tis the time of the place for the meeting of the board of appeals for the city of holland we are here to respond to applications for construction and housing appeals zoning variances or special exceptions in dangerous structures this board must try to interpret each application  to city ordinance this board is not empowered to rezone or take any action that could be considered rezoning variances variances must meet for crucial test in order to be granted those of you who are here for variance requests tonight have answered those questions on your application we will be talking about those answers again tonight this is the procedure we will follow we will ask you to come to the microphone to speak and state your name and address we will first hear from the applicant then anyone supporting the application then anyone opposing it typically we hold a public hearing on an application and then deliberate and decide on the application before moving on to the next application you are welcome to stay for the deliberations but there is no further opportunity for public comment if you elect not to stay for the deliberations in decision you can call the city clerk's office after eight thirty tomorrow morning to learn the results we will hear applications in the following order construction zoning housing dangerous structures with that said will you please read the first  thousand square feet of the fire area or the fire area has an accurate load of one hundred people or more where you live forty one eighty two that the second street obviously already know we're here today requesting a variance allowing us to permanently shut down or fire suppression sprinkler system and the reason we're doing this is because it's affected by mc and mc is short for micro biologically influence corrosion and basically what that does it eats through the pipes a sprinkler systems and causes them to leak some of the causes for mc that kind of depends on the company you talk to and what treatment they're selling but some of the causes are water oxygen or other factors the most commonly accepted cause is the water brigade fire protection installed our system they're a very reputable company they have numerous systems in the city of holland to the best of my knowledge none of these other systems have any problems so we don't know why we have a problem when they don't pretty sure we have the same whatever that they do we've had twenty four leaks in the past four years and when a leak occurs it sprays this orange rusty stinky slimy sludge out and that part of the system has an a freeze on it because it's don't want to freeze up there obviously then a freeze leaked out of the pipe into the insulation and then the pipes were replaced with water no problem so far because when our head more it dropped down to our drop ceiling in the dining room at this point we had no idea this is going on we didn't know anything anything you know anything was happening and tell us started dripping onto the tables in our dining room where the customers were eating dinner you're supposed to have a packet of papers seven papers do you have that we do not have that but i have seen it you have seen ok is there a way to display these pages or not at this moment but they were receipts they were receipts and pictures i do not have those available at this time and there's no way to display them not at this time perhaps if you think it's very important for us to see them they we could table the public hearing and we could maybe retrieve them but they will be i have a card act here i don't know if you want to the first page there has four photographs on it those are pictures of just one incident i just wanted you to get a visual of what happens when the stuff comes out the picture and what looks like the upper left hand corner is kind of poor quality but it shows the bottom of the door and you can clearly see the clumps of sludge and stuff building up on the door just from being sprayed out of our system page number two is a bill from randy skirted care this was a promo another incident where they came in and cleaned for us if you could just glance at the highlighted areas where it says pull back carpet not remove rustan's permanent clean cement floor did not remove stains and if you could look at page three at one point i was having kind of a hard time buying the fact that the water that's safe for us to drink could have stuff in it that could eat through pipes so we had another company come in to look over our system to make sure there wasn't something defective in our system and that you know it was actually this mic and so if you just look at the highlighted area it was their opinion that it probably was mc so at this point we took water samples out of the system and had them sent off for testing and the results did come back positive that we did have i do have the results here it's rather blankly i don't know if you want to see them or not it's up to you because the board only has four members tonight it would take unanimous vote to grant a variance ok because of that you know we would offer you the option to table your application if you like but that would be your yes come back to this board and he can appeal to the can stay construction part of appeals ok so how many people are normally here tonight seventy six members and then what is it required to pass for four for in this case since there's no timetable that to make another appeal it would probably be appropriate to not table the application so he can make another application for next month if he feels like he wasn't fairly handled it's not the same with his own in the zoning does have to wait six months but not with the construction so you're kind of saying just go ahead with ns and i would say yes ok thank you ok four is a bill for the treatment of our system this was done by brigade fire protection they came down drained the entire system