of court Terry. Would you like to call the first case? Yes Case number B 21 0 0 0 31 it's a county case. It's a request for a variance from the Balloon test requirements for a wireless communication Terry, I'm sorry to interrupt you that is the one that has been postponed. Let's get the next one. I'm so sorry So the next one is the 21 0 0 0 4 7 a city case. It's a request for a variance From the street yard setback requirements. The subject is located at 2100 Summit Avenue it is zone wretches residential rule and It is in the urban development tier and seating for this case is Kip meadows rogers wretches one more major embouchin and This case has been advertised For the required period of time and is notarized And no rise to affidavits verifying the signposting and letter mailings are on file on the Agenda we've got two designated alternates that are listed. Is that Well, I need one Yeah, well, I'm just wondering. Well, no, we need we need two of them But I just want to make sure we had everything correct. I don't Is that right on the agenda to get I mean, are those the two that we use today? Um, Jessica anybody know or we just move forward Um, my husband should be on um I'm here. I'm pretty sure he's referring to on board members Chair rogers, this is Jessica doc Ruth planning department. We can use the ones that are on the agenda. That is fine Um, we may end up using all of them today. So Okay, I was just wanting to make sure so is that so the uh, uh, The clarifying the seating. So uh, Jessica and Natalie will be seated for this case or Mike and Natalie We have um, Mike Tarrant and Natalie Bouchain on the agenda and that would be fine As the ones you are seated for this case. Okay. Just wanted to clarify. Sorry guys. Um, so Sorry for the confusion guys. Um, the applicants if you'll invite plan on speaking in this case if you'll Raise your right hand. We're going to do the oath real quick Um, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll give today is the truth and not the truth and I'm going to go through each one here market I can't find. Oh wait. Got it Where what happened for you? Raise your right hand physically. All right. Oh Not physically. Yeah Now all I need is uh, uh, I do or swear, whichever, you know, do you swear or affirm that this one Okay, uh, john John you're muted. I have to have you unmuted. Sorry guys. Yes. Yes. I do. Thank you I do All right. Thank you. Uh, coal is this yours? It is Take it over. I'm core indiger representing the plan. Um, staff Planning staff request the staff report and all materials submitted the public hearing to be made part of the public record with Any necessary corrections as noted So noted. Thank you Be sorry case b 21 00047 is a request for variance from the street yard setback requirements um, the applicant is market and john lands and The project is in the city of terms jurisdiction The case area is highlighted in red. The site is in the urban tier zoned residential suburban rs 20 and is in city of During jurisdiction the current use is a single family residence Don and margillans apkins and orange because the variance from the street yard requirement along university drive The proposed 12 and a half street yard reduction will accommodate the addition of a screened in porch to the rear of the home The property is zoned residential rs 20 and is in the urban development tier for unified development ordinance do section 7.1 point 2 b The required street yard for the single family home And rs 20 zone district in the urban tier is 25 feet The project is located at the corner of summit street and university drive And thus has two street yards The house is placed on the lot with a portion of the building within the street yard a long university drive making the house non-performing The proposed addition will be attached to the section of the house and will be within the street yard as well Staff will be available for questions throughout the hearing process All right any questions for uh, col before we hear from the applicants I'll go through here real quick to see none here in none. Uh, all right would the applicants like to come forward and give us an idea I'm sure uh, so It's uh, as you can see the house originally was a non-conforming house for I guess whatever reason the It's an old house. It was built 1946 um, and in that area which is on the edge of Forest Hills historic district There are homes that are actually that have been torn down and these giant homes have been built in place and my wife and I are originally From the rally Durham area. We moved to charlotte. Our kids are still there And we bought this house because first of all we like the character of the old house and Our family lives there and we want to move back to Durham within the next three or four years as we prepare to retire and The house because of its um, non conformity and the unusual shape of the lot does not lend itself to um, really easy ergonomics on the inside and ability to use the outside in a way that Would you know to its capacity, let's say So you'll see how the lot in that first picture was Really showed it well, but it's kind of like a little l shape And then that university side um, you'll see that the garage is way separated from the house and and so it's There's just all of this poorly used space in the picture and um inside the I guess there may have been a couple of additions built onto the house over the years and so Getting from one room to another is Really you got to go through every room in the house to get to the bedroom and the bathroom, etc So you'll see in that design. We hired a an architect to draw this up a designer architect artist and You'll see that hallway next to the stairs That's something that we're redoing on the inside of the house So now you can go from the kitchen to a bathroom to the bedrooms and then in that Very back room There's that's that's going to be the new bedroom. So we Like to use the outside space. We wanted a porch. There's really nowhere else to put it We wanted it off the kitchen. We like to dine outside. We like protection from the elements It it It makes the house enjoyable and usable for us You know to to be able to have that that screened in porch area to you know, just to enjoy the outside of the house I know has his hand raised um for a question. Oh, yes Sure, go ahead Please finish please please sir. Please finish, uh, your whatever, you know your comments. I didn't didn't want to interrupt you no, no, yeah, um I mean, you know, that's that's our story really We we're we're trying to make the house something that we can enjoy and spend the rest of our years in And and also preserve a piece of Durham history Chad, you got a question I do I Thank you, mr. Chair and and uh, I appreciate you guys working on an existing home. That's not an easy task I I understand all the things that that come along with that had a question for you. Um A couple of questions one is I think I saw a note on the plans that there is A site plan Review underway now for the I guess this is the the new The new bedroom and the front porch. Is that is that right? Am I understanding that correctly? um, the uh, the new bedrooms already the foundation's been laid and it's framed So, yeah, okay, and I'm sorry It's okay. If that's understandable. That's totally fine. It's been through permanent and it's now Under construction. Uh-huh. Gotcha. Okay. And so it looks like there's a room And I'm gonna go out on a limb and think that it's a bedroom, but it's not labeled. So I'm wondering thank you, um it's uh You know on the on the back side of the house. I'm not sure which is which is the south I guess that's the north side of the house or I don't know. It's the the orientation is a little different, but um, it's the it's the unit that appears to have access to a half bath It appears to have a closet. Were you anticipating that to be a bedroom or Could you tell us more about what's going on with that room? Yeah, so that room is a guest room so the house will when it's finished will have two bedrooms and and Actually two full baths Okay, okay. Oh, I see I I thank you for the correction. I see there's a tub. Yeah, okay So that room is a is a bedroom and my guess is that you didn't want folks to have to walk through the bedroom to get to the porch Uh Right, that's yeah, absolutely, right. Okay. Okay Um, thank you Thank you. That was good good clarification. Appreciate that John do you have anybody else or I know we've got a couple other folks on the call here that have anything to Any other prepared remarks they'd like or are they here just to take some questions? Um, I don't know Katie. Do you have anything or maria speak? Yeah Not a whole lot to add here I understand the question regards Regarding where to place the covered porch and it's a hard thing to do but providing access to the kitchen Was essential or as a way to to enter the house from the garage to get through the kitchen with groceries or whatnot and there's no way to really do that without violating these standards that we have regarding the setback and But I know that the rule is that it can be exceeded by six feet. I think I've got it on the plan there I'm trying to read it at the moment, but it's uh It's b7 under the 6.12 rules rules of the udo so it can be Yeah, there's no I'm not doing right there. It's okay it We are going out 12 and a half feet And so which it's six and a half feet more than you would be normally allowed But it's hard to do with this configuration Uh without violating that setback just because of how close to this to the university drive Just explain that one a little farther All right, well any question does anyone have any questions for the applicant? On this one, uh chatting your hand's still up. I'm guessing that was from the other one You just want to make sure with you Got it Anyone else? All right, uh, is there anyone? Uh, I guess john will go back to you a little quick anyone else here to speak in favor is kind of a procedural thing Margaret, how about you? Yeah, just you know Anything else you'd like to say before, you know, we kind of get into deliberations Now then Okay, uh, is there anyone here to speak against this application? Okay, hang on we got a question by mr. Wretches mike Hi, uh, mr. Mrs. Lans Have you tried to figure out any other possible way? This could be configured Being that's pretty close to university drive and it's on a It's not a pretty busy curve there with a with a light Was there any other way you could? Find Um A balance into what you're looking for I mean that would I would undo financial stress I mean, you know if we were going to rebuild the garage and connect it to the house or something I don't know. I mean just the way the lot's orientated. It's it's It's so hard to Place that porch anywhere else There is quite a bit of land still there between between where the porch would be in the street I mean it would still be behind a privacy fence when everything was said and done So I don't I don't think it's as close as it looks in the picture It's a it's a very unusual corner because of the pin hook sort of curve around the corner onto summit street I I don't see any other way to position that porch and we've we've gone over that with katie Several times and katie, you know, this was the best design and we we we liked it and we figured well Let's give it a shot. Right. We love that. We really need a porch. You really want So well noted. Thank you. Mr. Williams. Hi, mr. Meadows Thank you. Um, could somebody talk a little bit about the width of the porch. It looks like it's 13 or 12 to 13 and Obviously where i'm headed with this is uh, I I think I understand you you're trying to keep the line of the house consistent at the same time, you know, that's that's Part of why you need a variance. So I I just if you could talk a little bit about The width of the porch and why a 12 or 13 foot wide width was selected katie you want to handle that Sure, I can I can handle that If I'm not sure who can see the drawings now or what If you