Board of AdjustmentAug. 10, 2020

C-1 C15-2020-0036 ADV PACKET — original pdf

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BOA GENERAL REVIEW COVERSHEET CASE: C15-2020-0036 BOA DATE: August 10th, 2020 ADDRESS: 3005 Westlake Dr OWNER: Travis Machen COUNCIL DISTRICT: 10 AGENT: David Cancialosi ZONING: LA LEGAL DESCRIPTION: TRT B RESUB LOT 66-68 & E PT OF LOT 66-67 LAKE SHORE ADDN VARIANCE REQUEST: reduce shoreline setback from 75 ft. to 25 ft. SUMMARY: to construct a single-family residence ISSUES: main body, cove and canal which all requires 75 ft. shoreline setbacks ZONING LAND USES Site LA North LA South LA LA East West LA Single-Family Residential Single-Family Residential Single-Family Residential Single-Family Residential Single-Family Residential NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS: Austin Lost and Found Pets Austin Neighborhoods Council Bike Austin City of Rollingwood Friends of Austin Neighborhoods Neighborhood Empowerment Foundation Preservation Austin SELTexas Save Our Springs Alliance Sierra Club, Austin Regional Group TNR BCP – Travis County Natural Resources The Island on Westlake Owners Association C-1/1 C-1/2 DocuSign Envelope ID: E523B40B-A3E3-4EBE-A412-1874CAA94E2D Board of Adjustment General/Parking Variance Application DevelopmentATX.com | Phone: 311 (or 512-974-2000 outside Austin) For submittal and fee information, see austintexas.gov/digitaldevelopment WARNING: Filing of this appeal stops all affected construction activity. This application is a fillable PDF that can be completed electronically. To ensure your information is saved, click here to Save the form to your computer, then open your copy and continue. The Tab key may be used to navigate to each field; Shift + Tab moves to the previous field. The Enter key activates links, emails, and buttons. Use the Up & Down Arrow keys to scroll through drop-down lists and check boxes, and hit Enter to make a selection. The application must be complete and accurate prior to submittal. If more space is required, please complete Section 6 as needed. All information is required (if applicable). For Office Use Only Case # ROW # Tax # Section 1: Applicant Statement Street Address: 3005 Westlake Drive Subdivision Legal Description: lots 66, 67, 68 Lakeshore Addition Amended Lots Lot(s): Outlot: Zoning District: LA Block(s): Division: I/We David Cancialosi authorized agent for Travis Machen on behalf of myself/ourselves as affirm that on Month July , Day 10 , Year 2020 , hereby apply for a hearing before the Board of Adjustment for consideration to (select appropriate option below): Erect Attach Complete Remodel Maintain Other: Setback reduction Type of Structure: Single Family City of Austin | Board of Adjustment General/Parking Variance Application 6/26/20 | Page 4 of 8 C-1/3 DocuSign Envelope ID: E523B40B-A3E3-4EBE-A412-1874CAA94E2D Portion of the City of Austin Land Development Code applicant is seeking a variance from: 25-2-551 LA Shoreline reduction from 75' to 25' Section 2: Variance Findings The Board must determine the existence of, sufficiency of, and weight of evidence supporting the findings described below. Therefore, you must complete each of the applicable Findings Statements as part of your application. Failure to do so may result in your application being rejected as incomplete. Please attach any additional supporting documents. NOTE: The Board cannot grant a variance that would provide the applicant with a special privilege not enjoyed by others similarly situated or potentially similarly situated. I contend that my entitlement to the requested variance is based on the following findings: Reasonable Use The zoning regulations applicable to the property do not allow for a reasonable use because: The original lots 66,67, and 68 were platted in 1915, the replatted in 1965, then amended plat was approved in 2019 to clean up a awkwardly approved plat from 1966. The shoreline setback is measured 75' from all points along the water making this uniquely shaped lot unreasonably limited in its intended purpose when zoned from A zoning (current day SF-2) to LA in 1984. This application is requesting reinstatement of an expired variance approved Jan 2019 by unanimous vote. Hardship a) The hardship for which the variance is requested is unique to the property in that: The site has a main body, cove and canal water features which all require 75' setbacks. When the cove and canal were created they did not create shoreline setback. The city did not interpret the regulation that way at that time. Over time that has changed. Now, a significant portion of the useable property is lost to net site area (deduction of the 75' shoreline). That's not the way this property was intended to be used, The BOA agreed with this assertion, and others in my original b) The hardship is not general to the area in which the property is located because: Main made inlets are rare. City of Austin | Board of Adjustment General/Parking Variance Application 6/26/20 | Page 5 of 8 C-1/4 DocuSign Envelope ID: E523B40B-A3E3-4EBE-A412-1874CAA94E2D Area Character The variance will not alter the character of the area adjacent to the property, will not impair the use of adjacent conforming property, and will not impair the purpose of the regulations of the zoning district in which the property is located because: Any construction will be in keeping with a property of this magnitude. There will be no adverse impacts on adjacent property. The homeowner was able to complete significant shoreline improvements along the main body before the impacts of Covid-19 prohibited from moving forward with the remainder of construction. Parking (additional criteria for parking variances only) Request for a parking variance requires the Board to make additional findings. The Board may grant a variance to a regulation prescribed in the City of Austin Land Development Code Chapter 25-6, Appendix A with respect to the number of off-street parking spaces or loading facilities required if it makes findings of fact that the following additional circumstances also apply: 1. Neither present nor anticipated future traffic volumes generated by the use of the site or the uses of sites in the vicinity reasonably require strict or literal interpretation and enforcement of the specific regulation because: 