this is the time and place for the meeting of the board of appeals of the city of holland we are here to respond applications for construction zoning variances and or special exceptions housing in dangerous structures this board must try to interpret city ordinances this board is not empowered to rezone or to take any action that would could be considered rezoning variances must meet for crucial test in order to be granted those of you who are here for a variance have already answered questions about the tests on your application will be asking you about those answers again tonight this is the procedure we follow we ask that you come to the microphone to speak and state your name and address we will hear the f first and anyone supporting the application then anyone and opposition to it typically will hold the public hearing an application and deliberate decide on their application before moving on to the next application you are welcome to stay for the doubler deliberations but there is no opportunity for further public comment if you  to stay for a deliberation and 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 and dangerous structures but that we please read the martha martina's elias is requesting a variance or special exception in connection with the construction of a fence two eighty six calvin avenue the fence as proposed will be six feet high were a maximum of three feet high is allowed in this location the board is authorized to allow a six foot fence if certain conditions are found to exist is that here would you like to speak ok could you please come to the microphone   two or three times everybody course in robert my house and the backyard my kids play or my my different or my kids my niece my nephews all my family play in the backyard and the it looks like you've got the fence going almost all the way up to the sidewalk decide correct yes would you be would it would it still be effective for you if you had if the fence on that over there in the tweet all the time you used to walking like this so that so so the tree you're saying that the tree is it is one of the places where your kids are playing a lot and that if you go straight if you go straight along the front well i'm not i'm not asking about the height of the fence i'm asking about the location of the fence yeah go all the way you want you would prefer that it went around the tree was included in that because all are not close like on the  is if i could just give you a point of reference the sidewalk there is six feet wide so you can kind of use that as a measure of scale on your on this overhead drawing and just for clarification that it needs to be five feet back from the sidewalk regardless for a special exception and needs to be five feet back right so this fence is going to move regardless based on the ordinance right anybody have any other questions for the applicant you feel like they would be any you safety issues by running around so five foot from the sidewalk as far as pulling out of your driveway i know there's a school right here  do you feel like that's going to be safe enough is that going to block your view pulling out of your driveway or you know block my view of the take out of like the safe five feet that my driveway to the one side i allow to cut of that one pedal i don't want to cut it all all the one that my driveway the driveway to and then to my house i don't know how many  but have any other questions for the african at this time if you have nothing else to say to the board we don't have any thing else at this moment so thank you very much ok thank you and thank you is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on behalf of the applicant and if not is there anyone that would like to speak in opposition of this application i don't see anyone that would like to speak in support or opposition and so i'm going to close the public hearing and open this part of the hearing open for discussion with amongst the board in listening to the applicant it sounds like moving that fence back to the five foot mark would include that tree in that play area for the kids doesn't bring it all the way back to the front of the front of the property line sounded to me like there were two issues one was the security issue in terms of people you know trying to burglarize the house and the other was a an issue of security for the kids playing  i was initially thinking like to see that fence go back to the front line equal the front line of the house because of a visibility issue but when i look at this picture again and see the reason why i would like to have that tree included in there and thing myself i'm not sure that the fence is going to cause any more of a visibility problem than the tree would already and that if it's going to have it at the five foot line that that includes that tree that that includes the tree provides the safety for the kids doesn't give us a problem with the visibility issue that's there and also i think there's nothing preventing us from having to take it all the way up to the tree i can understand want to go a little bit beyond but just want to throw that extra out there that it's long those the tree is not closer than five feet from the not from the line and i have any other comments on this particular  certainly determine the this is a corner a residential lot also determine that the applicant's rear yard adjoins the rear yard of another property the proposed fence set back when other quotes will be obviously that it is no less than five feet from the property line along the street right of way line we have determined that there is adequate sight distance so as to maintain pedestrian and treat street traffic safety net effect fences not likely to to change that one way or the other base on the fact that there are the trees there already and that there be no substantial detriment to the neighboring properties as a result of the fence and i don't think we need to put any conditions on that at all as long as he keeps that fence from five feet from the property line is six feet wide and tells me that the trees more than six feet from the from the sidewalk i think we're ok there thank you mr fox i would like to call for a vote based on those i'd like to point out that i will not be calling member souter he is just the alternate so i will you believe ministries is requesting a variance in connection with the construction of an attached garage at fourteen maple avenue the garage as proposed will be three five three inches from the side property line where five feet is required and seven feet from the  property line were twenty five feet is required mr chairman i would request to be recused from this application in regard to the fact that i have a conflict of interest yes mr box you may be recused from this and we need to do we need a vote on the portent people have a new application should i speak please just to take the explanations and sort of wrap it into a comment or two as you might know i don't know if you are  you ministries mission is to help and maintain to revitalize the core city and our mission at this point is focusing on buying up distressed properties ones that other people are not interested in or unable to work with and bringing up to the standard to help maintain that by talent in the diversity in the community by mixing types of