DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP

BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS

6:30 PM – JANUARY 13th, 2005

3292 Montgomery Road, Landen Station

MINUTES

ROLL CALL: James Rinehart, Cherry Linder, William Heckman, Brian Leary, and Alternate James Klatte were present. Also present was township attorney Doug Miller.

CALL TO ORDER: Elect Board Chairperson for 2005.

Cherry Linder made a motion to nominate _Brian Leary as Board of Zoning Appeals Chairperson for 2005. There was a 2^nd by __James Rinehart.
Roll Call: Cherry Linder-Yes, William Heckman-Yes, Alternate James Klatte-Yes, James Rinehart-Yes The motion was approved

Elect Board Secretary for 2005.

Cherry Linder made a motion to nominate __William Heckman as Board of Zoning Appeals Secretary for 2005. There was a 2^nd by Brian Leary.
Roll Call: William Heckman-Yes, Brian Leary-Yes, Alternate James Klatte-Yes, James Rinehart-Yes, Cherry Linder-Yes

Elect Board Vice-Chairperson for 2005.

James Rinehart made a motion to nominate Cherry Linder Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Zoning Appeals Chairperson for 2005. There was a 2^nd by Jim Klatte.
Roll Call: William Heckman-Yes, Alternate James Klatte-Yes, James Rinehart-Yes Brian Leary-Yes The motion was approved

Doug Miller asked Brian Leary how he wants his official signature. Mr. Leary said to put Brian B. Leary.

Minutes Motion to approve minutes of 11/18/2004.

James Klatte made a motion to approve the minutes of 11/18/04. There was a

2^nd by William Heckman.

Roll Call: Brian Leary-Yes, Alternate James Klatte-Yes, James Rinehart,-Yes, Cherry Linder-yes, William Heckman-Yes The motion was approved.

Newly elected Chairperson, Brian Leary swore those people in who would be giving testimony at the meeting tonight.

CASE 2004-977 5960 Bethany Road, Lots 8 & 9, Variance to Section 25.15, B, Variance for Panhandle

Staff Presentation Tim Hershner said these 2 lots are located on Bethany Road between Butler-Warren and Mason-Montgomery Roads on the north side. The request is for a variance to 25.15B where it calls for a panhandle lots to have a minimum frontage of continuous width of 22 feet and a maximum width of 42 feet. Tim showed a drawing of the lots which are part of the Meadowbrook Subdivision. Terry Shirk, owner, wants to sell Lot 8. The driveway which services Lot 9 is on the eastern side of Lot 8. She wants to take some 20 feet from Lot 8 and add it to Lot 9 to relocate the driveway to the correct lot (Lot 9) but the panhandle would be wider than the code allows. The panhandle width would be 60.9 feet. Under the subdivision plat there are current restrictions. Doug Miller said the county is in charge of subdivision regulations. Tim said there appears to be some concern from surrounding neighbors because the proposed new house would have to be closer on the side yards due to the decreased width of Lot 8. If the board would approve this request for variance, Tim gave 2 conditions as follows:

1) The added width to the panhandle portion of Lot 9 shall not cause another lot to be created.

2) Lot 8 shall have a minimum side yard setback on the western property line of 15 feet.

Brian Leary asked if there is any lot minimum lot size here. Tim said the zoning is Residential Single Family which is a 14,000 square feet minimum, but in this development the lots are over 1 acre. Cherry Linder asked why they want to do this? Tim said they want to do this so the driveway will be on Lot 9 and they don’t have to build a new driveway. Cherry Linder asked if Lot 8 would be under 1 acre after the change. Tim said it would be 1.1119 acres. Cherry Linder asked if it is irregular to have a 60 feet wide panhandle on a residential neighborhood. Tim said the general purpose is for panhandles to be for access only not wide enough to build a house. Doug said not only is it irregular but it is not allowed. Cherry Linder asked if he gets requests for 40 feet wide panhandles. Tim said sometimes, but the purpose this time is so they don’t have to build a new driveway. Brian Leary said did they not pay attention when they built the house where the driveway was. Tim said that John Federle built the house in 1958. He subdivided all this property. Brian Leary why was the driveway just put in at the wrong place? Tim said that Meadowbrook Estates was developed in 1958. Doug Miller said so we don’t know why the driveway ended up on Lot 8. Doug Miller said they could build a house on Lot 8. William Heckman asked if they could work with the to the owner east and give them 20 feet. Tim said on the west side there are 3 houses on Lots 5, 6, and 7. Doug said the problem is they can’t subdivide the lot. There was more board discussion.

