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DATE SUBMITTED: 3' OLD
CITY OF COLLEGE STATION ; •
Planning e7'Development Services /ate
ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT APPLICATION `� �
MINIMUM SUBMITTAL REQUIREMENTS:
X Filing Fee of $150.00.
X Application completed in full.
X Additional materials may be required of the applicant such as site plans, elevation drawings, sign details
and floor plans. The Zoning Official shall inform the applicant of any extra materials required.
Date of Preapplication Conference:
APPLICANT/PROJECT MANAGER'S INFORMATION (Primary Contact for the Project):
Name Veronica J.B. Morgan, Mitchell & Morgan, LLP
Street Address 511 University Dr. E. Ste 204 City College Station
State TX Zip Code 77840 E-Mail Address v(a�mitchellandmorgan.com
Phone Number 979-260-6963 Fax Number 979-260-3564
PROPERTY OWNER'S INFORMATION:
Name College Station Chinese Church
Street Address 708 Eisenhower St. City College Station
State TX Zip Code 77840 E-Mail Address wingcwong77(a�yahoo.com
Phone Number 979-777-8459 Fax Number
LOCATION OF PROPERTY:
Address 708 Eisenhower St.
Lot 32 Block 27 Subdivision D A Smith
Description if there is no Lot, Block and Subdivision
Action Requested: (Circle One) Setback Variance Appeal of Zoning Official's Interpretation
Parking Variance Special Exception
Sign Variance Other— Height Variance
Current Zoning of Subject Property: R-6 & C-3
Applicable Ordinance Section: 7.1.H.2 — Height & 7.2.H — Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces Required
6/13/03 Page 1 of 6
GENERAL VARIANCE REQUEST
The following specific variation from the ordinance is requested:
The College Station Chinese Church would like to request:
*A reduction of 15.5 feet in the setback to meet building height restrictions &
*A reduction by 15 spaces in the number of off-street parking spaces required for the project
These two variances are to all the church to keep a large tree, playground and greenspace on the property.
The tree shades a play/park area, which both area residents and church members use. There are no close
parks to the church, so a loss of the play/park area would be greatly missed. The church has a verbal parking
agreement from the adjacent businesses, but these businesses do not wish to enter into a written agreement.
The adjacent businesses and the church have different operating hours, so the shared parking is not
problematic.
This variance is necessary due to the following special conditions:
Special Condition Definition: To justify a variance, the difficulty must be due to unique circumstances
involving the particular property. The unique circumstances must be related to a physical characteristic of the
property itself, not to the owner's personal situation. This is because regardless of ownership, the variance will
run with the land.
Example: A creek bisecting a lot, a smaller buildable area than is seen on surrounding lots, specimen trees.
Note: A cul-de-sac is a standard street layout in College Station. The shape of standard cul-de-sac lots are
generally not special conditions.
The unnecessary hardship (s) involved by meeting the provisions of the ordinance other than financial
hardship is/are:
Hardship Definition: The inability to make reasonable use of the property in accord with the literal
requirements of the law. The hardship must be a direct result of the special condition.
Example: A hardship of a creek bisecting a lot could be the reduction of the buildable area on the lot, when
compared to neighboring properties.
See attached letter
The following alternatives to the requested variance are possible:
See attached letter
This variance will not be contrary to the public interest by virtue of the following facts:
See attached letter
Th- applicant has prepared this application and certifies that the facts stated herein and exhibits attached
he -to are true, correct and complete.
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Signature and e 1 Date
6/13/03 Page 2 of 6
MITCHELL
MORGAN
College Station Zoning Board of Adjustment August 4, 2006
City of College Station
1101 Texas Avenue S.
College Station, Texas 77840
Attn: Jennifer Prochazka, Staff Planner
Re: College Station Chinese Church located at 708 Eisenhower Street
Dear Members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment:
The College Station Chinese Church is currently looking at removing two buildings on
their property at 708 Eisenhower Street. Because these buildings are in very poor
structural condition they would like to demolish and replace them with one multi-purpose
structure. These two buildings are the two smaller buildings shown in the background of
the picture below.
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View looking from Eisenhower Street northwest into the site
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The church would like to replace these two structures (960 square feet and 1600 square
feet) with one single 4000 square foot structure. A diagram of the existing layout on the
property is shown on Exhibit 1 while the proposed layout with the new building footprint
can be seen in Exhibit 2. Although they will be constructing a new building on the site,
their desire is to design the site layout to retain the large tree and as much of the
playground and grass as possible. The church has numerous small children in their
congregation and they along with neighbor children enjoy the use of the tree, the grass
and the playground equipment. The following pictures are from Vacation Bible School.
411
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Also attached is a petition signed by several of the surrounding neighbors who also use
the area for their enjoyment and are in support of the church saving the tree, playground
and green area on the site. If this area is removed, the closest city park facility for the
children of the church and the neighborhood to use is Lions Park located on University
Drive near Lincoln.
This historical background brings us to our request.
Variance Request#1
Within the College Station Unified Development Ordinance Section 7.1.11.2. —Height,
states:
"With the exception of NG, RDD, and P-MUD districts, no multi-family or non-
residential structure shall be located nearer to any property line adjacent to a single-
family use or townhouse development than a horizontal distance (B to C) of twice the
vertical distance (height, A to B) of the structure as illustrated in the graphic below.
