Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutmintues.boa.20070503ASPEN BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING MINUTES -MAY 3 2007 CASE #003-07, ALEXANDRA AND SCOTT KENDRICK - 1025 WATERS AVENUE -FRONT YARD SETBACK VARIANCE FOR A NEW GARAGE AND RESIDENTIAL DESIGN VARIANCE .......................................................... 2 CASE #004-07 JAMES DAGGS - 640 NORTH THIRD CONSTRUCT 2 PARKING SPACES, CONSTRUCT SNOWMELT AND REPLACE AN EXISTING DRIVEWAY .......................................................................................... 3 ASPEN BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING MINUTES -MAY 3, 2007 Rick Head opened the Aspen Board of Adjustment Meeting in Council Chambers with Charles Paterson, Mark Hesselschwerdt, Peter McClain and Jag Pagnucco. Staff in attendance were: Jim True, Special Counsel for the City of Aspen; Jason Lasser, Community Development; Aaron Reed and Trisha Coyle, Engineering; Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. PUBLIC HEARING: CASE #003-07, ALEXANDRA AND SCOTT KENDRICK -1025 WATERS AVENUE -FRONT YARD SETBACK VARIANCE FOR A NEW GARAGE AND RESIDENTIAL DESIGN VARIANCE Rick Head opened the public hearing for case #003-07 for Alexandra and Scott Kendrick, 1025 Waters Avenue. The notice of posting was provided. Jason Lasser provided a drawing of the area colored in red were the areas in need of a variance. Alexandra and Scott Kendrick introduced themselves. Scott Kendrick stated that they wanted to extend the driveway and build a new garage; he said that the triangular lot required the setback variances. Two letters were submitted into the record one was in support and one was not in support. Scott Kendrick said the attic in the garage was going to be for storage but now they would like to put an extra bedroom in that place. Rick Head asked for something that described the hardship or practical difficulty. Scott Kendrick replied that the hardship stemmed from the non-standard lot size at 8,000 square feet and it was a triangular lot. Scott Kendrick said they were not trying to build out to the limit of FAR; they were just trying to add to what they have. Mark Hesselschwerdt asked how old the house was. Scott Kendrick replied that it was built in 1970. Alexandra Kendrick said that they remodeled the house in June of 2004. Rick Head stated that the garage was located in a setback but that it could not be increased in the setback. Head said that if the garage had been rotated then both buildings could have fit in the allowed setbacks. Jag Pagnucco said that a 3 sided lot was a hardship. Pagnucco said the new garage was an improvement; the old garage was an eyesore, 2 ASPEN BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING MINUTES -MAY 3, 2007 Mark Hesselschwerdt asked why it becomes a hardship when you buy a triangular lot 3 or 4 years ago; you didn't buy a rectangular lot and have it tum into a triangle. Rick Head noted that Mark did not want to undermine the zoning laws. Head said that this was more of a convenience to the applicant that a hardship. Peter McClain said that he did not think that the new garage would be an eyesore. McClain said that the hindrance was that the City went from a 5 foot setback to a 10 foot setback then to a 25 foot setback so the applicant didn't create the hindrance. McClain said that the lots in this area were small. Head stated that 8 people in the neighborhood have signed a letter in support of this variance and those were the most affected by this change. PUBLIC COMMENTS: 1. Fonda Paterson sated that she was a neighbor across the street. Paterson said that in 1976 when they built their house they had to acquire setback variances because the existing street setback would have had them building in the river and the river setback would have had them building in the street. Paterson said that they also had to get a variance to build a single car garage. MOTION: Peter McClain moved to approve Resolution #3, series of 2007 approving a front yard setback variance of twenty-one feet nine inches (21 '9') and a Residential Design Standards variance for an increase to the plate height of the linking element to ten (10) fifteen and a half (1 S '6) and seventeen feet (17) for the property located at 10?5 Waters Avenue finding that the review criteria for the application have been met. Seconded by Jag Pagnucco. Mark Hesselschwerdt voted no. APPROVED 3-1. PUBLIC HEARING: CASE #004-07 JAMES DAGGS - 640 NORTH THIRD CONSTRUCT 2 PARKING SPACES. CONSTRUCT SNOWMELT AND REPLACE AN EXISTING DRIVEWAY Rick Head opened the public hearing for James Daggs to construct 2 parking spaces, construct snowmelt and replace an existing driveway. Head stated that the snowmelt and replacing the existing driveway have already been taken care