Motion There was a motion by James Rinehart to take a 15 minute break. There was a 2^nd by Cherry Linder. The vote was all yes.

After 25 minutes there was a motion by Brian Leary to re-adjourn. The motion was approved. Brian Leary asked for public comments.

Robert Summe, 6026 Bethany Road, said he talked to all the homeowners in the Meadowbrook Estates and they were all against the variance. He quoted Section 13 from the homeowner’s covenant that the lots are not to be subdivided. Jim Rinehart asked him which lot his house is on. He said Lot 5 and the setback on the sides are 20 feet on one side and 50 feet on the other side. His lot is 150 feet wide. Doug Miller reminded the neighbors that the township cannot enforce the subdivision regulations. That is something that the other homeowners in the subdivision would have to do. Doug said the township zoning regulations say the panhandle cannot be wider than 40 feet. Doug said this is a private subdivision rule that this cannot be sub-divided. This is not a township regulation. Mr. Summe asked the board to consider #13 in the covenant when they make their decision. Brian Leary swore in the applicant and some others who arrived late.

Terry Shirk, 5960 Bethany Road, apologized for being late due to a medical procedure. She said when she purchased Lot 8 and Lot 9, she didn’t realize that the driveway was not on the same lot with her house. She said over the weekend she went to some homes across the street from Meadowbrook Estates and got 9 signatures from people who approve of the variance. Jim Rinehart asked her about the driveway. She told him she believed when she bought the 2 lots, the driveway was on Lot 9. She plans to sell the one lot and has a builder, Robert Lucke, who would build a house of equal value of the other homes in Meadowbrook Subdivision on Lot 8. The driveway in question is gravel. Brian Leary asked for other public comments or follow up.

Nina Erjavec, 5998 Bethany Road, said she is on Lot 6. She said they purchased this house in 1996 because of the covenants which state the lots cannot be subdivided. She said she likes her house because she has privacy. She was concerned she may loose her privacy if the variance is allowed.

Terry Shirk, 5960 Bethany Road, said she is aware she cannot subdivide the property. She said she is just asking to change 20 feet. She said the builder, (Lucke Homes) signed an agreement stating the house would be setback from the property line on the west side near the other home. Tim read the agreement with Lucke Homes that the setback would be 15 feet on the west side near the neighbor. Ms. Shirk pointed on the map where the homes of the 9 people who signed her petition are located. They were across Bethany Road from her property. They would be viewing her property from their back windows. She said most of the home around her are valued at $400,000 and up and Lucke would build a home of the same value.

Robert Summe, 6026 Bethany Road, said he is curious if Lucke has an agreement that sewers must go in before he would build.

Terry Shirk, 5960 Bethany Road, said she does have someone else who would be interested in purchasing the property and she needs to get this settled because of some health issues.

Brian Leary closed the public comment portion of the meeting.

Discussion/Recommendation Cherry Linder stated that she believes this is not appropriate to have a 60 feet wide flag lot and this would negatively affect the neighboring properties. Brian Leary said that he believes this is a hardship that the property was purchased with them not realizing this but he believes they should move the driveway. Jim Rinehart said the builder will be out there with equipment and he said they could move the driveway. William Heckman said there are other solutions.

Motion There was a motion by Cherry Linder to deny the Variance for the Panhandle at 5960 Bethany Road, Case 2004-977. There was a 2^nd by James Rinehart.

Roll Call James Klatte-Yes, William Heckman-Yes, James Rinehart-Yes, Cherry

Linder-yes, Brian Leary-Yes The motion was approved.

New Business Tim Hershner said there was an application submitted which just missed the January deadline. The applicant, the Kings Local Schools, have asked if the board could meet before February. Tim suggested the February 10 th meeting be canceled and the board hear this case on January 27^th, 2005. He said the application is to build a maintenance shed in the athletic area. The board agreed that this would be fine.

Adjourn

Motion to adjourn James Klatte. There was a 2nd by William Heckman

Roll Call William Heckman-Yes, James Rinehart-Yes, Cherry Linder-Yes, Brian Leary-Yes, James Klatte-Yes The motion was approved.

____________________________________________ ______________________________________

Brian Leary, Chairperson Date William Heckman, Secretary Date