4
A
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Commercial
1:2 slope Building
�••••••••••••� setback HeightBuilding
50'
6'fence 83 83
A,
Bi. - 100' -( 25'-1 House
In the case of the CS Chinese Church, one of the buildings to be demolished is located
adjacent to a single family lot to the north. This can be seen in the photograph below.
The most northerly church structure is located adjacent to the small tan/brown frame
house that is at the corner of Eisenhower Street and Live Oak Street.
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View standing on Eisenhower Street looking northwest at the white church building
and the single family home adjacent and to the north
5
This small white wood frame structure is currently constructed on the 7.5 foot side
setback line of the church property and the existing eave height of the building at this
location is 11 feet. The proposed building will also have an eave height of 11 feet placed
on this same 7.5 foot side setback line. It will be configured with a shed roof that
increases in height from 11 feet to 24 feet as it moves farther away from the single family
structure. The slope of the current roof line has a slope of 4-1/2:12 and the slope of the
proposed roof line is 3:12, so the height of the new roofline will never be higher than that
of the existing roof as seen in the picture above.
If the church were to construct the new building according to the regulations it would be
required to be constructed 22 feet from the existing property line as opposed to being
located at the 7.5 foot side setback. Therefore the building would shift an additional 15.5
feet toward the playground. This will result in a reduction of the playground and green
space area by over 1200 square feet and encroachment into the tree canopy. In an effort
to save the greenspace, playground and the existing tree on the property,
• The church is respectfully requesting a variance to Section 7.1.H.2 of the
ordinance to allow the new building to be located 15.5 feet closer to the property
line than allowed by ordinance.
• We believe this variance is necessary because the church as well as several
surrounding neighbors would like to see the new building constructed in a manner
to save the tree, playground and greenspace area for their further enjoyment. The
property configuration and the location and size of the tree on the property makes
it impossible to locate a replacement structure that meets the height restrictions
and does not encumber the tree canopy and playground area.
• The only alternative to this variance is to move the building farther away from the
adjacent single family lot and encroach onto the playground and well into the tree
canopy thus jeopardizing its health.
• We do not believe this will be contrary to the public interest because the height of
the new structure will not be any taller than that of the existing structure that will
be removed. The regulation was written as a result of the Marriot Courtyard
project constructed adjacent to the Woodcreek Subdivision. It was to protect
single family homes from an aesthetic and privacy intrusion. This is not the case
with the CS Chinese Church because there is an existing non-residential structure
already located adjacent to the single family residential structure and the roof line
of the new structure will not be any higher than that of the existing building.
6
•
In addition to our first variance request, the church would also like to request to vary
from the required parking spaces.
Variance Request#2
Section 7.2.H-Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces Required
To meet the parking needs of the church in the past, the church obtained a variance to the
required parking granted by the ZBA. They were granted this variance to the parking
requirement because the church is allowed by the adjacent property owner to park in their
parking lot located behind the church buildings. The 707 Shopping Center located
directly behind (west) of the church has been very gracious to the church. This situation
works because the church meets during off-peak times from the tenants of the 707
Shopping Center so it has not posed a problem to the tenants, the church or the
neighborhood.
Given this current parking variance, the church is required to provide an additional 15
parking spaces for this new multi-purpose building. Again, the dilemma facing the
church is whether to give up the tree, playground and greenspace to meet this parking
requirement. The church has approached the owner of the 707 Shopping Center and
again they have stated that the church may use their parking lot which has plenty of
spaces to accommodate these additional needs. However, the property owner of 707 has
only verbally agreed to this shared parking and does not desire to enter into a formal
agreement for the parking. The lack of this signed agreement is the reason we must
request this variance.
Again, the neighbors have supported saving the tree, the playground and greenspace. In
fact one neighbor even stated, please save the "park" when describing the area that they
would like preserved. Exhibits 2 and 3 illustrate the site layout with the new building and
the parking variance and without the parking variance. This site without the parking
variance will look extremely different than the pictures illustrated above. The tree, the
playground and virtually all of the greenspace on the site will be removed and replaced
with concrete. This is not an aesthetically pleasing site in the church's view. This
amount of impervious cover will increase the runoff from the area which also contributes
to stormwater pollution as we remove the natural water filters of the grasses areas. The
fact that there is sufficient parking behind the center, that the property owner is willing to
allow the church to park there and that granting this variance will serve to retain the
existing tree, playground and green space for the neighborhood we believe the granting of
the variance is a win/win for the community.
• The church is respectfully requesting a variance to Section 7.2.H of the ordinance
to grant the church a variance to 15 parking spaces.
• We believe this variance is necessary because the church as well as several
surrounding neighbors would like to see the new building constructed in a manner
7
to save the tree, playground and greenspace area for their further enjoyment. The
property configuration and the location and size of the tree on the property makes
it impossible to locate a replacement structure and associated required parking
that does not completely lose the tree and playground area.
• The only alternative to this variance is to configure the lot with the 15 parking
spaces as required, remove the tree and playground and cover the lot with
concrete.
• We do not believe this will be contrary to the public interest because the parking
has been and will continue to be accommodated by the 707 Shopping Center
whose parking needs are off-peak with the church. The church has not received
any complaints from the neighborhood in the past based upon overflow parking in
the street and does not anticipate that happening in the future because of the
abundant parking in the 707 Shopping Center when church services are held.
Thank you for your time and your consideration of the church's requests.
Sincerely,
661(P4646a"
//46 /01
Veronica J.B. Morgan, P.E.
Managing Partner
Attachments
Cc: file
Wing C. Wong, CS Chinese Church
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