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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBoard of Adjustment Minutes 11.08.2001Members Present: Others Present: MINUTES BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT November 8, 2001 6:00 p.m. Council Chambers Andy Muri, Chairman Brace Teeters Marvin Carter Bob Western Johnny Goodman Larry McCarm, Public Works Director Smokey Staudinger Peggy Miller Cheryll Lund, Secretary Ken Olson (6:45) Loren VanRokel (6:45) FILE # 01-02 -KEN MILLER- HEIGHT VARIANCE FOR FLAGPOLE- 220 W. MAIN STREET: The City waived the fee for this application. Two advertisements were put in the Laurel Outlook, and all property owners within 300 feet were notified by mail. No protests were received. Chairman, Andy Muri, brought the meeting to order and made this statement: "I am not very much in favor of the way this application was given to the Board of Adjustments. It seems we've been put in the position not in the order of bnsiness the way it should be. We have almost been asked to robber stamp something that we've read in the Gazette that has already taken place. That is not the purpose of the Board of Adjustments." Peggy Miller spoke regardLng the flagpole. Basically they put up the flagpole on the Hageman Elevator in honor of Veteran's Day and to make this a community ceremony with the school children and an educational program. The responsibility of the flagpole lies with them. (Ken and Peggy Miller). They have insurance that will cover any structure breakdown. Andy Muri asked Peggy to go through the 5 items that the City has determined need to be addressed and placed into the city's record. I. Owaership of the flag: Peggy stated that she and Ken will own the flag. Maintenance cost responsibility of the flag and inherent flag responsibilities (for example, lighting if to remain up at night, replacement when the flag deteriorates, etc): Peggy stated that this will also be the responsibility of her and Ken. 3. Liability in case the pole comes down unexpectedly: Peggy states that they have insurance through the Elevator property that will cover this item. 4. Proposed timeframes for construction, street closure, etc.: (This was not addressed because the flagpole was placed on Tuesday, November 6, 2001 before the board approved the variance.) 5. Other items as may be determined by the Board of Adjustment: (nothing was stated) Peggy hopes that this flag ceremony will be an annual event for the town. If the elevator should be sold in the future there will be a contract signed by the new owners stating that they agree with all of the same stipulations on the flag and flagpole as determined by the City. If the flagpole needs to be taken down the Miller's will be responsible for the costs. Question by Johnny Goodman as to what type of flag will be flying? Peggy states that only the American flag will be flown. Question by Mary Carter as to whether, because of the height of the pole, it needs an aircraft beacon? Peggy states that it does not. She worked with the air traffic control on this item. A beacon would have to be in place if it was 200 feet tall. This flagpole is only 143 feet tall. The air traffic control was present when the pole was placed. Question by Marv Carter as to what the hurry was for the placement to be done before the Board of Adjustment's approved it? Pe.~gy states that they wanted to honor and have the ceremony on Veteran's Day which is November 11u'. That was also the second month anniversary of the terrorist attack. When they decided to pull the school kids into the ceremony the school couldn't pull the kids in on a Sunday. So, they decided to change it to Monday, November 12, 2001 to keep it as close to the September 11t~ date as possible. They felt that this would teach the school children what the flag is all about. This was in the makings to do, but it was very evident after Sept. 11th that they wanted to get this done, and they wanted it to coincide with Veteran's Day. Bruce Teeters asked if she had gotten approval to do this before the board met? Peggy stated that she made a proposal before the City Council with the engineering and facts on the flagpole. The Council gave her approval and agreed to expedite it because of the short time before November 11th. They did pre-approve it, and granted it on the basis of Larry McCarm and Cal Cumin reviewing it. Cai did the paperwork on it and filed papers necessary for the county. Marv Carter stated that Peggy did not answer the question. The question was why the flagpole was raised on the Tuesday before the board approved the application and not on the Friday or Saturday after the board met and approved the application? Peggy stated that the pilot of the helicopter could only do it on Tuesday, November 6th. It was postponed 2 times before that. Marv Carter asked what Peggy was going to do if the board didn't approve it tonight? Peggy stated that they would have to start over from square one. She felt that the City Council had the right to approve the flagpole, so she is at the meeting tonight because the City Council gave her approval. M. arv stated that according to the minutes of the October 16, 2001 council meeting approval was not g~ven. Peggy stated that the Council asked for an expeditious meeting for the Board of Adjustment, or a special meeting. She is not in charge of the meetings or when they are called. Bob Western stated that the Board of Adjustment goes by state law, as to