MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS,
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2012
6:30 P.M., IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL,
MIDLAND, MICHIGAN
1.
ROLL CALL
PRESENT: Board
Members - Green, Higgins, Lichtenwald,
Siemer and Steele
ABSENT: Board Members – None
OTHERS
PRESENT: Cindy Winland,
Consulting Planner, Debbie Marquardt, Technical Secretary and four others.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
It was moved by Siemer
and supported by Higgins to approve the minutes of the September 18, 2012
meeting. Motion was approved unanimously
as presented.
3. PUBLIC HEARINGS
The Chairman explained the
public hearing procedures and how the Board decides if the variance request is
approved, based on the five Board of Appeals decision criteria in the Zoning Ordinance.
The variance is legally recorded with the property and is not transferrable to
another parcel.
a.
No. 12-09
– K-Berger III, LLC for a dimensional variance seeking a reduction in the number of required
parking spaces pursuant to Table 5.3 of the City of Midland Zoning
Ordinance. The application seeks to
reduce the number of required parking spaces for a drive-through restaurant
from 89 spaces to 53 spaces. The
property is zoned Regional Commercial and is located at 7300 Eastman Avenue.
Background:
Ms. Winland showed the
location that is in the Meijer parking lot, the site of a proposed Culvers restaurant. It
requires action from the Planning Commission and City Council for a conditional
use permit. As with all of our
requests, there are five criteria that need to be met.
(1)
Will
strict compliance with restrictions governing area, setback, frontage, height,
bulk, density or other non-use matters unreasonably prevent the owner from
using the property for a permitted purpose or render conformity unnecessarily
burdensome?
The Petitioner stated the
number of Culvers in the nation and how this site plan exceeds the minimum
required by Culvers for parking. If this
variance is not granted, they could still use the property.
(2) The variance
will do substantial justice to the applicant as well as to other property
owners.
The Petitioner has noted it
would be required to construct parking that would not be used without the
variance. With the variance, Meijer
could maintain their parking and traffic pattern. The City concludes that the ordinance is
excessive, especially for drive-through restaurants and has proposed new zoning
language. A variance would do
substantial justice.
(3) The variance
requested is the minimum variance to provide substantial relief to the
applicant and/or be consistent with justice to other property owners.
The applicant noted that it is the minimum variance. This is a typical Culvers size for our area
and the lot has been used to maximize the amount of parking.
(4) The need for
the variance is due to the unique characteristics of the property not generally
applicable in the area or to other properties in the same zoning district.
The petitioner noted that the variance will allow them to
construct the Culvers in their out lot and Meijer could maintain their traffic
pattern. There is nothing unique about
the property itself. Staff states that
the zoning requirement is excessive and they are changing the regulation.
(5) The problem
and resulting need for the variance has been created by strict compliance with
the Zoning Ordinance and not the applicant.
The petitioner stated there are 464 Culvers in the nation. Strict
compliance with the ordinance would exceed the requirements of Culvers. It is self created, however.
Pete Spohn spoke, representing Culvers. He is the owner of the restaurant and he also
owns a store in Mt. Pleasant and Lansing.
His address is 1021 E. Pickard Street, Mt. Pleasant. A representative from Kebs, the engineer, in Haslett,
MI also spoke. They are here tonight
because they could like to open by May of next year. Criteria A is the
only one they think they do not meet.
During discussion the following information was stated by the
petitioner:
·
There are 34 tables in the restaurant with carry out.
·
They have three registers.
·
There will seldom be over 13 employees.
·
The Mt. Pleasant store has 120 seats and Culvers changed the footprint to
95 seats. It takes about 16 weeks to
build from ground breaking. They would like to break ground in January.
·
The 96 seats include patio seats.
They found from the other restaurants that the patios are hardly ever
used.
No one else spoke either in favor of or in opposition to this
request.
Findings of
Fact:
1. It is an out lot of Meijer.
2. It is zoned Regional Commercial.
3. There are 34 tables inside
and three tables on the patio.
4. They will have a carry out
business.
5. Petitioner indicated there would
be 12 to 14 employees.
6. Property is located at 7300 Eastman
Avenue.
7. There is currently a text
amendment to change the parking requirements to less than what is being
requested.
8. No comments written or
verbal were received.
9. The parking relative to
seating works out to 2.4 seats per parking space.
10. The history shows that 40%
of the traffic is drive-through.
11. Peak load is approximately
60 to 70% as stated by the petitioner.
It was moved by Higgins and
supported by Siemer to approve Petition No. 12-09 based on the findings of fact
for an area/dimension variance at 7300 Eastman Avenue for a variance to reduce
the number of required parking spaces for a drive-through restaurant from 89
spaces to 53 spaces.
Mr. Higgins thinks that it
would be unnecessarily burdensome to put in the required parking spaces. The criteria needs
to be rethought by the city.
Mr. Green agrees with Mr. Higgins. He has no major problem with the other
criteria.
Mr. Lichtenwald agrees with
what has been said so far.
Mr. Siemer also agrees with
what has been said so far.
Mr. Steele agrees and thinks
it would be burdensome. It appears to be
the minimum necessary. The problem has
been created by strict compliance.
Vote on the motion:
Green: Yes
Higgins: Yes
Lichtenwald: Yes
Siemer: Yes
Steele: Yes
The motion to approve Petition 12-09 was approved by a vote
of 5-0.
4. PUBLIC COMMENTS (not related to items on the
agenda)
None
5. OLD BUSINESS
Mr. Steele thanked Cheri
King for her note taking for the Zoning Board of Appeals and wished her well in
her retirement.
6. NEW BUSINESS
Ms. Winland stated that they board received an updated
Article 8, Signs, for the Zoning Ordinance, specific sign regulations to the
Downtown Northside Overlay District. It
is based on façade and tenants versus size of the lot, as is typical.
7. DECISION SHEET SIGNATURES
a. 12-01 Review Findings of Fact
b. 12-08 Recorded
8. ADJOURNMENT
Hearing no further business, the Chairman
adjourned the meeting at 7:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Cynthia E. Winland, AICP
Consulting Planner