2. The granting of this variance will not result in the parking or loading of vehicles on public streets in such a manner as to interfere with the free flow of traffic of the streets because: 3. The granting of this variance will not create a safety hazard or any other condition inconsistent with the objectives of this Ordinance because: 4. The variance will run with the use or uses to which it pertains and shall not run with the site because: City of Austin | Board of Adjustment General/Parking Variance Application 6/26/20 | Page 6 of 8 C-1/5 DocuSign Envelope ID: E523B40B-A3E3-4EBE-A412-1874CAA94E2D Section 3: Applicant Certificate I affirm that my statements contained in the complete application are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. Applicant Signature: Date: July 15, 2020 Applicant Name (typed or printed): David Cancialosi c/o Permit Partners LLC Applicant Mailing Address: 105 W Riverside Dr #225 City: Austin Phone (will be public information): 512-593-5361 Email (optional – will be public information): State: tx Section 4: Owner Certificate Zip: 78704 I affirm that my statements contained in the complete application are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. Date: July 15 , 2020 City: Austin State: Texas Zip: 78746 Owner Signature: Owner Name (typed or printed): Travis Machen Owner Mailing Address: 3005 Westlake Dr Phone (will be public information): 979 574 3113 Email (optional – will be public information): Section 5: Agent Information Agent Name: David Cancialosi c/o Permit Partners LLC Agent Mailing Address: 105 W Riverside Dr #225 City: Austin Phone (will be public information): 512-593-5361 State: TX Zip: 78746 Email (optional – will be public information): Section 6: Additional Space (if applicable) Please use the space below to provide additional information as needed. To ensure the information is referenced to the proper item, include the Section and Field names as well (continued on next page). Please see attached updated cover letter plus case information from 2019 hearing including application packet w/ exhibits and BOA decision sheet. Thank you. City of Austin | Board of Adjustment General/Parking Variance Application 6/26/20 | Page 7 of 8 C-1/6 PERMIT PARTNERS, LLC 105 W. Riverside Dr., Suite 225 Austin, Texas 78704 Office: 512.593.5361 July 15, 2020 City of Austin Board of Adjustment 301 W, 2nd Street Austin, Texas 78704 RE: 3005 Westlake Drive – Variance Reinstatement Dear Commissioners, On behalf of my client I am requesting a reinstatement of the Board’s 2019 approval of case C15-2019-003. The Board approved in January 2019 a reduction of the shoreline setback from 75’ to 25’ along certain parts of the shoreline, the canal, and the interior cove located along the main body of Lake Austin. As part of the unanimous approval the Board placed a condition to not obstruct passage to the cove via the interior canal. After the Board’s unanimous approval, we initiated an amended plat process to clean up some property line and deed description issues which had existed for decades, yet needed to be cleaned up nonetheless. The property is still in the same configuration as when approved by the Board in 2019 and the address remains the same. The amended plat process was not completed until October 2019. During this time, all design work was put on hold barring approval of the amended plat. The 2019 exhibits reflected accurate intention of the proposed residence. The homeowner continued to jumpstart the permit process by interviewing architects and contractors for the remainder of 2019 and early 2020. This can be a time consuming process given the site constraints of this particular property, but also the stature of the site on Lake Austin along Westlake Dr. Unfortunately, the variance expired in January 2020. My client attempted to continue the design process and, eventually, Covid-19 stalled his ability to finance the design work. Nor could he locate an architect or GC for appropriate for a property of this scale. My client did not want to submit “off-the shelf permit drawings” for the sake of keeping the variance alive. He wanted to be honest with the city and only submit plans for which his family intends to utilize as their forever home. Unfortunately, the expiration date came in January and soon after Covid-19 was in full effect. Suffice to say the homeowner has suffered unique consequences to his life which are beyond his control as a result of the global pandemic. The site is very unique with main body lake frontage, a canal, and a cove in the back yard. (Please see exhibits attached from the original 2019 application). This request is to extend the one-year expiration date from the existing expiration of January 2020 to be effective August 2021, which is one-year from the date of this application requesting reinstatement. 1 C-1/7 PERMIT PARTNERS, LLC 105 W. Riverside Dr., Suite 225 Austin, Texas 78704 Office: 512.593.5361 i I respectfully submit that approving this request would be appropriate given the unanimous approval issued barely over one year ago. Notwithstanding, many of the same Commissioners who voted to approve the 2019 request currently sit on the Board. Nothing has changed with respect to the substance of the variance’s reasonable use, hardships, and area of character. The attached application packet is the same packet from C15-2019-0003. This is what was approved in 2019 – specifically “option #2” exhibit; this is the exact request my client is asking me to seek from you. The only difference is the expiration date of the newly approved variance would be August 2021. I would not be requesting this “reinstatement” of the same variance if it were not for the amount of time the amended plat took to complete, the extensive resources and time required to finish a very complex design process (and submit for permit within (under) 90 days from plat approval), and, most importantly, ultimately the project has been simply stalled due to the unforeseen impacts of Covid-19. Should the Board approved this request the owner is prepared to move forward and honor the one year limitation prescribed LDC 25-1-217. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this request. Respectfully, David C. Cancialosi, Agent for Owner 2 C-1/8 C-1/9 C-1/10 C-1/11 C-1/12 C-1/13 C-1/14 C-1/15