how things have to be done before a meeting can be held. Two advertisements have to be made at least 15 days before the meeting, and all property owners within 300 feet have to be notified by mail in order for them to speak in favor or against the variance. Peggy stated she thought Cai was going to take care of the ad that needed to be placed, and that everything was in place so the flagpole could be put up. (Note: The soonest the ad could be placed in the Laurel Outlook after the October 16th council meeting was October 24t~. All ads to the paper have to be in by 2:00 pm the Monday before the ad comes out. The council meeting was on the Tuesday after the Monday deadline. The two ads did run the required 15 days before the Nov. 8th meeting.) Bruce Teeters asked Peggy if she was under the understanding that once she spoke to the council it was approved? Peggy states yes, that was her understanding. Bob Western wonders if ttds whole situation could set precedence, doing it after the fact, for future applications. If the board allows one to go through after the fact, how do we deny any other applicants after the fact? Johnny Goodman stated that if this board voted this down, look at what kind of a position it would put them in personally? They would look un-American. Larry McCann spoke regarding the steps that were taken by the Council and staff, and why. The council thought this was a good idea to do, but they understood that they were putting the cart before the home. The whole idea now is that a paperwork trail needs to be established. The city staff looked at the engineering of the pole. Cai worked personally on the variance to get it expedited. Peggy apologized for the confusion on this application. Mary Carter questioned Peggy as to why she waited until the October 16th meeting to start the ball rolling? Peggy was under the assumption that once the City Council approved it that it was done. She didn't realize she had to do anything additional. Marv stated that if this stemmed from the September 11th bombing, why wasn't it addressed until October 16u~? Peggy stated that after the September 11th bombing people came to her and Ken and wanted the flagpole and fiag to be raised. Marv is wondering why she didn't get the bail rolling sooner and take the pressure offof the board of adjustments? Peggy stated that not everything was ready to go until close to October 13th. She contacted Larry McCarm and he told her she needed to get to the council meeting. The next meeting was October 16th. She didn't even have time to be put on the agenda, she was put under "Miscellaneous". Mary stated that in reading the paper it was noted that this all stemmed from September 11th, so he wondem why an attempt wasn't made before October 16th. Peggy stated that it took awhile to get everything together and finalized. She was aiso out of town for a lot of the month, and it was an emotional time for her because of the September 11th bombing. Mary questioned the reason for naming the flagpole? Peggy stated that if you hang a flag that large and have it as a landmark, naming it something, with a reason a purpose for why we named it, gives it a history. She states that she didn't make the comment naming it the "twin towers of Laurel." The reporter apologized to her for printing that in the paper. She would like to see it named "freedom". She decided not to put an ad in the paper explaining any of the misunderstanding, because that never works. Bob Western wonders whether or not we should have a formal legal opinion on giving our approval or disapproval after the fact? Andy Muri states he doesn't feel we are in that position at this time. The council has not approved it, so we will be the first board to approve or disapprove it. Bob Western stated that the council can do whatever they want. But once we were appointed to this board we become the legal entity to approve the variance, not the council. th Peggy Miller stated that the City Attorney was present at the council meeting on October 16 . He lmew the flagpole was going to be put up. Bob Wester goes on to say that he doesn't doubt that this flagpole would be approved by the vast majority. He just feels that what's involved is the timeframe and the fact that procedure was not followed. But the council has no jurisdiction in this matter once the board of adjusunents application is tiled and given to the board for review. That is the law. Andy Muff asks Bob Western what is wrong with our timing from a legal standpoint? 4 Bob Western states that we are giving approval after the fact. In other words, they've done it. They've asked for it, they did it, and now we are asked to give the approval. Bruce Teeters said the board needs to look back at the zoning violations that were done in the past that we gave approval to after reviewing it. Bob Western remembers a couple of them that were done and then a variance was asked for. The Miller's have asked for a variance and then they didn't follow their timeframe and now we are asked to give the approval after the fact. The only thing is, Peggy thought she was doing it all correctly. Bruce Teeters feels the city council and city officials led Peggy astray and then the Board of Adjustments were used as pawns. He feels this isn't Peggy's fault, or even Peggy's problem. This is a problem that the board needs to address with the appropriate city people on how this whole situation came about. He feels Peggy did everything in line as she was