and then built put i believe it was three hundred pounds of air pressure on the entire system for numerous hours the idea behind this would be was that it would blow any weak pipes which it did and then those pipes were replaced so now we have a good stable system again with all solid piping and then they had died and quite understand this reworked the riser so they were able to put in this liquid mic treatment throughout the system and this is going to take care of our system so we're good to go if you would notice the date in the upper left hand corner and then go to  page five and look at the date you will see approximately one month later we have another leak if you will go to page six you will see one week later we had another l you go to page seven you will see that that leak also took out our commercial water heater which was took us twenty four hours to get a fix in our kitchen we have a high temp dishwasher that has a standalone water heater had we not had that we would have been out of commission for twenty four hours i have talked with two other fire suppression companies one of them being professor go fire protection right here and how they came down and looked at our system also and  basically if we have to continue with the system we are going to replace it one of two ways either pipe by pipe as leaks occur and then replace or repair the damaged parts of the building or put in a brand new system with no guarantee that in three months we might start springing leaks again with the state current state of our system if we did have a fire a very probable scenario would happen is the sprinkler head would start spraying out this stuff the water pressure coming through the system would dislodge the gunk in the conchs in the system plug the sprinkler head and then the system would malfunction we have spent thousands of dollars on repairs to our building and the sprinkler system and we just can't afford to go on like this at the rate the leaks are carrying our security system our security company is e p a s they have consulted with van tiley the building inspector did i pronounce it right and the fire code of the city of holland and they can put a system in that would bring our building up to code as if it did not have a sprinkler system part of this system isn't place already and we would spend another six thousand three hundred dollars to have it completed now up briefly explain that but i want you to understand this would not affect the fire suppression system for the kitchen of the restaurant that is a separate system and we haven't had any problems with that what the system would consist of is that all doors would be monitored for a break in and there's motion detectors in case someone would get in some other way other than a door that's in place already we did that in case of arson that's what took us all five years ago and we don't want that to happen again we actually have had a break in since we've been in this new building and it worked great the police were there in a matter of minutes and whoever broken i guess figured out what was going on here the alarm they hit the road they were gone by the time and police were there there is a restaurant and an apartment in the same building they live in the apartment currently the restaurant has horns and strobes and pull stations and the apartment does not and this would put the horn strobes and pull stations throughout the building and then also have to have a drink smoke detectors and heat sensors would be installed throughout the building so in the event there was a fire and no one was in the building e p a s would be alerted and within fifteen seconds the fire department would be on the way so that is the system we would like to put in place in lieu of the sprinkler system do you have any questions no i think we're also right thank you is there anyone else to speak in support of the application application and it was his opinion that the the alternative system would be would be sufficient in the intent and the code so i'll find that the have a kid and the proposed automatic sprinklings earth automatic fire detection system to be installed in the restaurant and the apartment so meets the end of of the code as presented thank you is that what we need yes or thank good evening charles parsons one eighty six these three second street holland mr parsons just the same thing as i told the last person because there is only four members here tonight it would take unanimous vote to grant a variance it would be your choice if you want to proceed or if you want to request this application be table i'll go ahead with it ok for you if you want to describe the application yet let me ask you this question first did everyone on the panel get the letter we summited along with the photographs because that pretty much summed that sums it up pretty much in a nutshell did you get the photographs yeah yeah ok that's variance so should the applicant be denied he has to wait six months to reapply or show that neighborhood circumstances have substantially changed so you've got a piece of property there on i'm thirty second street right when we look at granting a variance there's a number of tests this need to be met in order to grant a variance and so the first question is we need to find something unique about the physical property and so shape topography you know something that deals with the property itself that drives the need for a fence taller than what the ordinance would otherwise allow so right you know the blunt question is what's special about your property the traffic in the noise has increased dramatically since we bought the house in two thousand and having it and my wife made a comment this was on july twentieth we clean three o'clock in the afternoon in three ten we had thirty seven cars and ambulance motorcycles thirty seven vehicles in ten minutes on a quiet sunday afternoon that