could go to the elevation view, it might be the easiest to explain Uh, the width is a continuation of the house. Yes, but it's also to make the roof as simple as possible It's not an easy place to adjust. I think it's the last page But that's the roof. Thank you going. There's elevations on the next one So we're trying to be not wrap the corner or push it over as a way to keep the massing simple and not incur extra costs simply to Um, push it over in regards to the roof framing That's the that's the main driver and to provide enough usable space if we went down to like a Like an eight foot or nine foot screen porch. It's not going to be quite as or cover porch. I'm sorry It won't be as usable as functional Yeah, thank you. Uh, I I'm guessing it You're planning on using it for dining and you need a dining table and that's got a minimum width and Chair clearance and that sort of thing Essentially, yes, and there's a I might feel yeah There's a a step on the side that would lead down to the primary bedroom So it's not just a cover porch over your patio. It's got a deck below it. So we can't go too wide Uh before chairs would start to fall off the edge Thank you Any other questions for the applicant? Thanks, Cole I've got a quick question Mr. Kip. Yes, I just wanted to ask um, is the driveway on summit in use I see there seems to be a little driveway on summit and then also a larger driveway on university Just out of curiosity There's actually no entrance to the property from summit. I don't know how that appears but There's a there's a a curb and a mailbox on the summit side, but The driveway is on the university side I it may be a it may be a stoop or something. I see sort of a squiggly line from summit Okay, makes sense. So you're uh, you enter and and leave from university. Okay. That's my only question. Thanks Thank you. Yeah, you know, and that's that's a difficulty in and of itself Any other questions for the applicant? All right, uh discussion I'm on the board This is meadows, um so tough site shape like an L if you look at the drawing the Buildable space within the setback lines Makes for a very very, uh oddly shaped house Certainly doesn't fit the setbacks now um, you know I'm looking for Ways that the applicant is trying to meet the spirit of the ordinance Um and operate within the roof line and the and the footprint that's established I don't know that there's an easy way to do that I certainly am compelled by the fact that You know you you you This is the primary rear entrance to the house and you don't necessarily want that to be a bedroom Um, that that it makes sense for that to be to a kitchen Um, I'm not sure that there's any way they could do anything Uh that wouldn't be in the setback Um That would allow somebody to enter and exit the house from the kitchen So I'm inclined to support this um Given the the way that the house is is structured on the lot um And the the challenges that they've got I just don't see any way to to move that porch out of the setback Um One way or another you're going to be in that setback to get into the into the kitchen no matter what you do Thank you. Thank you Mr. Terry So I quarter lots always seem to be a little bit tricky, right? I mean there's always sort of a catch that applies to both frontages and and they can be challenging. Um, you know the For me, this would be a lot easier if we were dealing with the summit right away Um, you know for it seems like university is really the the primary frontage and and The setback should be enforce the extent of practical along that frontage, but um I agree with mr. Meadows comment earlier I really appreciate that you're using the existing structure and not tearing it down and trying to make this work as best as you can It seems like there are other properties within general vicinity that along summit university that are not Much farther than 12 feet from the right of way So I feel like it is compatible with um with what's going on in the jason area and I feel there is a there is a hardship here given the pyrography, not the pyrography, excuse me the geometry of the The parcel and and the challenges associated with reusing the existing structure. So I'm confined to support this application Thank you, mike Anyone else Mike Hi, ruchals here. I'm kind of on the fence um I live right around the corner and uh, I don't have evidence of Um, you know accidents and whatnot, uh, but it's awfully close to a very busy road um with the traffic light um So I'm still I'm still deliberating this in my mind uh for and I and I'm talking in about the safety aspect and um I'm still not yet decided anyone else I'll share some thoughts uh Chad really nailed it on the head with the wide it's kind of very weird oddly shaped even non-conforming now so certainly see a Barrier here to that so I'm I'll support as well I'm giving along those same lines is what chad and mike laid out eloquently much more eloquently than I could Anyone else Thank you Does anyone want to offer a motion? I will Um, I hereby make a motion that case number b21000047 an application For a variance from the street yard set back at property located 2100 summit street has successfully met the applicable requirements of unified development Orgments and it's hereby granted subject to the following conditions the improvement shall be substantially consistent with the plans and all information Submitted to the board as part of the application All right, we've got a motion for approval on uh, bo shane. Is there a second? That is Her meadows first On the second, um Terry, would you take it away? Yes kip? Yes Meadows yes Rogers yes specialist Yes Wymore Yes Tarrant Yes The shane Yes Motion passes seven zero All right by a vote of seven zero your request for a variance has been approved Appreciate you coming for the boa this morning. Wish you the best of luck. Thank you so much. Thank you, katie and margit and everyone Have a good day You too Terry would you like to call the next case? um, yes, um B 21 00048 it's a county case Uh, it's a request for a miles minor special use permit for an addition Of more than 10% Of the square footage to a non-conforming structure the subject site is located at 74 28 um, Ibrun Drive and it's owned Residential rule and it's in the falls noose um, Jordan Lake protected area And it's in the suburban development tier This case has been advertised for the required period of time And notarized affidavits verifying sign postings and letter mailings are on file seating for this case is kip Meadows rogers wretchless wymore Tarrant and brashane All right, uh for all of those who plan on speaking on this case I need to have your camera online a little quick. I'm looking at Trisha Paul Nick Okay, well if you'll raise your right hand, uh, do you Swear or affirm that the testimony you'll give today is the truth and nothing but the truth. I'm looking at Patricia Yes Nick Get on mute sir. I'm sorry Sorry. Yes Paul Yes I'm in the other gentleman in the picture here. Randy Avenger Randy Avenger. Thank you. Randy. All right. Uh, do you, um, uh consent to this remote meeting platform randy? Yes, oh Yes Patricia. Yes Nick. Yes. All right. Thank you Looking around the room here Cole Yes Take it away Thank you. Good morning then. I'm Cole Renegar representing the plan department planning staff request staff for And all material submitted to the public hearing to be made part of the public record with any rate with any necessary questions is noted So noted. Thank you Case b 21 00048 is a minor special use permit for an addition of more than 10 to a non-conforming structure The applicant is co-creations construction and it is in the county of during jurisdiction Case area is highlighted in red. This site is in the suburban tier zoned residential Earl and is within the county of Durham jurisdiction The current use is a single family residence Co-creations the applicant proposed sorry Yeah Co-creations construction the applicant proposed an addition to a non-conforming structure The proposed addition is 780 square feet and will be located at the rear of the existing single family dwelling Property is zoned residence rural and is located in the Falls of Jordan um protected area watershed protection overlay f j dash b and in the suburban development tier for unified development ordinance section 14.4 0.1 c 0.4 In addition to more than 10 of the square footage of a non-conforming structure is allowed with an approved minor special use permit For udo section 6.2 0.1 single family houses Locating the r district must have a minimum area of 30 000 square feet This lot currently is 24 829 square feet The lot was planted in 1968 before the ordinance was in place Staff notes that the site is located in fjb watershed There's a maxpan pervy surface limit of 24 in this area staff will be available for questions throughout the hearing Any questions for cold before we continue? Oh, mike I just have one quick question. So based on this plan here that's on the screen. It appears that the addition Is is being completely Instructed within the building envelope and there aren't any Approachments into the required side or street yards. Is that correct? That is correct. Well I I take that back the actual street yard on this side. Um, as you can see it's 50 feet So it does encourage into the setback, but it's not going further than the existing building Um, that's the reason the minor special permit It normally if we were to encourage in the setback you'd require my special permit and a variance But since it's not increasing the encouragement of the existing house, there was no need for variance in this case Thank you Thank you sir, um Cole a question for you the um, the square footage of the addition is I believe you said it was like 790 in that range I assume that that Does the does the 10 threshold include the existing screen deck or was was the existing screen deck not included um in the current square footage total um Generally, um the screen deck is not a heated area. So um like without permanent heat So it's generally not included in that in the total square footage. Okay. It's only it's only heated square floated square Float um square feet so it doesn't include like closets and attics and that kind of stuff Thank you All right, any other questions for Cole before we continue? All right. Thanks Cole Would the applicant like to come forward? Um, yes. Good. Good morning. I'm paul with co-creations and uh Thank you for seeing us and first. Let me apologize for any errors we make. This is a new experience Um, so hopefully we'll uh, represents ourselves well um The the bottom line is that uh, this really comes down to a financial thing for the homeowner um The the addition that we're requesting Uh, Cole kind of took part of my information there that it does sit within the existing footprint Uh of the home that was built in the 60s when the setback did not exist um Until plan review the homeowner nor co-creations was aware Of the 50 foot setback nor was the architect that did the plan um, the need for the addition is doing to due to the uh homeowner has a growing family Needs has a new uh family member on the way and is in need of extra space Um, he has shopped around uh looking at the market and cannot replace his home For the same money that he has in this one plus the addition Uh, so therefore based on that criteria Uh, we are asking for this special use so that we can increase the size of his house Make it more usable for his uh growing family Um, and uh He can use it for years to come The main entrance to the house, uh is on abron drive and the setback issue Is actually on massy chapel road um on massy chapel road, uh The house is mostly hidden So the addition will not have uh any type of architectural defect For the rest of the neighborhood it Fits nicely on the back of the existing home so that when finished It will look like it was planned for not an afterthought Chad seems like you got a question for paul Thank you, mr. Chair. I do and it might actually be for staff I just needed