advised. Bob Western agrees with Bruce. He just wants to know what the legal aspects of this are. The variance was requested, the terms were set down for that request and not followed, and now the board is giving the approval after the fact. Are we setting a precedence here by approving it? Andy Mud wonders whether or not we could put that in the motion. Bob Western thinks that this application should have to be tabled and walt for a legal opinion, then the board meet again. Larry McCarm spoke. He didn't meet with the City Attorney on this application. The discussion was done in front of the council. The direction Lan'y was given from the council on October 16th was "we are going to do this, we know we are wrong, but we feel strongly about it, and want it to happen within the Miller's timeframe". Larry went on to say that from the building departments standpoint everything has been looked at and approved. The only issue is this variance. Larry agrees that this is putting this board in a bad spot. Most times the type of variances that go before the Board of Adjustments is after an inspector has told a home or business owner that they cannot do what they want to do. Then they go before this board. This is a different situation. He would hate to see this set precedence for others to do things the same way this was done. The Board of Adjustments is a board that makes it's own decisions, and the council shouldn't influence those decisions. Peggy thought that this whole situation was taken care of legally because of Cal being involved. Smokey Staudinger spoke. The way he understood it when Peggy brought this before the Council, they approved it to be sent to the Board of Adjustments. He doesn't remember voting on anything, and that was verified through the minutes. Peggy thought that the council approved it, but it took a special meeting to get it done right. Larry McCann wondered if Cai had acted fast enough for the time frame that was allowed. The building department could approve the project as it related to building codes. (Note: The paperwork that Cai did was done on October 18~', the ad was sent to the Outlook on October 19th for publication to appear in the October 24th and 31 st paper.) Marv Carter stated that what he knew was that the Mayor had directed Larry McCann, Cai Cumin, Matt Erekson, and Peggy to meet to work out the details before the Board of Adjustments meeting. Larry McCarm stated that the 4 of them never met together all at once. Peggy did meet with Cai once and Larry once. Peggy then had a death in the family, which took her out of state, that prohibited the 4 of them getting together all at the same time. Marv Carter questioned who the engineer's were for the flagpole? Were they from Cenex? Peggy stated that Cenex actually contracts this engineer for various jobs, but he is not actually a Cenex engineer. Cenex is not involved in the flagpole or flag. Johnny Goodman asked Larry McCmm if he signed off on the construction of the pole? Or did the engineer sign off?. McCarm stated that the Engineer signed off on the construction of the pole, and the City issued the permit after the engineering stamp was in place. That is standard procedure. Andy Muri questioned Larry McCarm as to whether or not the City Attorney approved this sequence, and whether or not we can act on this tonight? McCann stated that the impression he got fi.om the City Attorney was that this would all work and that what the approval does is to push the paperwork into the proper order. You as the board of adjustments are still faced with the fact that the paperwork was not done in proper order and does this set precedence .for future applications? Bruce Teeters wonders if anyone can come to downtown Laurel, put a cell tower in without prior permission, and then come to the board for approval? Peggy Miller pointed out the fact that the flagpole was not put in to make profit. It is an American tradition to fly a flag and this is for the community. Bruce Teeters states that this will be an asset to the community. Andy Muri states that each variance that comes before the boo. rd has it's specific variations and that the board works through them individually. Each case is different. Perhaps looking at them individually will-get us past the setting of precedence. Peggy Miller thanked the board for their time. She understands the situation they were put in and appreciates them. If she can do anything to help, such as talk to townspeople regarding this situation please let her know. This was not intended to be such an ordeal. Motion by Bob Western, second by Mary Carter, to table this application, pending a formal legal opinion by the City Attorney to address the giving of a variance after the fact. Motion was defeated by a vote of 1-4. 6 Motion by Bruce Teeters, seconded by Mary Carter, to allow the variance for a flagpole to exceed the maximum height of 70 feet to 143 feet at the Hageman Elevator that was already put in place. Johnny Goodman added to the motion to read "a flagpole with an American flag flying on it". Marvin Carter made an amendment to the motion that after our approval we also have a letter with a legal opinion from the city attorney put into the file. The amendment was seconded by Bruce Teeters. The amendment to the motion was approved by a 5-0 vote. The motion to approve was voted on and approved by a 5-0 vote. The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 pm. Respectfully submitted, , Secretary 7