people and income brackets this particular house is unique in that it's substantial it's relatively large and as you can tell it's on a tiny lot it has some beautiful old woodwork in it it's three bedrooms two at bats and as we've studied this with real estate agents in the market bases and even people in historic district there is a very strong movement toward the marketing potential for these homes when they have garages and in this case attached garage the other interesting aspect to this is as a detached system there is so little space back there that if you were to detach it you would leave so little space on either side that the spaces would be useless and even difficult to maintain so before you was the application and i'm happy to answer any questions but i think that kind of wraps up these the explanations the forefather on here thank you very much sure does anyone from the board have any questions for th have you considered having a detached grouch we have looked at that what it does is sort of barely fits and would have you know three or four foot gap between it in the house which is hardly able to make any use of much less get out a door and down the steps the house is about three to four feet off the grade we're trying to make these transitions it seems like a just a it's just the wrong solution it doesn't make sense so i'm looking at the drawing that was presented to us and the side yard as i read it something street and then the other interior the lot is based on these drawings three put three in from what i understand the side requirement setback requirements two feet and then of course of the straw in the back yard would be seven foot and distance and that would be five feet those are the setback requirements so one of the things the board would need to consider is you know whether or not you could put detached garage in here because based on the drawings that you provided for us it seems like the setback requirements fits far as i understand it it technically does fit ok i think there be some fire rated walls and involved because of its proximity to the fire to the and the adjacent property line and it leaves no yard whatsoever i mean this this doesn't have much our but at least there be a place to put something when we when you start to do the math there's you know five feet on one side and three or four feet on the other it's just useless property and as it stands now it is a parking leaf i mean this is not a yard per se as it is people are going to be parking there where the other they want off from the board having questions from the you there anyone else in the audience that has any would like to speak in support of the application and if not anyone the audience that would like to speak in opposition to the application because there is no one  speak in support opposition application i'm going to consider the public hearing closed and open up to discussion amongst born any comments thoughts mr hundred i just i don't see that it is a unique circumstance i think that there are a lot of properties within the city limits that it had the same type of issue so i think we we would be setting a precedent and i think that it should go back if it is an issue with multiple properties within the city i think it should go back to the planning commission and you know the comments amongst the board it before i put the vote idea i do want to say that this particular issue has been evaluated adopted by both the planning commission and the city council and it's the board's job to review and apply those standards i'm going to prove or deny them based  not necessarily whether or not we think it applies to this particular situation so long as we're complying with what the commission and the council of set forth so with that said is there anyone on the board that like to put forth a motion necessary to do justice to the applicant is there any finding on that item right i believe that there are other options that the applicant could of put a detached garage in that space so it is  not the minimum relief necessary specifically that option is still available to them fred thank you and they could still reasonably enjoy their property ok thank you  i would like to call for a vote on this issue to use a bedroom up a ceiling height up to be happy and less than what is required for a rental home i think it's two inches less just just for the record i'll put it back to where it was supposed you know that it was supposed to be and we would just like to use this as a bedroom to make it a three bedroom house and set up a two bed thank you very much does anyone on the board have any questions for the applican windows and everything that was to approve it and bring it up to code except for we just didn't feel like we should have to raise the ceiling when the next room to it is cut the same height ceiling and it was approved in this house of the old house ceiling height and the other room is six nine and that's how it was approved his administrative variance if i'm wrong about that and it was six eight it's possible but in the one nine hundred ninety s it was approved detectors yes they're yes every room in the house has a smoke detector they were all put in there but they're and they're hard wired and they're all interconnected so if one goes they all go right ok yes they are and like i say we  tried said also that there was no heat duck in there which there wasn't it was covered up with sheet rock whoever somebody put over the whole room and we found it we got it back out and she knows now that was the heat in there that she put it in there give lighting in there there's a plug in which works with a light switch which she wrote on here that that was ok to now ok so the only lighting up there is a plug in lamp that yeah  turning the questions from the board thank you very much i don't see anyone else in the audience but nevertheless if there is someone here to speak in the support of the application now would be the time and if someone like to speak in opposition to the application now would be the time at this point to close the public hearing and open it up for deliberation and request for motion is there any comments amongst the board other than i find that the room right next door is within a half inch and it met the administrative variance  if there is no further comes from the board like call for a vote for a motion and something like to make a  difficulty with carrying out the strict letter of the code is that the stairs can't be used i think that by adding the press window smoke detectors and making sure there are no light fixtures and you from the ceiling there is less and effort to the occupants health safety and welfare has been met  that includes the use a recessed lighting well it does in the past we did require a recessed flush to the ceiling lights as opposed to a light switch the lights the swiss controlled outlet is allowed and of ceiling light fixtures however maybe your condition would be if there are ceiling light fixtures ever installed they would be recessed ok well that that's up to sure got it ok thank you very much i would like to call for a vote please fax yes opposition in a couple of their votes but those weren't listed and if i might request we have that going forward as well if there's a split before january or february i know for the february