a clarification paul's testimony talked about a setback My understanding of this situation is we're in this forum Because the structure is non conforming because of the lot size Not necessarily because of the setback. Am I off base with that or is that accurate? um is before uh, i was saying chad um in the drawing um, they are encouraging within the setback However, the setback um from the existing one-story house is our um It's a craze can approach into more than the new addition So the new addition doesn't propose like a greater non conformity um the reason but Like I said before said they don't need the variance because of that reason Um, but they still need if they did need that they would need the minus pressure to permit and variance But since they're not making a greater non conformity They just need the minus pressure to permit for the square footage increase not increase What is triggering the non conformity? Is it the fact that the existing structure is in the setback? Or is it the fact that the lot doesn't meet the minimum lot size for the district? Right. So the the thing that's triggering that there's two not conformities One is the existing building into the setback is correct as well as a minimum lot size Um, but um, they're not changing the lot size obviously, right? Um, so that's an exception not conformity. It's the one that's um changing it is the 10 percent To the you know existing building, you know, that's already encouraging So one more question just just so that I'm clear and I appreciate it I'm sorry. I should have asked these to you Cole when we when you were presenting If this lot Were 10 or 15 square feet larger They would still be before us For a minor special use permit because the addition Because there's a portion of the house. It's in the setback. Is that correct? Okay, so no matter which way we go, even if the lot was larger They'd still have to come in for this minor special use permit But the reason for that is the fact that the structure is in a setback Correct. Thank you all right, um Paul did that conclude your testimony? Do you have anybody else that you wanted to have to speak? For this application It's a pretty simple Set of circumstances and that just about covers it. So I'm not sure that We need to speak any further to it. We those are the the pretty much the facts as they present themselves Mike Yes, um, thank you for for walking through the proposal with us In in reading through the application materials and looking at the findings of fact Again, I think you y'all did a great job addressing those and it seems pretty straightforward that one question I had was Regarding the effect on adjacent properties and I believe you noted that This proposal wouldn't be injurious to property values of the adjacent properties And I was curious if you had an appraiser validate that or if you had any supporting documentation to that effect Actually, we we did not have an appraiser look at it. We are going off the Basis that the owner of our company is a licensed real estate agent and keeps up daily with the local market values um of homes in the Durham area And based on activity around this area additions usually add value to the existing home and Of course, if a comp were drawn for neighboring homes once this completion is finished It could actually have a positive effect on their value And based on that information, we didn't feel like that uh We would need a appraiser to come out and add extra costs to a project that's already expensive Thank you um Unfortunately for for these our purposes and for this board we can only take when it comes to values The testimony of a licensed appraiser in North Carolina, so That would just be hearsay for this for these purposes Does anybody Randy yes, that's correct Uh, I am the homeowner's father and speaking for uh mark avenger on his behalf Essentially what we're doing is adding own an additional bedroom and bathroom. It's a master suite for them. They will have uh A third child is on the way and so the three existing bedrooms They'll have a bedroom for each of the children um Going from a 3 2 setup on the house to a 4 3 setup Will certainly increase the value of the property uh, but Intrinsically that's not what they're shooting for there's just a necessity for them And we'll certainly uh in the long run increase the value of the property Whether it will do it immediately or not You know, it's not their concern at this point because they're They're there for the long run I understand. I think one of the things we're looking at one of our criteria Excuse me, uh, the criteria is that there it is uh, the minor special use permit isn't injurious to uh, neighboring property values and that's that's the one of the Um Factors here for minor special use permit cold. Did you have something? Yeah, uh, staff would just like to mention that in uh, mr Mr. Avinger's testimony he mentioned his son mark Um, since mark is not here anything that he says that his son said or on behalf of the son Um, can't be taken to testimony because it's not fresh person testimony He can speak to the condition of the house Um, what the house looks like the existing features and stuff like that but nothing that is in the future are going to happen Yeah, that's uh, I just wanted to mention that before you go Kind of the difference with this quasi judicial part of just, um Finding the fact as anybody have any questions for the applicant Cole, would you mind uh, stop sharing your screen for a moment? All right. Thank you, sir. Uh, is there anyone else here to speak in favor? Patricia Um, I live at 73 40 abron drive Mark and katelyn are our neighbors. They're relatively new neighbors for us. Our neighborhood is very small There's 27 houses. I think in our on our dead end street We are pretty close knit everybody knows everybody We love katelyn and mark and the two children and we want to keep them And don't see that this addition onto their home Will in any way Bother any of us or affect us. I shouldn't say bother. It shouldn't affect the price of our homes Um, so we really would love you to approve their request Thank you, ma'am All right, uh, is it mike? I'm sorry. I'd at the appropriate time. I have another question for pole Go ahead if you'd like sorry, um, and I apologize for mrs. Cole, but I assume that um The addition does not exceed the 24 percent impervious limitation here in this watershed To our density option I guess nobody knows answer to that mike. Wait a minute mike. I'm sorry. Uh, I thought that question was to cole But to answer your question, uh, the impervious percentage is exactly 24 percent Thank you Thank you, sir Is there anyone here to speak uh against this application for a minor special use permit? Seeing none, um Cole do you have a recommendation for this group? Yes, uh, sorry. Um, I was having some internet issues just then. Um, staff recommends approval. Um That the plan is in performance with everything submitted at the meeting all right folks, we've got a, um Recommendation from planning department. Is there any discussion on the group? I'm on the board This is a matter if I wanted I wanted to share my thoughts. Yes, unless we want to just move on I You know, we we just had a case a second ago with a variance that the structure was in the setback line Um, you know, for whatever reason that was approved. This is a common issue We have here's another situation of an existing lot with an existing home that somebody's working on In this instance the addition they put on the house is actually outside of the or farther from the Uh setback, uh, then the existing structure I I it feels consistent with the community it feels consistent with the uh, the aspects that that we typically look for I'm inclined to support it, but I'm I'm open to to hearing from others Thank you anyone else Mike I would just echo mr. Meadows comments. Um, I would have liked to have had some sort of supporting, you know documentation regarding You know the impacts or effect on adjacent property values, but um, otherwise I feel like all of the other findings have been Adequately addressed and the fund to support this application as well so Let me just say a little bit about that. Um, you know, that is one of the requirements uh, pursuant to the udo The lack of an expert is not fatal on that point If there is information that the board feels is adequate Uh To derive an opinion on whether or not The, uh, project would be injurious to the surrounding properties that would be sufficient Um, the best evidence is certainly expert testimony But it would not be fatal particularly since there is Oh At this point Anyone else? All right. Well, does anyone want to offer a motion? Meadows Mr. Meadows, I hereby make a motion that application number b2 000048 An application for a minor special use permit for an addition of more than 10 square footage of a non-conforming structure on property located at 74 28 abron drive Has successfully met the applicable requirements of the unified development ordinance. It's hereby granted subject to the following conditions one the improvements shall be substantially consistent With all the information submitted to the board as part of the application We've got a motion for approval by mr. Meadows. Is there a second? second kip Mr. Kip on the second uh, terry will you take it away? Yes, um kip Sorry, yes Meadows Yes Rogers Yes Wrenchless Yes Why more why more? Yes Um tarant Yes Sasheng Yes Mention passes seven zero A vote of seven to zero your request for a minor special use permit has been approved We thank you for coming for the BOA this morning in which is the best of luck Thank you very much. I'll have a great day. Thank you committee Um Terry would you like to call the next case? Yes, it's the city case. Um b 21 0049 It's a request for a variance from the project boundary buffer requirements The subject site is located at 808 west trinity avenue and its zoned office An institutional and it's in the urban development tier This case has been advertised for the required period of time Notarized affidavits and verifying the signposts and letter melons are on file And the seating for this case is um kip meadows rogers wrenchless wine more tarant embouching Sorry, my dog is drinking a lot of water right now. Um A real pain, uh, so anybody who plans on giving testimony in this case if you'll please Turn your video on And we'll do the oath All right, if you'll raise your right hand, I'll go through each one of you Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll give today is the truth and nothing but the truth and I want to aim us I do Mike I do Angela I do Jesse I do Sandra I do Um, Megan I do Robert I do I don't think I'm missing anybody and we'll go through here. Do you consent to this remote meeting platform robert? I do Megan I do Mike I do Angela I do Don I sure do Jesse Yes And Sandra I do All right Eliza I'm assuming this is yours. Yep. Uh, good morning everyone. I'm Eliza Monroe representing the planning department Planning staff requests that the staff report all materials submitted to the public hearing be made part of the public record with any necessary corrections as noted. So noted. Thank you. Thank you Case b21 00049 is a request for a variance from the project boundary buffer requirements The applicant is McAdams and the subject site is located at 808 West Trinity Avenue The case area is highlighted and read on the screen as terry noted The site is stoned office and institutional d and is in the urban development tier On the aerial that you all can see here. There are some existing features However, this is a part of a project that's been going on for a couple of years And it is my understanding that the features that you see here are either demolished or in the Plans to be demolished in the coming future as a part of the overall restoration project So project boundary buffers are defined as a portion of the property designated to mitigate impacts between land uses Section 9.4 the unified development ordinance provides the