was an example i tried to get a study from the police department they had they had the column from two thousand and twelve but didn't have a recent one that i could comparable with the but we've noticed that the traffic spending increased quite a bit and mostly it's just noise  what what does a five foot fence buy you a three foot fence doesn't it just the whole the noise back i did it so that from our front porch where we spend a lot of time in the summer first of all there's thing if this was an enemy just say those and this was an ordinary piece of property like everybody else was on thirty second street i would think of putting a fence up but because it's behind five feet behind a wall of trees that you can see winter or summer right i'm that's why i'm asking for the variance right now we understand that there are challenges when we grant a variance like this it go regardless of whether the trees are there and so you know the city's got a look at ok we give you permission today to build the fence and you know circumstances change either you sell the property or you change your mind you don't like the trees anymore you cut down all the trees you still got the right to have a five foot fence right there in your front yard and so that's that's what part of what this board needs to consider as well ok so that's why we always we need to look for something unique about the property we need to understand why you know strictly complying with the regulations is too burdensome is there a way that you could make a three foot fence work or does it have to be a fence could it be you know denser section of trees or something and to get rid of the noise or buffer the noise you know the those those might be permitted in the front yard and wouldn't require a to allow a five foot fence forever and so how about artificial material like the big this dark green fence yeah so that might be a possibility  with us grant you the ability to put a fence across your front yard adversely impact the rest of the n by having a five foot high fence we are not affecting or impacting anyone else on the property nor their property values there is no impact on anyone but us no traffic is affected nor any neighbors we are not attempting to set a president but only to reduce the noise volume while enjoying our home and grounds the fence also does not extend all the way across to the property lines  is there anyone here speaking opposition to the variance doesn't have a permit it's only five feet from the sidewalk i can't get out my driveway because i can't see where there's the kids come from the escape building i work but ran over one the other naked he's got it's thirty two feet long and when he gets by my driveway put another piece of the sits up seven feet and this fence a sixty five inches high his house is sixty feet off the road mindset about twenty feet off the road i don't have nobody else on thirty second street has a privacy fence and if you long to do this i guess i'm a poor pipe privacy fence right up to the sidewalk because that i thought it couldn't be past the front to begin with and he's in it like a service thirty two feet sixty five inches high sixty inches from the sidewalk and the jungle he's got in front of it is more weeds than anything he won't trim the trees that's why the this is what the problem is i called it last year to have the trees tour because i couldn't see get out the driveway i first moved into this house approximately four years may have been five years ago i had my property survey to put my fence up so my grandkids could get out this gentleman pulled my stakes and moved thirty minutes after the surveyor left well that isn't bad so i would drop the posts in the ground go by as house don't see what hold get if i can't back my car in i got to put my car almost out in the road before i can see any on coming traffic either direction so i have to hope that i come back in and i have pictures you have somewhere i understand i don't know why no noise level fourteen years later that is not that much higher the cities had the same housing for fourteen years that right there is showing the distance from the sidewalk sixty inches i didn't get it my wife took the pictures while i was home and tape measure that when i didn't get because i couldn't get the sunlight off but that shows the trees brush along the sidewalk that shows how it hangs over to people can't walk down that sidewalk that's why i complained last year and the city did come out and cut it after the gentleman had a problem with so you know if he's good for going to have that in front of the house and it needs to be at least flush with the sidewalk so that people can walk down a road that's a picture of the fence that sixty five inches high that he says is five foot at sixty five that's looking at it from my driveway that's what i've got to try to get out i got to try to get out of my driveway that's at the sidewalk same thing again sidewalk i'm set in my car i have to look at that because i can't get out far enough to see the wrote i have to get out almost in the road before i can see anything kids come around on that sidewalk around those bushes you don't see them until you're almost on a my way like i said stated earlier my wife almost ran over one the other day coming from the escape building and i it senseless surge you believe that the defense is that the fence or the vegetation that is the obstruction of both obstruct me but he put the fence up this year here he tried to sneak it in one piece at a time over a three month period but you can't see through that you can see through that somewhat that brush but if the brush was gunge he still couldn't see through the fence why does he have to have it five feet from the sidewalk put it back five feet from your porch if that's the case you know because that house is sixty feet off the road there's no reason that fence has to be there  