11-11-1996 (Zoning Board of Adjustment) Minutes Minutes of the Zoning Board of Adjustments
The Board of Adjustments Commission met in a Called Business Meeting on November
11, 1996, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Wylie Municipal Complex, located
at 2000 Hwy. 78 North, Wylie, Texas 75098. A quorum was present and a notice was
posted in the time and manner required by law.
COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Gerald Clark, James Smith, Ray
Capley, Emily Hartwig and Alternate - Denise Mays.
ABSENT: Marilyn Herrera - excused
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Planner- Kelley Shaw and Secretary- Rebecca Rogers.
ACTION ITEMS
ITEM NO. 1: Consider approval of the Minutes of the October 21, 1996 Called Business
Meeting. Motion was made by Emily Hartwig and seconded by James Smith to accept
minutes as presented. Motion carried, all in favor (5 votes).
PUBLIC HEARING
Item No. 1: Hold Public Hearing to consider an appeal from Holigan Family Investments,
Inc. for a variance(s) to the mobile home regulations of the Wylie Zoning Ordinance. The
Community Development Department has recommended denial of the Preliminary Plat as
submitted by Holigan Family Investments Inc. because of issues dealing with lot size, re-
quired sidewalks and covered parking. The property proposed for this Mobile Home de-
velopment is located at FM 544 and Vinson Road and further described as a 34.53 acre
tract of land out of the Elisha M. Price Survey, Abstract 1114.
Chairman Clark opened the Public Hearing. Will Cole of Boyle Engineering, 6606 LBJ
Freeway, Dallas, TX was present to speak on the behalf of Holigan Family Investments
Inc. (Holigan). Mr. Boyle began by saying that he would address each request for vari-
ance seperatley. The first issue he discussed was in regards to the mobile home
requirement of a 25% maximum lot coverage (per lot). Holigan is requesting that they be
allowed to have a mobile home park average of 25%. Applicant pointed out that example
in ordinance showed a 29% lot coverage. Mr. Cole stated that more people were buying
double wide homes and therefore in some cases would exceed the 25% lot coverage re-
quirement but that the park would also have single wide homes that would cover less than
25% of the lot. This is the reason that Holigan is requesting the 25% average.
The Zoning Board of Adjustments (Board) asked how the setback requirements would be
affected. Mr. Cole said that all setback requirements would be met and pointed out the
typical site drawing. The Board then asked staff for its input. Staff responded that it
1
would be difficult to determine if 25% average requirement was being maintained.
Mr. Cole pointed out that Single Family residences allow much more of a lot coverage.
The Board asked staff what were the single family lot coverage requirements. Staff re-
sponded that for Single Family residences the maximum lot coverage was 45%.
The Board asked if there was any other public comment on this item. Mr. Leo Wiman of
7344 Blairview St, Dallas, Texas, stated that he had property adjacent to the proposed
development and that he was against the requested variances.
Chairman, for the record, stated that it would take a favorable vote of 4 out of the 5 mem
bers present to grant variance. With the absence of a motion to grant the variance, re-
quest was denied.
Mr. Cole then began discussing the second variance request. He stated that Holigan was
requesting that they be allowed to construct a sidewalk on only one side of the street in-
stead of the requirement of sidewalks on both sides of the street. Mr. Cole said that there
were very few mobile home parks that he knew of that had sidewalks, much less
sidewalks on both sides of the street.
The Board asked if this was more of a financial consideration. Mr. Cole responded that in
a sense it was because the cost of the sidewalks would have to be passed on to the
homeowner.
At this point the Chairman asked staff how many notifications were sent out to property
owners within 200 feet of this development. Staff responded that notifications were sent
out to owners representing 46 properties that met the 200 foot criteria. Two notices were
returned as non deliverable.
The Chairman asked if there was a motion to grant the variance. In absence of a motion
to grant the variance, request was denied.
Mr. Cole then began to address Holigan's last request which was to have covered parking
be an option to be left up to the homeowner. Mr. Cole referred to the ordinance requiring
covered parking and stated that it was not specific as to when the covered parking was to
be constructed. Mr. Cole then went on to say that their request was that the covered
parking be an option left up to the homeowner or if the board required the covered park-
ing, to clarify when it was to be constructed. Mr. Cole explained that the covered parking
would be torn down when a mobile home was being moved on the lot as well as when the
home was moved off the lot.
The Board agreed that the covered parking need not be standing before the mobile home
was moved on the lot but did want the covered parking to be required. The Board then
2
asked staff how would the staff propose that the issue be dealt with as far as when the
covered parking was to be erected. Staff responded that it would work with the developer
on this issue but would not require the covered parking to be installed before the home
was moved on the lot, but require the covered parking to be installed in a time period tied
to the final release of utilities to the home or the Certificate of Occupancy being issued,
something of that nature.
The Board then asked Mr. Cole if that was clarification enough for him and he said that it
was. Mr. Cole then thanked the Board for its time and reiterated that he believed the
Board was wrong in its decision to deny the 25% lot coverage average request. Frank
Kemeny (Holigan Family Investments Inc.) of 7205 Fairvalley Way, Plano, Texas,
addressed the Board by stating that with the decisions of the Board on these issues, they
were requiring people with lesser income (smaller mobile homes) to come into the park
and then have to pay more (money that they didn't have) for their lots because of the
required parking and sidewalks.
The Chairman then responded to Mr. Kemeny by stating that the Board has very strict
criteria that they must base their decisions on and that by what was presented to them,
the criteria needed for the granting of a variance was not met. He added that it seemed
that the applicant (Holigan Family Investments Inc.) has options available such as
increasing the size of their lots for the larger mobile homes which would reduce profit but
that was the developers decision.
The Chairman then asked for a motion to grant the variance for covered parking to be
optional. In the absence of a motion to grant the variance, the request was denied. The
motion was then made to close the hearing and was seconded. Discussion was then held
between Board members and staff as to when the Board was to meet. It was decided
that the Board would have regularly scheduled meetings (but would meet only when a
request was filed) on the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Emily Hartwig and seconded by James
Smith. Motion passed, all in favor (5 votes).
Respectfully submitted,
Gerald Clark, Chairman Rebecca Rogers, Secre ry
3