standards of the type quantity and location of buffer landscaping like trees and shrubs per section udeo section 9.4 point 3 b A 0.2 or 0.6 opacity project boundary buffer is required when between i l and o i zoning districts In this case in the urban tier the applicant will be required to provide a 20 foot wide 0.6 opacity buffer Opacity project boundary buffer along the northern property line where the adjacent property is developed land that does not already have a buffer In this case, all other project boundary buffers will be met on the site and the applicant is requesting total relief from providing a property project boundary buffer along 220 feet of the 495 feet of the northern property line Um, part of the reason in which i'm sure the applicant will discuss there is an earthen embankment planned in this location as a part of the overall restoration project and the requirement of the buffer would hinder that um and planned embankment Udeo section 3.14.8 establishes the four findings that the applicant must make in order for the board to grant a variance These findings require approval identified in the staff report and the applicant's responses to the findings Are identified in the application both of which are within your packet and staff will be available for any questions Is needed during the hearing process as well as having control of the screen and the presentations For Eliza before we continue I think mr. Meadows has tanned east What would the morning be without questions from mr. Meadows? um, good morning, Eliza just to just a quick confirmation this property is zoned o and i The intention is to turn this into a restoration area with some perhaps some public amenities The parcel that we're buffering is uh industrial It's zoned i l Okay, and and the the intention of the udo is to make sure that the that the o and i property Um has a buffer to protect the o and i from the incompatibilities associated with the i l zoning. Is that accurate? That's correct. And if the i l zoning had a buffer existing they would kind of share the responsibility of providing the buffers But since there isn't a buffer the full responsibility is now on the property that's being developed or in this case restored Okay, thank you You're sure thing Are there any other questions for Eliza? all righty then none uh Don Before we get started. I just want it to for dawn and everyone I have it ordered in exhibits and then your presentation at the end So please just let me know what you would like to hear by calling out exhibit names so we can pull it up Eliza Just as far as our presentation. I think all we need is the powerpoint slide presentation Okay, i'm going to go past all the exhibits then which the board already had access to and i'm just going to go straight to that Then thank you don for letting us know There we go Is everyone able to see the south lrb stormwater restoration presentation now? Yes, okay. Thank you Are you ready chair rogers? I'm taking away very good. Good morning everyone It's always a pleasure to be back with the board of adjustment My name is don otul and i'm an attorney in the Durham city attorney's office Um, I would imagine that everyone on the board of adjustment is somewhat familiar with this project Because it literally has been years in the making The project is called the south lrb restoration project and as Eliza said it's located at 808 west trinity avenue This is really sort of a unique project for the board of adjustment to consider because it's sort of development being reversed We are actually taking a site that was previously developed with a large structure on it And um, we are returning it to its more natural condition A wetland is going to be constructed on this site and the streams that um, you know, we're there when Before durham was even a town or a city Those streams will be restored and um a much more natural setting will be provided in the heart of durham This is a really important project and I think you'll hear why as I go on Again, i'm don with don otul with the city attorney's office As you can see from when you were uh, we were going through the swearing in All of our design professionals are available this morning in case you have any questions That any of them um need to answer our design professionals come from macadams wildlands engineering and surface Um, and these professionals are here in case you have any questions Mike fowler who is a pe with wildlands engineering is the only one that we're planning To do a presentation and I think after mike goes through his presentation It's my hope anyway That you will really appreciate this project and understand why this variance should be granted in addition to our consultants We also have with us two of our engineers from the city's public works stormwater group sandy wilbur is on At this meeting she is an engineering manager in the public works department and sandy's work And i've been working with her on this for the last 11 years is focused on um Helping the city figure out how the city is going to comply With the various stormwater rules that apply To the city of durham and within the city of durham And I don't know if most of you are aware of it But durham is probably the most regulated jurisdiction in the state when it comes to stormwater regulations We're subject to the falls lake rules the jordan lake rules and the news river rules and um This particular project is going to help the city comply with the falls lake rules In addition to sandy, we also have megan wash a senior engineer Who works with sandy and megan has been um intimately involved in the development of this project for the city of durham As eliza told you um, the city is seeking a variance request to the northern project boundary buffer requirement along only 220 feet of the 490 foot 95 foot property line I think when you hear mr. Fowler's presentation You will understand that this project more than satisfies the intent of the udo's buffer requirement Um before we get into the evidence I would like to ask the city's application and all attachments to the city's application Today's testimony and any additional documents that are presented during today's hearing That they all be entered into evidence in support of our variance request one other thing um It maybe it's too late, but I really do hope that you read the city's application Mcadams and the whole team Prepared a memorandum that was dated august 10 2021 I think it's an excellent explanation of the importance of this project And the rationale for why the city's variance application should be approved um Again, this project will transform a little over nine acres A vacant developed land Into a constructed wetland And it will also restore the streams that previously existed in this area This will provide stormwater treatment for over 486 acres Of developed land in downtown Durham Um, this is a rare opportunity to find a site that can achieve this goal Um, I I also want to You to be aware that the city has already made an enormous investment in this project Our council has approved the purchase of this land Um many years ago and more recently has approved contracts For the demolition of the building that used to be on the site and the remediation of the property I hope you will listen very carefully as mr. Fowler Explains the rationale for the project and the many benefits that the project will provide to the residents of Durham I'd like to turn it over to mike now and mike will um take us through our power point presentation Thanks, son. Can everybody hear me? Okay Okay, um, just a little background on myself. I'm a senior engineer with wildlands engineering We are the prime consultant on this project and I serve as a project manager Overseeing all the work on this contract. I've got over 30 years of experience and water resources engineering I've got um professional engineering license in north carolina and this is um Don mentioned how unique this project is This is only the third project of this type that I've ever worked on in my career. So it's it's very important and very unique opportunity Um, just to kind of can you go to the next slide, please? So the overall project location, uh, this is generally why this project is so unique Uh, you I'm sure you're familiar with the area shown here in durham But this is older downtown developed portion of durham Uh, it pretty much lacks stormwater controls within this Uh, 485 acres There's very little stormwater treatment or stormwater control that that uh, is is present in this area And all of the stormwater runoff from the 485 acres is discharged onto this site And enters the tributary to south ellaby creek ultimately ellaby creek and then ultimately into falls lake The project site was identified back in 2007 as part of the ellaby creek watershed plan as an opportunity To do a stormwater retrofit to improve water quality in the watershed And sanny and i've been pretty much working on it ever since to try to get this project implemented The next slide, please The overall project goals for this site. Uh, first off is to help the city comply with the falls lake rules um, so the falls lake rules has multiple Sort of categories and this one helps the city comply with the existing development rules Because this the treatment and the water quality benefits from this site would reduce Pollution runoff from existing development that lacks stormwater controls The second is in addition to improving water quality in falls lake Also improve the water quality in south ellaby creek and an ellaby creek as a As a local receiving water to benefit the residents of durham And then also to create a community menating asset And these goals there were a number of goals that were actually presented to the public At a series of public information sessions early in the project And with input from this from the residents these were the three goals that were prioritized the highest for the project Next slide, please This was exhibit d and the handout materials that was provided to the board This is the existing conditions. So uh previously this served as the site of the former duke diet and fitness center West trinity is sort of uh To the northeast corner duke street is in the southwest corner And then the existing greenway trail and the two dukes Substations are in sort of the southwest corner of the site And the future rail trail is the boundary sort of toward the to the north Um, the the site has undergone phase one of construction The building was vacant. Uh, it was really a public health risk and hazard There was a lot of break-ins vandalism drug use Going on in the in the site. And so phase one of construction We took the building down to its foundation to remove that as a public safety risk There were also two Underground diesel storage tanks on site those were removed and the soil was remediated because there was a small leak Around those diesel tanks We just published the construction documents and project manual for phase two Phase two of construction will remove the rest of the building foundation The parking lot and we're excavating The top four feet of soil off of the site Half of that is going to be taken to miss lake water reclamation facility To be used as part of the foundation and under fill soil that they need for their parking area And about half of the soil is going to be taken to the closed county city landfill Sorry, the closed city landfill to be reused to improve conditions at the landfill So we're the soil that's coming off in this next phase will be beneficial reuse at two city properties um The um the dashed red line there is an existing storm water pipe That crosses the the site And uh, you'll see in the next slide that that's going to be removed and the pipe is going to be restored to a natural stream Um, you can go to the next slide So this is the concept plan that was uh created again through a series of public meetings and the design workshop that was held with Durham residents um And it basically involves Restoring the two tributary