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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Board Of Adjustment - 01/25/2012MINUTES ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING City Hall, 1201 Leopard, Corpus Christi, Texas 1 floor, City Hall Council Chamber Wednesday, January 25, 2012 1:30 P.M. BOARD MEMBERS: Dan Winship, Chairman Ben Molina, Vice - Chairman R. Bryan Johnson Morgan Spear Carl Hellums John Douglas McMullan (Alternate) Absent* Heriberto A. Pinede (Alternate) STAFF: Miguel S. Saldana, AICP, Interim Manager, Development Services Department Jennifer Ramirez, Zoning Board of Adjustment Administrator Deborah Brown, Assistant City Attorney Linda Williams, Recording Secretary Si usted quiere dirigirse al consejo de ajustamiento y su ingles es limitado, habra un interprete en la junta para ayudarle. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Winship at 1:30 p.m. and a quorum was declared. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. October 26, 2011 Motion to approve the October 26, 2011 minutes was made by Board Member Johnson and seconded by Board Member Hellums. Motion passed. III. APPEALS 1. New Appeal Jennifer Ramirez, Development Services, read New Appeal item "a° into record (shown below). Ms. Ramirez stated CNM 37, LLC, the applicant, has requested a Special Use Exception for storage of explosives or other hazardous materials on the subject property. a. Appeal No. ZBA 0112 -01, CNM 37, LLC CNM 37, LLC, requests a Special Use Exception for the storage of explosives or other hazardous materials. The subject property is described as Thirty -Seven Industrial Park, Block 1, Lots 17A and 17C (previously known as 1.80 acres of Lot 17B), located south of Interstate Highway 37 Access Road and west of Corn Products Road. Ms. Ramirez continued that twelve (12) notices were mailed to property owners within the 200 - foot notification area and no notices were returned in favor or in opposition. Ms. Ramirez continued that the subject site located in the northwest portion of the city and is surrounded by predominantly industrial zoning, with industrial use or vacant land. The subject site consists of two lots known as Lots 17A and17C consisting of a total of 4.08 acres. Both lots are undeveloped and the owner intends to construct improvements and then lease the property to an oil field service business, That business includes oil well logging and perforation and the oil related use requires storage of explosives or other hazardous materials. Zoning Board of Adjustment January 25, 2012 Page 2 Ms. Ramirez stated that as outlined in the Unified Development Code (UDC), no action by the Board of Adjustment could be taken until after the request had been reviewed by the Technical Review Committee and the Fire Department. Ms. Ramirez continued the application was reviewed by both the Technical Review Committee and the Fire Department. Based on review criteria established by the UDC, all four review requirements were met and Staff recommended approval of the requested Special Use Exception. After Ms. Ramirez's presentation, the public hearing was opened for discussion and questions. Board Member Pineda asked for clarification regarding the verbiage in reference to the process of obtaining a building permit before coming to the Board and Mr. Saldana answered that the applicant could get a building permit before action was taken on the request. Mr. Saldana continued that if the request was approved, the Board would be granting the use for storage of the explosives or other hazardous materials and not for the oil field service business. Mr. Saldana stated that typically, before the client invests any money, they want to ensure they can do what they wanted to do with the property. Mr. Saldana stated he apologized if the report was misleading in any way, but this was how the process worked. Chairman Winship stated the question came up that the building permit was obtained first and then the applicant applied for the variance. Mr. Saldana clarified that the applicant requested a "special use exception" and not a variance and it seems like the process was out of order. Chairman Winship asked if the "special use exception" required the same process as a variance and Mr. Saldana answered no. Mr. Saldana continued that it has been about six years that an applicant was granted a variance before they applied for the building permit. Deborah Brown, Assistant City Attorney, addressed the Board. Ms. Brown explained that a variance was required when there had been an error and a special use exception had nothing to do with correcting an error. Ms. Brown stated that the special use was likening to when a company came to town and they found property they were interested in. The company would want to know if the property could be rezoned before it was purchased. The applicant wants to make sure they can be allowed to have explosives on site — the difference between a variance and the special use exception were two totally different items. Board Member Pineda stated in reference to a letter written as to how the explosives would be contained, has the airport been notified of the proposed request since this property was in close proximity to the airport and Ms. Ramirez answered that the Airport Department was part of the Technical Review Committee and agreed with staff's recommendation. Mr. Burris McRee, 6000 South Staples Street, Suite 205, Representative for CNM 37, introduced himself, Mr. Jesse Byrd, and Mr. George Dodd, with OSHA to board members. Mr. McRee stated, for the record, they were in attendance to answer any questions the Board might have pertaining to the request. Board Member Johnson stated that when past special use exceptions were granted, when the owners changed, the exceptions expired and Mr. Saldana replied that all actions granted by the Board have a twelve -month time limit. Once the twelve -month time limit expired, the new owner would have to submit a new application to the Board. After all questions and discussion concluded, the public hearing was closed. Chairman Winship called for a motion. In accordance with Article 3.12 of the Unified Development Code, Board Member Johnson moved that Appeal No. ZBA 0112 -01 a Special Use Exception for the storage of explosives or other hazardous materials on property described as Thirty -Seven Industrial Park, Block 1, Lots 17A and 17C, be approved, based on the Review Criteria of the Unified Development Code, Section 3.12.3. The motion was seconded by Board Member Spear. K; 4nevelopmertSvc51SHAREDI ZONING2BAl2012 ZBA Files42012 Mirutes1012512,ZBA Minutes.doc Zoning Board of Adjustment January 25, 2012 Page 3 IV. OTHER ITEMS Discussion of Future zoning Board of Adjustment Meetings Mr. Saldaft stated there were two meeting dates the Board should consider choosing alternate meeting dates for -- November 28 and December 26, 2012. Mr. Saldana continued that both dates fell during holidays. After a brief discussion, no action was taken. The Board wanted to wait until the new board was seated and they could make the decision. Chairman Winship asked when did the board's new term year begin and end and Mr. Saldaha stated staff would provide the information at the next meeting. Ms. Brown stated the current board members' terms end in April 2012. Committee Report Regarding Rules and Procedures Board Member Molina requested that the item be tabled until the next board meeting and placed as a discussion item and possible action. Chairman Winship stated that for the past several board meetings, there has been only one appeal scheduled for board action. Chairman Winship asked what would be the impact of a delay for an appeal if it was held over to the next month with anticipation of another application being submitted. Chairman Winship also wanted to know if there were criteria that the board met monthly. Chairman Winship continued that a lot of staff time and personal time were being expended for just one appeal a month. Ms. Brown read a section of the UDC that stated the "zoning Board of Adjustment meeting shall be held the fourth Wednesday of the month and ... all meetings shall be opened." Ms. Brown stated the only thing that could be done when one application was received for the month was to ask the applicant if the application could be held to the next meeting date. If the applicant agrees, then. it could be done. After a brief discussion, no action was taken. V. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn was made by Board Member Spear and seconded by Board Member Molina. The motion passed and the meeting adjourned at 2:05 p.m. QC Date: �Z� 2 -- ni er Rami z ing Board of Adjustment Administr or Date: r f Lin Williams Rec ding Secretary K: 1DevelopmentSves \SHARED4ZONINGIZBA52012 ZBA Files12012 MinutesW125122BA Minutes.doc