HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_ZBA_11.21.2006Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes, November 21, 2006 Page 1 of 3
City of Georgetown
Zoning Board of Adjustment Meeting
Minutes
November 21, 2006, at 6:00 p.m.
City Council Chambers
101 E. 7th Street, Georgetown, Texas 78626
Members present: William Moore, Chair; Jim Jarvis, Vice Chair; Earl Watson
Alternates present: Patrick Lawson, Dale Ross
Members absent: Ann Snell, Richard Vasquez III, and Steve Lampinstein
Staff present: Jennifer Bills, Planner; and Karen Frost, Recording Secretary.
This is a regular meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment of the City of Georgetown. The
Board, appointed by the Mayor and the City Council, acts on requests for variances,
interpretations and special exceptions under the Georgetown Zoning Ordinance.
Order of Hearing Process:
Staff makes a presentation of the project to the Board;
The applicant is provided an opportunity to present their project to the Board;
The Board asks questions of both Staff and the applicant;
*The Public Hearing is open, and both proponents and opponents are allowed to speak;
The Public Hearing is closed and the Board deliberates on the merits of the case; and,
The Board generates findings to support their decision, a motion is made and seconded,
and a vote is taken on the motion presented.
Variance approvals require an affirmative vote of 4 members of the Board.
* Those who speak please identify yourselves for the meeting record.
Regular Session - To begin no earlier than 6:00 p.m.
Chair Moore called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m.
(The Board may, at any time, recess the Regular Session to convene an Executive Session at the
request of the Chair, a Board Member, the Director or legal counsel for any purpose authorized
by the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551.)
1. Action from Executive Session There was not an executive session.
2. Consideration and possible action on the Minutes of the regular Board of Adjustment
meeting of the October 17, 2006 meeting.
Motion by Lawson to approve the minutes as printed. Second by Watson. Approved 5 – 0.
3. Public hearing to consider a variance to Section 10.06.010 to allow a 0 foot setback for a
freestanding sign where a 5 foot setback is required for Lot 2(E/PT), Block 1, Highland Park
Addition, located at 508 FM 1460. (VAR-2006-015)
Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes, November 21, 2006 Page 2 of 3
Bills presented the staff report. This property was originally a single family residence that
was built in the 1960s. The site was rezoned in 2001 from RS, Single Family Residential to
C-1, Local Commercial. The single family residence has recently been converted to an office
to be used as a realty business.
The applicant is requesting a variance from the required setback for a freestanding
monument sign. Freestanding signs in a C-1 zoned district are required to be set back at
least 5 feet from the property line. The applicant wants to place the sign on the property
line because they feel that the 33 feet of unpaved right-of-way between the road and the
property line, along with the 5 feet set back puts their sign too far out of the view from the
street.
Jarvis questioned TxDot’s regulations and whether the Board could overstep those. Bills
assured him that the variance would allow the sign to still be within the guidelines
established by TxDot for a state road.
The applicant, Dana Luna, presented the Board with a packet of aerial photos and other
photos of existing signs and their measurements on the same street as their property. She
stated this is the only property with the property line 33 feet from the street curb; the other
three houses on that block are zoned for mixed use. Chair Moore thanked her for the
presentation.
Chair Moore opened the Public Hearing. No one responded. Moore closed the Public
Hearing.
Board members made clarifications of other facts with Bills responding.
Motion by Jarvis to approve the variance Based upon the evidence presented by the
applicant, with the following findings of fact:
(1) There are special circumstances existing on the property, on which the application is
made related to size, shape, area, topography, surrounding conditions and location, that is,
there are extraordinary conditions that warrant a variance. This property has a wider
unpaved Right-of-Way than other properties along the same street, and that is a special
circumstance that was not created by the applicant.
(2) The granting of the variance on the specific property will not be detrimental to the
public safety, even if the road is widened, and as the applicant states makes the property
more visible from a further distance and effectively more safe for customers and other
drivers ; and
(3) The conditions creating the need for the variance do not apply generally to other
property in the same area and the same zoning districts, that is, other commercial properties
along Leander Road and FM 1460 have placed signs without need of a variance; and
(4) The conditions that create the need for the variance are not the result of the applicant's
own actions, that is the applicant has not created any of the current conditions. The FM
1460 right-of-way predated their ownership of the property; and
Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes, November 21, 2006 Page 3 of 3
(5) The granting of the variance would not substantially conflict with the Comprehensive
Plan and the purposes of this code. Placement of the sign does not affect the land use; and
(6) Because of the conditions that create the need for the variance, a variance is needed to
effectively utilize the property in order that the sign can be placed so that the customers and
general public could see it and be able to find the business.
Second by Watson. Variance is granted with a vote of 5 – 0.
4. Comments from Staff. No comments.
5. Comments from Board Members. No comments.
Meeting was adjourned by the Chair at 6:33 p.m.
__________________________________ _______________________________
Approved, Will Moore, Chair Attest, Jim Jarvis, Vice-Chair