two stream tributaries on the site and also restoring the The riparian wetlands on the site um, the one thing I should have mentioned on the previous slide is that The entire existing site is Uh within the 100 year floodplain and the greenway trail And the adjacent property that's shown to the south, which is an affordable housing apartment building Are currently in the 100 year regulated fee the FEMA regulated floodplain for the 100 year event um, and so part of our design was to provides a flood mitigation and so You can see that the the perimeter trail uh, or the existing south elevate greenway trail. Uh, and it will be Um Rebuilt and raised as part of this. There'll be a whole new streetscape along trinity avenue with um a fire retention area Um seating area as a play lawn. There'll be seating areas along the along the perimeter of it it and there'll be a loop trail that will go around the site that'll be just about a half we're trying to make it exactly half a mile in length for people who want to jog or walk so they can they can gauge their fitness levels so we're going to try to make that exactly half a mile and then you can see to the in the left side of this the existing forested area that you could you can kind of make out the two Duke energy substations so the industrial property that is directly adjacent to this that this variance is requested for consists of the original Duke energy substation that will be on the right side of the creek if you're looking downstream and then a newer substation that lies to the left the forested area that lies between those is completely within the floodway and floodplain for the South Elby Creek tributary and that area is not available for development Duke basically encroached as far as they could and building up and developing those two substations and the fill that was associated with those so that forested area that's shown there is is completely within the floodway and floodplain and is at no risk of future development next slide please this is the view looking from the north to the south so we're looking towards Trinity Avenue and the variance request is for a 220 foot portion of that perimeter loop trail that's shown in the foreground that has the trees kind of showing up and so this is the view towards the project area looking at the location where the the variance is requested as Eliza mentioned we're meeting the buffer requirements around the rest of the perimeter of the facility and that included purchasing and easement from the apartment complex next door so that we could meet the buffer requirements between the affordable housing apartment building and the project site itself but all in all the you know the goal of this project is restore the streams restore the wetlands and actually plant a native plant community throughout the site and so it's going to be largely vegetated in its sort of mature condition ultimately next slide please so the overall project benefits we are as I mentioned the flood mitigation so that you know there's a tremendous amount of water that enters the site you know it's roughly 500 acres without any stormwater control so you can imagine during average rainfall to a significant 100 year event there's a significant amount of water water that enters the site we've designed this so that the south elevator greenway trail is elevated above the 100 year floodplain so it will no longer be inundated during higher flows and also the affordable housing on the adjacent parcel because we've elevated the greenway trail that apartment building will no longer lie within the FEMA regulated floodplain so there will no longer be flood risk to the apartment building adjacent to the site from a water quality standpoint we're converting a significant amount of impervious area into valuable green space we're temporarily detaining and treating runoff from 485 acres of downtown Durham that I mentioned has it lacks stormwater controls we're ultimately improving water quality in a local local creek LB Creek and ultimately Falls Lake and this is a provides a significant tool for the city to comply with Falls Lake rules next slide please from an ecological standpoint you were converting a currently a piped system back into a natural stream which will restore the sort of natural water quality and flood benefits of a natural stream versus a pipe we're also going to restore the channelized stream that lies on the edge of the property create about seven acres of riparian wetlands and then a natural vegetation community that will that will improve the terrestrial habitat in a densely urbanized area next slide please community amenities again creating a natural a valuable natural green space in a highly urbanized area plenty in seating areas wildlife viewing areas expands a greenway trail and it will allow for a future connection to the rail trail and then educational opportunities for local schools next slide please so the variance request is to reiterate it we're meeting the property boundary standards on the eastern southern and western property lines we're requesting relief from the buffer variance for 220 feet of the 490 foot northern property line we are meeting the buffer standards on the rest of the northern property line and the main reason is that we can't plant woody vegetation on a earthen embankment that is used to impound water so you know the the conceptual drawings that were shown is really what the site looks like you know on during dry weather but anytime it rains there will be anywhere from several feet to upwards of eight to ten feet of water that will be impounded be within this facility and North Carolina dam safety rules and Durham rules prevent us from planting woody vegetation or deep rooted vegetation on an embankment earthen embankment that impounds water now it will be planted it'll have herbaceous plants on it so we'll we'll establish a native herbaceous plant community on it that'll be mowed a couple times a year but as you can imagine trees growing up on an embankment or deep rooted vegetation can really put the earthen embankment at risk and so that's that's just not allowed under under dam safety rules for an embankment of this size next slide please Eliza showed this so this is the overall site plan for the site and this shows the area of the northern property line the northern property line if you could go to the next slide the 220 feet is really this portion of it the embankment or the site to the to the right of this where we show the vegetation is the embankment is basically at grade and so there's no risk if those trees were to fall or the roots to get established over there that the embankment would be at risk and also to the left of that square we also have the embankment is basically at grade meaning that the the land surface on the downstream side or the outside of the side is the same elevation as the as the embankment itself it's this 220 foot area where we have a three to one slope on both sides that we're asking for the for the relief from the very the buffer standards and not plant woody vegetation in this area next slide please so i just wanted to go through the four different sections of the findings unnecessary hardship would result from the strict application of the ordinance if we had to meet the buffer standard on the entire northern property line we would have to move the embankment back into the interior of the site and that would reduce the overall site to below 35 of the required area to detain and treat the runoff from downtown Durham so there are there are there are design standards for stormwater controls and this site actually is undersized for the amount of runoff that it receives we actually you know preferably we would have liked to have had about twice the area that we have but even though it's undersized we can provide some some significant and meaningful water quality benefits but if we had to reduce the site down by a third the the project would actually become economically infeasible it would be tough to justify the cost with the water quality benefits that would be achieved next slide please the hardship results from conditions that are peculiar to the property as i mentioned the you know the hardship results from the location and surroundings so it's it's receiving runoff from 485 acres um it's developed all around it it is a low lying area which is difficult to expand at any larger we pretty much have maximized the amount of area on the site which included the easement that was purchased to the from the affordable housing properties to the left and also we are going through the process of of um occupying the unaccepted day scene out of the right away to provide more area for the for the project so we pretty much have maximized this as much as we can and to meet the water quality and social benefits previous described it's imperative that we be able to to locate the embankment where it is next slide please the hardship did not result from actions taken by the applicant so the character of the property and its surrounding does not result from actions by the city next slide please the requested variance is consistent with the spirit purpose and intent of the ordinance um so the the buffers are typically used to to um you know mitigate the impacts between land uses or transportation routes so the industrial land use that is to the north is to do energy substations the area between the two substations is completely within the floodway and flood plain for for south alibi creek um there's very little risk of that being altered or changed in the future so that forested buffer will remain so the existing trees and woody vegetation will be maintained the existing vegetation within the dedicated and unimproved and unaccepted facing any right away will be maintained and even supplemented as part of this project and the entire project itself will create a natural native and community throughout the site final slide please that's it i'm a presentation here um i don't think i could add anything to what mike um just presented i think he did a great job going through the four variants requirements we'd ask that you accept this evidence and um we hope that the board will approve the variance any questions for don or mike mike tary yes thank you mr fowler this is a tool for your presentation um i do i have one clarification for staff and then if i jump back to the um to the design tape for a few items um miss min roe udo section 9.4.1 point g.1 um indicates that rights of way greater than 60 feet don't require project boundary buffers i'm assuming that because this right away is a desian avenue is exactly 60 feet that that's what's triggering the um the buffer requirement good morning i'm just going to make sure i pull up that text so i can read it as well mr tyrant just to make sure we're all on the same page so you said 9.4.1 b aliza aliza while you're doing that could i just um clarify one point mr tyrant um just so you know that portion of desian is what we refer to as dedicated but unimproved right of way there is no street currently there as part of this project the city as the applicant will be asking city council to close that portion of the right of way and that portion of the right of way will become part of this project thank you and to respond to mr tyrant's question so udo section 9.4.1 g one state set of project boundary buffer is not required adjoining a street or railroad right of way that is greater than 60 feet in width so if it's right at 60 feet it would have to meet the requirement if it's greater than 60 feet of 61 or 60.50 they would not have to read that requirement thank you um the next next question i have is obviously quite a few power lines along the northern property line does Duke energy have any um restrictions regarding planting that would further inhibit your ability to meet the buffer requirements in this area no part of the part of the project is actually going to be uh removing a number of those they admitted that um because this is the oldest duke um substation