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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Zoning Board of Adjustment Minutes 5-9-2018MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT AMES, IOWA MAY 9, 2018 The Ames Zoning Board of Adjustment met, pursuant to law, in regular session at 6:01 p.m. on May 9, 2018, in the Council Chambers of City Hall with the following members present: Amelia Schoeneman, Kyle Perkins, Matthew Koehler, and Susan Bradbury. Board Member Rob Bowers was absent. Assistant City Attorney Jane Chang and City Planner Eloise Sahlstrom were also present. ELECTION OF OFFICERS: Moved by Perkins, seconded by Bradbury, to elect Matthew Koehler for the office of Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Vote on Motion: 4-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. Moved by Bradbury, seconded by Perkins, to elect Amelia Schoeneman for the office of Vice Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Vote on Motion: 4-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Moved by Perkins, seconded by Schoeneman, to approve the minutes of the meeting of March 14, 2018. Vote on Motion: 4-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. CASE NO. 18-04 EXCEPTION FOR MINOR AREA MODIFICATION – Jim Wilcox, Public Hearing on application for an Exception for a Minor Area Modification to allow a reduced setback for the reconstruction of a historically accurate front porch for the property located at 320 9th Street City Planner Eloise Sahlstrom introduced the request. The applicant wishes to reestablish a historically accurate porch along the front of his home located at 320 9th Street, which is located within the Old Town Local Historic District. The house is a modest historic one-story, single- family dwelling with a cube form and rear wing. It is covered with a steeply pitched hipped roof with an off-center gabled front dormer, and is dated as being constructed between 1905 and 1910. The home also has a detached garage. The house appeared to include a full-width front porch, as recorded on historic Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from 1911. The actual design of the original porch is unknown as it is completely missing. The porch was removed sometime after 1926, and only the concrete steps and a front entry landing remain. The applicant is proposing a new 7-foot by 38-foot front porch across the front of the home. On April 9, 2018, the Historic Preservation Commission granted the property owner a Certificate of Appropriateness for new construction of a front porch consistent with the Historic District Design Standards and Guidelines, based on the findings presented. The proposed porch will extend across most of the front façade and past the west edge of t he home. The approval of the porch design is conditioned upon the property owner receiving approval of a Minor Area Modification. The subject property is located within the Residential Medium-Density (RM) zoning district. Required setbacks of this district allow for only an eight-foot projection into the required 25-foot front yard and would effectively prohibit the addition of a front porch due to the historic setba ck of the home at only 16-feet from the sidewalk. However, the Zoning Ordinance allows an exception for reconstruction of historically accurate structures as a Minor Area Modification. A Minor Area Modification is permitted to allow the reduction of front, rear, and side yard setbacks without limit for reconstruction of historically accurate structures. The site plan, project description, applicable law, and Findings of Fact and Conclusions were reviewed in detail by Ms. Sahlstrom. She explained that the existing house is situated 16 feet back from the sidewalk, which is typical of the homes facing 9th Street, particularly in this block. Historic Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps indicate 9th Street as having a 66 foot right-of-way and identified homes with porches very close to the right-of-way especially between Burnett and North Kellogg. The distance is hard to scale, but porches are estimated as between six and ten feet from the right-of-way from these maps. Typically homes are built with their front façade parallel to the street; however, this is not the case along 9th Street. Rather, these homes are built with more of a true east-west orientation, as if built along 8th Street or one of the other older streets. As a result, the front yards are not square to the street. Each of these instances established a pattern of home and porch placement that occurred over a hundred years ago, resulting in the present day historic character of the neighborhood. It is for this very reason that the exception for a minor area modification is needed and allowed. She explained that porches are beneficial to the health, safety and welfare of the street and neighborhood, as porches are a place from which natural surveillance of the street and neighborhood can occur, thus helping neighborhoods to be safer places. Historically, all of the homes in this area had porches. Unfortunately, over the years, many porches have been removed or converted to interior living space. Chapter 31, Historic Preservation, refers to porches as “character defining features of historic structures.” For this reason, it requires historic porches to be retained whenever possible and encourages new porches to be built consistent with the architectural style of the home. Porches were and remain an important element within the Old Town Historic District. Furthermore, Chapter 31 states, “When designing and constructing a new entrance feature or porch, if the historic entrance or porch is completely missing, the new one may be a restoration based on historical, pictorial, and physical documentation or be a design that is compatible with the historical character of the building.” In keeping with this, a Certificate of Appropriateness was granted for this property on April 9, 2018, by the Ames’ Historic Preservation Commission, for the reconstruction of a historically accurate porch. Ms. Sahlstrom stated that restoring homes to be more historically accurate also enhances the value of the neighborhood. Additionally, the new porch will not encroach on side yard setbacks and will have no detrimental effect upon neighboring properties. Other properties in the area also have nonconforming front setbacks similar to the existing home. The new porch will not have an impact on the general front yard character of the homes along 8th Street. The reduction allowed in Section 29.1506 is “without limit” for the reconstruction of historically accurate structures. The proposed porch width of seven feet is in keeping with the historically depicted porch width illustrated on the historic Sanborn Maps. It will be placed nine feet from the sidewalk, and requires three or four steps in order to meet the existing grade. The first step will be just over seven feet from the sidewalk. Although there is no depiction available of the original porch design, from the Sanborn Map outline of the porch location staff believes that the proposed porch fits the intent of Minor Area Modification allowance for a “historically accurate structure.” Additionally, the porch design was determined to be compatible in design with the home by the Historic Preservation Commission. Ms. Sahlstrom clarified that the porch will be slightly offset to balance the appearance of the house and center the front gable. She also mentioned that the Historic Preservation Commission had no conditions, except for the approval of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Jim Wilcox, 320 9th Street, Ames, Iowa, was sworn in and testified under oath. Mr. Wilcox stated that the Historic Preservation Commission approved a Certificate of Appropriateness, and he accepts the conditions as recommended by staff. Moved by Schoeneman, seconded by Perkins, to approve ORDER NO. 18-04, thereby approving the request for an Exception for a Minor Area Modification to allow a reduced setback for the reconstruction of a historically accurate front porch for the property located at 320 9th Street, by adopting the findings of fact and conclusions stated herein and with the following three conditions: a) The applicant must record the approval of this Minor Area Modification in the office of the County Recorder, in order to make effective the approval; b) The front porch must be built consistent with the attached plans and meet the definition of a porch as “fully open, except for support columns and balustrades, and it must never be enclosed by walls, windows, or solid doors”; and c) The front porch and roof structure must not extend more than 8-feet from the house. Vote: 4-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. COMMENTS: There were no comments by the Board. ADJOURNMENT: Moved by Bradbury, seconded by Perkins, to adjourn the meeting at 6:21 p.m. _____________________________ _____________________________ Heidi Petersen, Recording Secretary Matthew Koehler, Chair