of so the 2 parking spaces are left. There was no notice of posting because it came down through engineering as an encroachment. Head stated that the board had to either support the engineering decision or reject it. 3 ASPEN BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING MINUTES -MAY 3.2007 Jeff Lester, Charles Cunniffe Architects, and Valerie Alexander from Bluegreen Architects represented the applicant. Valerie Alexander illustrated the parking on Lake Avenue and the historic trees. Alexander said that the landscape plan was approved by HPC but not the parking request because it was not on Jim Daggs property. HPC requested a study for the traffic on Lake Avenue. Alexander said there was no alley on this block and all the driveways come off of Third and parking was just reduced in that area because of curb cuts. Alexander said that they have done everything that they could environmentally to find the best solution; the Parks Department did not want the cottonwood trees encroached upon. Alexander said the hardship was the parking in the neighborhood. Jim Daggs said the distance from the cottonwood trees to the street was 23.6 feet; Parks said that you couldn't go more than 9 feet and Engineering says we have to go 10 feet. Daggs said that this was an enhancement on Lake Avenue. Jeff Lester said that this lot does not have an alley and there was a house down the block that was proposing the same parking solution. Jason Lasser said that there was no parking on Lake Avenue and it was closed off to traffic during the Music Festival. Lasser said the pedestrian experience was historical. Head asked how the neighbor got an encroachment license for the one parking space. Trisha Coyle answered that there was not an encroachment license issued for that property and only in the case of redevelopment would they apply for an encroachment license. PUBLIC COMMENTS: 1. Claude Salter, neighbor representing the Ann Altmus Family, responded that the house with one parking space was probably built in the1970's without any hearings. Mark Hesselschwerdt asked if Jim had used the front steps and applied to have his address changed. Jim Daggs replied that he has used the front stairs on Lake Avenue and would try to get the address changed to Lake Avenue. Rick Head stated that he was confused about HPC's position on this retaining wall and not wanting a driveway cut on Lake Avenue. Valerie Alexander replied that the retaining wall was only 30 inches tall and the Historic Commission did not want the lot split so that the new development would not over shadow the historic resource. Alexander said the wall would be very soft in character. 4 ASPEN BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING MINUTES -MAY 3 2007 Trisha Coyle said the reason that Engineering requested 10 feet was because it allowed for the car door to open for 2 feet. Jim Daggs said that they could probably do 10 feet. Aaron Reed said the reason for the 9 or 10 feet was to protect as much of the roots of the historic trees as possible and the construction itself has a great impact on the trees and the more root mass taken away the more likely there could be damage to the trees. Reed said there could be a bond posted for the trees. Head asked the length of time that it would take to know what impacts were associated with the trees. Reed replied that it could be as long as 3 years. Claude Salter said that HPC was not in favor of this parking. Salter said that this would be a pedestrian walkway. Mark Hesselschwerdt asked if these were required parking spaces. Jim Daggs answered no; they have been trying to solve this issue for a year and it gets passed from Engineering to HPC and now BOA. Hesselschwerdt asked if this house was razed and put on a new foundation. Daggs replied that it was totally renovated. Charlie Paterson said there was a definite practical difficulty here. Paterson said that he was in favor of granting 10 feet because he had a cottonwood tree where foundation was dug 2 feet away from the center of the tree and the tree is very healthy. Paterson said that he felt badly about bouncing this back and forth between Engineering and Parks and he felt strongly that that was the front of the house. Hesselschwerdt said it makes sense to generate off-street parking. McClain and Head also agreed. MOTION: Charles Paterson moved to approve the requested encroachment, which is the minimum encroachment necessary to make the reasonable use of the parcel, building or structure in question; the non-approval of the encroachment causes unnecessary practical difficulty and there were special circumstances or conditions which were unique to that parcel, building or structure. Peter McClain seconded. All in favor, APPROVED S-0. Meeting adjourned. ckie Lot ian, Deputy City Clerk 5