that there is kind of a mess that has been just created over time and so as part of the uh abandoning uh the right of way we're also doing a utility relocation or realignment of the utility poles so part of this is going to be to remove and to simplify the number of utility poles and the number of alignments that are coming out of the site so uh ultimately in uh uh potent you know uh when this is completed there's only going to be one uh utility alignment running north south through the site and there'll still be just there'll be two uh lines going east west in the dacine avenue right away but our planting plan that we're that we've submitted as part of our site plan application and that we've coordinated with duke energy is consistent with them and they they're okay with it thank you um and one one other question regarding planting i thought that i had read in the application in the summary that you are providing the required amount of planting material elsewhere just not you know whatever would be displaced from that 220 feet elsewhere just not belong that buffer is that accurate yes the entire rest of the perimeter of the site we are meeting the buffer standards and final final question please um was there any consideration for including retaining walls to to get the the volume of the storage you needed from a stormwater standpoint and still be still have enough land to provide the the buffer as required we are are using retaining walls along trinity avenue because of trying to create as much area within the facility as possible but we also recognize that as a community amenity we wanted to provide safe access um down to the water's edge on as as much of the site as possible and so that's why the remainder of the site along the trail we've provided a three to one slope going down to the water's edge just recognizing that we think people are going to want to access you know the the wetlands and the streams you know when the weather is nice and so we tried to minimize the number of retaining walls and locations of retaining walls except for a long trinity and a short portion um along the eastern boundary so thank you it's all i have mr chair thank you mr tary mr meadows thank you and thanks for a great presentation um question um has you had mentioned in your testimony that this is the uh this is an old uh substation perhaps the oldest substation um did you get any information from duke with respect to their long-term plans for what would happen on this site in the future no we haven't asked duke energy if they have any any long-term plans for the site thank you uh mr chair question for staff eliza the purpose of the buffer is to protect the this site from uh incompatibility um to to protect adjacent sites from incompatibility uh or to protect this site from incompatibility on adjacent sites if the substation lot were to redevelop would they be required to install uh a perimeter buffer along the lotline shared with this site um just so i make sure i understand you're asking about the buff this the site that's zoned il would they be required to that's correct they would be required to if they were to do any future development they could come for a variance if they would like but the way it works is that's a shared responsibility so there are two types of buffer requirements if you're in section nine point four um there's either in this case it was zero point two opacity or zero point six opacity depending upon what's existing so in this case that small strip the 220 they would have to provide a more intense buffer than the remaining part where the full buffer is being provided so um if that site were to redevelop there's a likelihood that that applicant would either need to have to would either need a variance or they need to install the buffer they would need to install in that small 220 feet that small area because the remaining part is being provided thank you mike didn't you testify about the existing vegetation there um that likely can never go away because it's in the floodplain yeah there there are a number of properties downstream of the so to the north of this site that are um within the so the actual inhabited structures that are in the FEMA 100 year floodplain and so any further encroachment on the floodplain or floodway uh really and you know and to the north of this would probably not be allowed because that would increase the flood risk to those inhabited structures downstream of here so it's very unlikely that anyone could come in and redevelop that site and encroach any closer than duke has already right um mr kip yes thank you what is the time frame for this um this project to open so the the phase two of construction which is going to be starting in january and will be finished up in march and then phase three is um which is the actual restoration of the site so that would be uh basically it's building it as shown in the concept plans that were included in your packet would start next summer and probably take about 18 months to complete okay sounds good question about the storm water pipe to be removed did that make its terminus at this site or did it keep going south it makes its terminus at this site it uh it discharges um just on the north side of the greenway trail so the culvert extends underneath the existing greenway trail and then it outfalls into south adelaide greek just on the north side of the existing trail and is there more floodplain water coming from the downtown from the north i'm sorry from the south or is is this pipe it no there's another outfall in the southwest corner so right at the corner of duke and trinity right there is a second outfall so roughly about half of the runoff that comes to the site comes in through that pipe that we're going to remove and the other half comes in at an outfall that's uh right at the corner of the intersection of duke and trinity that sounds good in question uh in reference to the dukes realigning of the utility poles who's paying for that we um we are let's see they are um we are paying a price per pole to duke energy to realign those poles even though they put those poles there without anyone's blessing they just did whatever they wanted to yes okay that that rubs me wrong as a taxpayer because this is a very expensive project and of course the taxpayer is on its own so what is the cost of this project and i'm only asking not to make everyone uncomfortable but because you said that if we didn't grant the boundary buffer there'd be a 35 reduction in the site and then it wouldn't the numbers wouldn't work so what is the total cost for this project that the uh now this was a planning level cost so this was done at the concept plan level the cost for the concept plan as it was presented today is 18 million and if we were to uh the real issue is that if we were to remove the the the embankment to the interior of the site it would not really affect the overall price but it would really affect the water quality benefits so the prices sunk but we just need to get we meaning the community need benefit of a hundred percent of the water filtration or water outflow downflow whatever it's called okay um and could i could i make one point there um the city's compliance with the falls lake rules isn't optional it's a state federal requirement sandy um funding for this project it is coming from the stormwater utility is that correct that's correct so it's coming out of the stormwater fees that um Durham residents currently pay to the city so it's not it's not part of your taxes if that helps anyone i mean we pay that every year mr hotel it is a tax okay we can call it a fee but it's a large amount of money it's a regressive tax in my opinion and anyone who's a tax person would agree with that this is a pile of money and of course we've got to do it um but my problem is we're spending money like it's going out of style but money is tight and so i'm just sort of i don't mean to argue with you at all but the city is subject to the falls lake rules the jordan lake rules and the news rules that's not optional and so the only recourse would be to to to take that up with the state legislature yeah i would at this point i would just uh ask how the cost of the project fits into the four criteria that has to be considered by the board um i think it would be a legitimate question if uh mr kip you could sort of explain for us how that would be relevant to the evaluation of the project and the variance request um i already said sir that uh the consultant said that a 35 reduction if if this boundary buffer was not granted there would be a 35 reduction in the water that could be filtered so i think it is a money issue so if we're going to spend 18 million dollars but only get uh 12 million what's uh 33 percent only get 12 million dollars of benefit that would be a six million dollar loss so that is why i'm asking i think it is extremely germane you might not agree but money is money all right uh mr ritchis do you have a question yes chair rogers ritchells here um i support this boundary buffer um i just have a kind of an off question about the water quality being achieved in this area you mentioned um i guess this is to mr fowler that there was um kind of a mess on this site and there was um a leaking was it fuel tanks um was there what are you doing um is there monitoring wells or anything going in for that the the tanks were removed the soil that was impacted were removed we put monitoring wells in and um we used a chemical uh additive in the soil that um that uh and we we've got a we received a no further action required determination from deq so the the issues related to the fuel tanks has been completed there's no further action required and there was no indication that anything had been released from the site thank you all right um we've got a recommendation from no we don't have a recommendation because we don't need one on this uh any other discussion uh is there a motion this is meadows i'm ready to make a motion mr chair go ahead i hereby make a motion that application number b21 00049 a request for variance from the project boundary buffer requirements and property located at 808 west trinity avenue has successfully met the applicable requirements of the unified development ordinance and is hereby granted subject to the following conditions that the improvements shall be substantially consistent with all plans and information submitted to the board as part of the application we got a motion for approval by mr meadows is there a second second second any further discussion and just to make sure i'm going to ask this is there any one here to speak against this application for variance good morning eliza one row there's no one that signed up to speak in opposition thank you eliza all right we've got a motion to approve by mr meadows a uh second by an alley but shane um terry would you make the call yes i'm kip yes okay um meadows yes rogers yes rushless yes one more yes yes torrent parent yes bushan yes motion passes seven zero i voted seven zero your request for variance has been approved uh thank you all for our spending the morning with us uh and looking forward to seeing this coming to fruition thank you appreciate it we've got one more um project or one excuse me one more application on here let's take a quick 10 minute break i know we've been at this for a minute um it's 10 oh nine so let's come back at 10 20 but we're all right we'll get it going thank you all right it's like we're going away waiting on mike and ian and we'll get started started back um hi edgar is that cindy in the camera with you here oh hey both of you okay we saw another egg we we saw two entries and then one egg or drop so i wondered if you two were um sharing a camera all right i think we've got everybody um rogers this is jessica docree the planning department since uh board member kip needs to leave 11 should we bring in our other alternatives rather than get halfway through yeah that's probably a good idea ian um are you cool with that i am because i need to go