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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBLD1996-00733 -»s e OFFICE OF THE HEARING EXAMINER FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY " Variance Application of ) C----- Jo Floor to reduce the " ) FILE NO. RSV-1-92 required front yard ) setback for a ) manufactured home from 2 ) FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, feet to 10 feet. ) AND DECISION ) SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL AND DECISION Proposal: The applicant is seeking approval of a Variance to reduce the required front yard setback for a manufactured home l from 20 feet to 10 feet. Decision: Approval 70Lk1 266 FINDINGS OF FACT BACKGROUND INFORMATION Applicant: Jo Floor Applicant's Address: 19 172nd Place S.W. , Bothell, Washington 98012 Property Address: 400 Seal Rock Road, Brinnon, Washington Property Location: Between State Highway 101 and Seal Rock Road, about one mile south of Brinnon. o Floor Findings, Conclusion RSV-1-92 - 1 - and Decision Legal Description: Seven and eight, together with 30 feet of the adjacent vacated street Block 3, Plat of Jupiter City, in Section 26, Township 26 North, Range 2 West, W.P. Zoning: Residential Comprehensive Plan Map Designation: Residential Property Description: The property is described in the Planning Department Report and Recommendation (Exhibit 1) , the Hearing Examiner hereby adopts that description. Surrounding Conditions: The area is characterized by residential development. Lots to the north of the applicants are slightly deeper; lots to the south are slightly shallower. Highway 101 borders the property on the west. Seal Rock Road borders the site proposed for the manufactured home on the east. The road splits the property, leaving a very narrow strip on the east side of the road. The portion on the east side of the road borders Hood Canal. Project Description: The applicant is seeking a variance to place a new manufactured home on the property. The manufactured home is a double-wide home measuring 28 feet by 60 feet. The applicant proposes to reduce the setback from both Highway 101 and Seal Rock Road to ten feet. The setback required from both is 20 feet. PROCEDURAL INFORMATION Authorizing Ordinances: Hearing Examiner Ordinance Section 12 . 00 (Ordinance Number 1-0318-91) Hearing Date: March 16, 1992 Jo Floor Findings, Conclusion RSV-I-92 - 2- and Decision • Notices: Mailed: February 04, 1992 Posted: February 07, 1992 Published: February 26, 1992 (Port Townsend Leader) Site Visit: None made SEPA: Exempt Testimony: Terry Smith, Jefferson County Planning Department, presented the Planning Department Report and Recommendation. Gary Cooper, Real Estate Research Consultant, testified on behalf of the applicant. He testified to the following: The applicant seriously questions whether Seal Rock Road is as wide as claimed by the County. If the right-of-way is only as wide as the applicant believes it to be, this variance would not be necessary. However, seeking this variance is easier than challenging the County' s determination about the width of the right-of-way. The existing mobile home encroaches into the setback. It is only seven feet from Highway 101, and seventeen feet from Seal Rock Road. The proposed manufactured home would be 10 feet wide from both. If setbacks from both Highway 101 and Seal Rock Road had to be met, the building envelope would be only 10 to 12 feet wide. To place even a single-wide mobile home on the property would require a variance. A single-wide is generally considered to be at least 14 feet wide. A single-wide would require less of a variance. The applicant purchased the property in 1990 . Highway 101 was widened in 1958 . He has no doubt that the applicant did not know the width of the right-of- way for Seal Rock Road when she purchased the property. Jo Floor, Applicant, testified on her own behalf. She testified to the following: She and her husband purchased the property after a two year search. When they purchased the property there were several facts that led her to believe that a home of the size desired by her and her husband could be placed on the property. There were survey marks that she assumed identified Jo Floor Findings, Conclusion RSV-1-92 -3 - and Decision the corners of the property. Other homes in the area are as close or closer to the right-of-way than what she is proposing. She received a map from the title company indicating that the right-of-way for Seal Rock Road was only 30 feet wide. She had absolutely no reason to believe that the right-of-way was wider than 30 feet or that her property was as narrow as it now appears to be. If the County' s determination about the width of the right-of-way is correct, the proposed variance will not result in that much of a change. The existing mobile home on the property already violates the setback requirement. What she and her husband are proposing would reduce the total setback by only five feet. C.W. Floor, Applicant, testified on his own behalf. He testified to the following: He believes the 10 foot variance is the minimum needed for a double-wide mobile home. A double-wide is necessary to meet their needs. He does not believe that a double-wide mobile home on the