is there anyone else to speak in opposition all right well i'll make a motion that we deny this application i'll support as far as findings of facts i'm going to find  that with regard to the first point the unique circumstances that there are not unique circumstances with this law that different from other lots along thirty second street that it appears  quite sizable lot and the house is actually set back quite a bit further than than other lots in in the area i also don't believe that  strict compliance would be unnecessarily burdensome there are alternatives to putting a fence up there that would appear to solve the noise abatement issue and therefore this is not the the minimum amount required to do justice to the applicant it may also have adverse impact on the neighborhood if the vegetation were to be deny me all drink on behalf of honk or is requesting a variance or a special exception in connection with a construction fence at thirty six west eighteenth street the board is authorized to grant a special exemption for a six foot fence in the side yard from dave on a thirteenth street near a river sharing the alley he appreciates the work the home course done in the neighborhood if i understand correctly home corps asking for a variance to erect a six foot tall fence the sidewalk that parallels river avenue if the sticks on the property represent the placement of the fence that i have no objection there are two considerations he wishes the board to think about well considering this application first is traffic visibility and river cars approaching from river from the alley on eighteenth street is a difficult situation to begin with reducing the visibility would be a danger again if the sticks represent the placement of the fence i believe the fence would not obstruct visibility the second consideration is snow removal his concern is that there may be less room for snow to be plowed and when pushed off the sidewalk it may damage the fence he doesn't like to think about snow this time of year but careful consideration now will reduce headaches in january so those are the summary of the letter from mr ap darn but you may consider the application without an applicant present or you may table the application if you feel you have enough information you may go ahead and pass judgement on the application  or a fence that will that may project into the side yard on a side street and there is the setback from the sidewalk is a minimum of five feet that means five feet or more then a fence of six feet in height may be placed at that distance from the sidewalk as long as adequate sight distance and safety can be maintained and no substantial detriment to the neighboring properties would be created  but yeah we have a a light board here tonight too applicant backs there that well because that's basically the sidewalk right behind that car so maybe we table it yes they have to be here for the next port i think that would be good height of twelve feet is permitted proceed or if you would like to request the table so it would be tabled till next month correct which we could potentially still build this  is authorized to allow such connections when certain conditions are found to for which is seven twenty one east for your street i'm also the owner of seven for fifty nine for us street right next door last fall i had to hook up my building at seven fifty nine to sewer and there was one hook up that was available about three hundred feet away from my building which is in forty eighth street and there was already an existing sections stub line there and so i'm currently hooked into that the reason i was able to use that is because i was the owner of seven twenty one and paid my you know a frontage fees and everything with the the committee yet at the city then right now i'm trying to sell seven twenty one and prospective buyers of course are wondering where they're going to be able to hook up sewer and i want to be able i do not have currently a  a buyer commitment at all looking for the variance so that we can market property and the six inch line that is currently being used by seven fifty nine that's variance i'm looking for so that a user that may purchase seven twenty one is able to hook into that same line i met with dan sort in a meeting that we discussed options there because we didn't really want me to tear up for you street again since it was just  a new and that left me with only the option of tying into the existing six inch line which doesn't require any sidewalk removal or street impact  from the board of public works regarding this project to their understanding of what what would what would be if this if this were variance were granted is there anybody else to speak in favor of th application anybody in opposition of us application seen none will close the public hearing in open up for the liberation monger board ok no deliberation i'll make a motion i'll move we approve support  i noticed i should know let me amend that that motion if we could move we have proof with the conditions stated by a b p w vic that's probably what you were you were about to object that the the applicant has met all the required steps the the board of public works has provided us with their their input and that's everything we need right that's  that you when you will be required to hook up and that the findings will be recorded with the register  i assume that you understood all that yeah i just taken a quick glance at it it sounds like all of the stuff that we talked about in our meeting no surprises that i'm coming across yes yes yes hughes yes maybe yes davis yes motion passes with condition a josh franken on behalf of the name don't produce his request in the variance from the housing property maintenance code to remove a third floor metal fire escape on the north side and the north side of the building and replaced the third floor door bye bye bye