so thank you you have a good day um terry you want to call the next case clear process yes okay it's um b 21 000 50 seciti case it's a request for a variance from the side yard setback requirements the subject site is located at 39 18 booker avenue it is zone resident residential rule suburban 20 and it's in the development uh suburban development here the seating for this case is maddo's rogers wretch less weymore major terry and bushings uh thank you one more thing the case has been advertised and for the required period of time and the affidavits bare for unsigned postings and letter melons are on fire thank you terry um everyone who plans on giving testimony if you'll please turn your camera on i'm looking at thinking of gregari i guess that's the only other one if you're planning on speaking okay um um if you'll raise your right hand everyone uh do you swear or affirm that the testimony you'll give today is the truth and nothing but the truth i'm ecker yes i'm the person next to you i'm sorry i didn't give you a name to the all right thank you uh uh gregari freeland oh hi i'm gregari's wife he's having to leave right now so i'm going to set in as instead is that going to work okay and uh what's your name miss freeland sharon hoshida okay h o s h i d a and um do you um okay so i need to give you the the oath as well do you swear or affirm the testimony you'll give the today is the truth and nothing but the truth yes and do you consent to this remote meeting platform yes uh and cindy yes ecker yes all right thank you so much um Eliza turn it over to you all right uh good morning everyone Eliza Monroe representing the planning department again planning staff requests at the staff report and all materials to bend at the public hearing be made part of the public record with any necessary corrections as noted so noted thank you thank you so case b 2 1 0 0 0 5 0 is a request for a variance from the side yard setback requirements the applicant and property owner is ecker to leto and the subject site is located at 319 booker avenue the case area is highlighted and read on the screen the subject site is done residential residential suburban 20 or rs 20 and within the suburban tier and as you can see um on k-line and in red there is a small structure that was there at one point but from my understanding it's no longer existing or the applicant intends to demolish so this is a drawing that was submitted but i think i'm going to go one more a couple more excuse me to the most recent photo submitted by cindy per section of 7.1.2 b of the unified development ordinance and the required side yard setbacks for a single family detached structure in the rs 20 zoning district is a minimum 12 feet and 30 feet total the applicant is proposing the construction of a single family detached house on the lot within the orange cones noted here the applicant is requesting a variance to permit a five foot setback side step back on both sides to allow a house that's about 29 feet wide the lot in question is 6012 square feet the minimum lot size required for this zoning district today is 20 000 square feet the lot width is 40 feet and the minimum lot width that is typically required for this zoning district today is actually a hundred feet so this lot is what we would like to call a legal existing non-conforming lot as it doesn't meet the dimensional standards required by the current unified development ordinance if the applicant was to meet those side yard setbacks given the 40 feet width only about 10 feet of buildable area with buildable width would remain making it difficult for the applicant to construct the single family home that they would like to udo section 3.14.8 establishes the four findings that an applicant must make in order for the board to grant a variance these findings require approval identified in the staff report and the applicant's responses to the findings are identified in the application both of which are within your packet and staff will be available for any questions as needed during the hearing process. All right any questions for liza doc chat just one thank you thank you mr. chair liza what's the front yard setback for the rs-20 zoning district um give me one moment to confirm that from the code for the rs-20 for a single structure since this is in the suburbant here so it wouldn't have to meet the infill standards right it's going to be a 35 foot street yard thank you you're welcome mr. tan uh miss vener are there any building separation requirements that might come into play here they would have to go through building permit review and they would have to meet the minimum nc building code or have a firewall installed at this time i do not know the applicant's intention for a firewall um and they haven't gone through any other permit review besides the submittal for the variance but in order for the structure to be built they would have to either have the building permit approved for distance and building separation um which the property to the uh i'm going to go back a little bit the property to this side there is a little bit of a distance between that property so 3916 which edgar and cindy might correct me i believe it's edgar's father's home so it's a family member that lives adjacent there um so that one's a little bit further away from the property line and the goal is to put the have the five foot side yards if that is too close they would be required to have a firewall during the nc the building permit review and the firewall would ensure that there is um fire safety due to closeness of buildings this is jessica planning department the minimum building separation if there are no entrances on either of those those buildings would be 10 feet right any other questions for staff all right uh with the applicant um i see mr meadows has his hand physically raised i'm sorry guys i did have one more question um i think it was jessica who said that we would anticipate uh a minimum building separation of 10 feet do you know the the location of the existing house to the south i guess it's 3920 it appears to be close to the lot line i'm just wondering if staff knows uh the current distance from the lot line of that structure i do not know the current distance but i can while we're talking with one another do a guesstimation from our gis it's not an exact measure the the applicant present and and aliza you can let us know when that's done i i am interested in knowing that spacing yep that sounds like a great plan mr meadows we can do that thank you all right uh with the applicant like to come forward i'm not who who is the uh applicant um am i on you yes yes yeah okay um yes the the house south to it is about six feet from the actual lot um the way we became to wanting to build here was my dad owning the lot and he get him out of the calls from builders wanting to build so instead of somebody else building me having the opportunity to build there would be best and also staying next to my parents house i don't think i want you you want to make sure we got you um all right uh is is is there uh any questions for the okay i see sharon yes um i was wondering now i'm not exactly sure i'm not exactly clear uh this is the other vacant lot that's adjacent to our lot is that correct not the house that has not the lot that has a house on it currently on the other side all right we're talking about a vacant lot i think you might want to uh elizabeth rowe share it it might help if you clarify what lot you're you're referring to like what lot yours is um like what your address is that might help if to clarify where you are located along booker right i think ours is the 39 uh 39 18 right we don't know is the lock is the vacant lot ours is the vacant lot right so uh the vacant lot is owned by agar to lido uh the applicant um so are you referring to the lot that you reside at miss ashida we're we're just you know we didn't know anything about uh what was happening there we just have that empty lot that we inherited from bregg's father uh we knew that at some point the house that's existing to uh next door to our vacant lot there was some question about where the property line was between them when they when they created that driveway so we weren't sure whether this was that property or the property on the other side i'm uh i'm extremely confused maybe i'm the only one uh miss ashida i'm not familiar with where you live or where your property is uh in relation to this subject site um hold on just one second okay did i miss something okay i don't know i'm just maybe this is just the planning department can you see the screen to see that red outlined property yes i can is your property on the north across your cross street where's we are 39 21 yes and where's that lisa um 39 21 is going to be on our property is 38 21 so we're not even in the same block oh so not on the screen here um i think i would like to clarify miss ashida the word letter that you all received as adjacent property owners is to notify you of the hearing there's no intention to do anything with the property that you all own at 38 21 without your permission it's just to notify you of the property highlighted and read on the screen and the proposed project that they're planning on doing and we have no objection to that at all okay yeah okay all right all right got that settled thank you so much uh chad you got something good thank you mr chair i do um mr tulito could you tell us a little bit more in your application you had included i think uh some house plans and i was hoping that you might be able to tell us a little bit more about how wide these house plans were or where these came from or if this was what you were going to to build uh a little bit more detail on why exactly you need uh the the the encroachment into the setbacks would be very helpful could you talk about that a little bit i do you mind if i talk for him or absolutely whomever whomever i met edgar you know and he um you know was thinking that he would build a house someday because he's engaged now and you know he just wants to start a family i mean not start a family but like you know get married and you know move out because he lives with his parents right now and um and so he had you know mentioned that he might just build somewhere but then all of a sudden it came to him that you know when people builders kept calling you know that um that this lot must be buildable and so he's like oh yeah i'd like to live next door to my parents and my brother and so he met with me and i actually hooked him up with a um a house designer and you know we you know very carefully you know made a plan that we thought would fit on that lot so it got designed specifically for this lot you know we kind of jumped our guns a little bit and and kind of did that um and then i kind of went back and started talking to him and you know was saying well we got to get his variance first so we probably should have done that first but um but you know we did you know try to design a house that would be narrow enough you know i know it's not narrow enough because that a lot is very narrow but you know something that would fit into the neighborhood and and um so it got drawn up and the dimensions across the front are um 29 and it's 56 feet and you're also anticipating setting the house back 35 feet or would this potentially be farther back or had you thought about where the house would be located relative to uh the Booker Avenue right of way yes we thought we would just set it back the 35 feet required but i mean it could i mean it's totally fine if you would prefer it but you set that further i i just just just asking thank you and he would definitely we had just actually been talking this morning about um doing the firewall i mean totally something that um he would definitely agree to uh mr taren so um i realize aerial imagery can be somewhat skewed but it looks like a fair almost half of your father's driveway is on your property um again i realize that's skewed but how does this how would this house affect his driveway and where do you plan on locating your driveway yes we have actually talked about it um we would actually put down his driveway to about where the house begins are a little farther um just to not have it in the actual property and we would do my driveway um there is actually like the curve already cut in from previous developer i'm guessing we would just do it there are any other questions for um why more had her physical hand raised but i'm not sure if thank you i was trying to get to my my virtual hand um just quick question on the existing property it shows a fence line there and this this variance or this request is not going to mitigate that i need to remove that fence line along the property line now the boundary that's my question the fence would be removed the fences in the property it's about a foot foot and a half in the property so you would need to remove it yes i would be removing it okay all right you had a question i'm sorry i wanted to chime back in a chat question if this was an okay time from before um so gis which i'll note that it is not it's not a survey so we're just utilizing aerials and then a scale um the property that is to the so egers father's property is about 11 feet and there is no entrances off of the side of the structure and then the adjacent property is about seven feet away from the property line um excuse me the building is 70 feet seven feet from the property line and once again there is no side entrances off of that side as well um like i said those are guesstimates they are not direct surveys unfortunately the city of durham does not have surveys for every lot and i will say that um we actually did reach out to several surveyors you know to try to actually get a survey done and they're all so backed up um and so it was like not time constraints prevented us from getting a survey actually done chat thoughts or just just one more question and i'm sorry that i just realized it looking at this site um the overhead electrical service for this site comes from the pole that's actually located to the um to the lot where the where the uh where mr. Toledo's dad lives i assume this will be relocated staff do you know um it looks to me like if that house is put in at 35 feet back in line with the other existing house um the overhead service to the uh house to the south which is 3920 would need to be relocated i i assume we haven't gotten into that and that'll be handled with with the building permit i'm just wondering if does that come up yet that has not come up yet mr meadows um oh sorry elizabeth staff speaking that has not yet come up um at this stage it will definitely have to come up during building permit review um and i will actually make sure if just if i'm saying something incorrect here i don't think there is a duke energy reviewer during building permit review but it'll be our utilities department that would probably chime in at that time any other questions for the app eliza would you mind uh stop sharing for a moment all right is there anyone here to speak against this application for variance or request for a variance rather i see none uh discussion thoughts so rs 20 lot got a 30 foot um you know 30 foot linear distance has to be set backs resulting in a 10 foot wide house clearly problematic so i think anybody who would develop this site would be before us looking for a variance so then it comes down to a matter of degree right how much variance uh is or isn't appropriate so the house 3920 that's to the south um also doesn't conform to the side yard requirements for the district um so you know from a compatibility standpoint you know there's at least one house if not several uh in that block that don't meet the side yard setbacks um i would have liked to have had more information about the the house plan it's width and a little bit more clarity with respect to why five feet instead of seven feet or you know some other number it would have been helpful um but like i said no matter what you know anybody developing on this site is going to be here for a variance um so that's where i am hopefully somebody can can uh smarter than i am can can come in and and save me from my own deliberations uh mike and chat actually made a lot of same comments i i was thinking um you know for for me this is kind of a peculiar block for the suburban tier in an older neighborhood you know these are sort of more typical to lot sizes to sort of the urban tier but um there there are a lot or several um fairly narrow lots on the same block and but you know that aren't meeting the current UDF standards for side yards so i feel in that regard um this proposal is consistent with with the neighborhood right anyone else slot certainly is peculiar uh you know as as um mike said about you know kind of something you'd see more in the urban area rather than uh rural suburban or red excuse me residential suburban but uh certainly is a um a tough one to to get anything done with the current you know with those sediments the lady are so again would need a variance for just about anything so agree with that uh any other thoughts does anyone want to offer a motion right chelous i hereby make a motion that application number b2 1 0005 0 requests for a variance from the side yard setback requirements i'm a property located at 39 18 booker avenue i successfully met the applicable requirements of the unified development ordinance and is hereby granted subject to the following conditions the improvements shall be substantially consistent with the plans and all information submitted to the board as part of this application we have a motion for approval by mr retch list is there a second taren second taren second um where is she do we lose our our uh i believe terry had heard internet drop if i understand correctly yes we've had quite a few internet issues this morning um what's the call to vote i can do that if you hold on just you didn't have anything else today did you just apparently not no so here's what i have on the list i have taren yes rogers yes retch list yes weymour yes major yes washain yes and meadows yes motion carries seven to zero uh vote of seven to zero your request for variance has been approved we uh wish you the best of luck and thanks for coming before the doa this morning thank you and thank you for all your help thanks all right moving along the agenda here we have no old business to discuss we have new business and it is the uh 2022 boa dates uh for next year i'm assuming everybody's had the chance to look over those we'll need an emotion for this in a second um elizabeth staff here if i need to share them on the screen let me know but um it's our standard dates recess once again in november and then the second tuesday and december would be the december meeting and i'll go ahead and mention now we don't have a meeting next month uh combined november and december so we'll have one december 14th that will be our next meeting so is there a motion to approve the 2022 dates meadows so moved meadows on the first who's excellent second wretches on second and um just go around and tell me again tarant yes rogers yes wretches yes why more yes major yes bushey yes meadows seven to zero sorry seven to zero that's approved so bear with me and go a little slower on the orders than you normally would because uh i'm unprepared today no worries um so we're not going to be approving 31 so we've got to 42 and 45 uh i don't have my notes from last month so i can't remember the votes and if they were unanimous or not uh does anyone remember or no um elizabeth chime in real quick i was not here so i just want to quickly say 42 um we did just receive an email from the applicant that we're trying to hash out really quickly to see if that needs to change the order that you received this morning already so i will just ask that just to read that one last to give myself christa and coles sometime to make sure the correct information's in that order okay then we'll 40 that was on number 42 42 yes so we can start at 45 please thank you all for bearing with us before we do the orders i can tell you about 42 whenever you're ready i do have my notes okay before we do the orders i think that we have one more item of new business i'm sorry i forgot about that jessica um yes elizabeth planning we do have an appointee from the mayor um david paya paleta which i'm probably saying that incorrectly um we'll be joining us starting in december after he is sworn in um so we will be filling that seat and then i think after that we just have a county appointee to fill micah's seat and we will be back fully staffed brian did you have something it was on 45 uh that one was unanimous i don't remember what the seating was but i do remember it was unanimous all right well i'm i'm sitting should be in the minute right yes it should be in the minutes and could you pull up the minutes and double check on that for me please while i do the call doing so now thank you ma'am so on 42 uh it was my motion retch list second seven oh approved this is the um watershed it's a white watershed riparian buffer um variants um or some apartments okay you guys remember that i do yes and you did have a condition on that related to mitigation in the mitigation as as prescribed in 8 5 11 d yes and that what mitigation is required is what we're trying to work out so we don't have a draft that is ready to vote on at this exact second hopefully by the time we get to the end of this list if not we'll bring it back to you at the next meeting 10 4 elizabeth on 45 which is i was not here so that's it for me i'm gonna i'm gonna be quiet now yes um so i will read out who was seated for that case it was kip rogers retch list why more major taryn and boshane all right so in this group uh meadows is the only one that won't vote on this one or kip because he is not here yes does that leave us aliza so that leaves us with rogers retch list why more major taryn and boshane so i need a first and a second so b 2 1 0 0 0 4 5 is there a motion to approve retch list retch list who wants to take a second i'll second boshane boshane on the second okay so we have rogers retch list why more taryn and boshane voting correct that's correct all right here we go rogers yes retch list yes why more yes taryn yes and boshane yes so that would be five to zero past all right the next one is from today so all of today's were unanimous b 2 1 0 0 0 4 7 i think the only um i think just because the only one that can't it won't vote on this one um jessica yes so we will have flip back to that one back in meadows sorry jessica were you saying something i was just going to read who was seated off of the minutes for b 21 46 47 47 and i'm i've got it oh cool beans gonna tap out then thanks okay okay gotta have a first and a second here who uh b 2 1 0 0 0 4 7 who wants to make the motion meadows motion meadows is the second retch list retch list second okay so we have meadows yes rogers yes why more yes taryn yes retch list yes and boshane yes six to zero approved all right uh b 2 1 0 0 0 4 8 again uh same people who wants to make the motion boshane ocean boshane who's the second one more second second is what i heard sorry to show you get the next one okay i'm sorry who was the second it wasn't why more right i'm sure taryn thank you it would be meadows yes rogers yes why more yes taryn yes retch list yes boshane six to zero approved all right b 2 1 0 0 0 4 9 same seating who wants to make the motion tisha yes why more good who's the second boshane second boshane second meadows yes rogers yes why more yes taryn yes retch list yes boshane yes six to zero approved all right for this next one b 2 1 0 0 0 5 0 okay uh include uh Jessica so who wants to make the motion right all right retch list who's on the second parent taryn on the second all right parent yes rogers yes retch list yes why more yes major yes boshane yes meadows yes seven to zero passed well good deal all right guys uh that concludes our meeting also we'll see each other again on december 14th at 8 30 a yeah all right