property would have any adverse impacts. Exhibits: 1. Planning Department Report and Recommendation 2 . Variance Application 3. Site Plan 4 . Photographs of property on Seal Rock Road 5 . Memo from Health Department 6. Public Works Department comments 7. General correspondence RE: width to Seal Rock Road right-of- way FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS Jefferson County' s Ordinances do not clearly identify what the variance criteria are for setback variances. The Planning Department Report and Recommendation identifies the standard variance criteria identified in the Jefferson County Subdivision Jo Floor Findings, Conclusion RSV-1-92 - 4- and Decision Ordinance and widely used in other jurisdictions for judging variance requests. These criteria require the Hearing Examiner to find and conclude the following: 1 . Extraordinary conditions related to the physical characteristics of the property, including existing improvements are extraordinary and give rise to the need for the variance, and are not the result of actions taken by the applicant. 2 . Strict interpretation and application of the ordinance would deprive the applicant or the applicant' s property of rights enjoyed by similarly situated property. 3 . The variance is the minimum necessary to allow a reasonable use of the property. The Hearing Examiner has reviewed the requested variance with regard to these criteria, and makes the following findings and conclusions: 1 . The need for the variance arises out of the physical characteristics of the property. Those characteristics are extraordinary and are not the result of actions by the applicant. The variance is necessary because of the narrow width of the lot. The narrow width of the lot resulted from the state widening the right-of-way for State Highway 101. This occurred in 1958, more than 30 years before the applicant purchased the property. If the applicant were required to comply with the setback requirements from both State Highway 101 and Seal Rock Road, the applicant would have a building envelope only 10 to 12 feet wide in which to construct ea residence. No residence can be reasonably constructed within a building envelope of such narrow width, though the width of the applicant ' s property is not "unique" because there are other lots in the area as narrow, and in some cases narrower, the width of the lot is an extraordinary condition by most measures. The number of lots about the same width of the applicants is very small. Some of them are already developed with residences. They are owned in conjunction with other property on the other side of Highway 101 . There is some question as to whether the applicant knew how narrow the property was when the applicant purchased it. It appears from the record that the previous owner of the property, who sold it to the applicant, knew how narrow it was because she was informed by Jefferson County about the width of the right-of- Jo Floor Findings, Conclusion RSV-I-92 - 5 - and Decision way for Seal Rock Road. The applicant testified that the previous owner did not inform the applicant of this fact, and that the information available to the applicant lead the applicant to believe the right-of-way was narrower and the property was wider than the County states. Though it might have been possible for the applicant to obtain the information concerning the County' s determination of the lot to be, the Hearing Examiner believes that the applicant did make a reasonable effort to determine the width of the lot. The applicant testified that when the applicant purchased the lot there were survey marks that she was lead to believe marked the corners of the lot. Ms. Floor testified that she observed both to the improved right-of-way of the existing improvements were. She also testified that she received a title report indicating that the right-of-way was only 30 feet wide, suggesting that the width the property was considerably more than Jefferson County has determined it to be. 2 . Strict interpretation and application of the variance would deprive the property owner of rights reasonably enjoyed by other property or property owners in the area. As is stated above, strict enforcement of the setback requirements would limit the building envelope on the property to a width of 10 to 12 feet. This is not wide enough to allow any reasonable residential structure. 3 . The requested variance is the minimum necessary to allow a reasonable use of the property. It would be possible to place a single-wide mobile on the property with a smaller variance than what the applicant is requesting. However, it is necessary to ask whether it would be reasonable to deny this Variance Request for this reason alone. It is the opinion of the Hearing Examiner that under the circumstances of this case, it is not. The existing mobile home on the property, together with the deck, are setback seven feet from Highway 101 and 17 feet from Seal Rock Road. At the most the variance would result in the setback from Highway 101 being increased by three feet, and the setback from Seal Rock Road being decreased by only seven feet. The setback from Seal Rock Road would still be less than the distance that many other homes in the area are setback from Seal Rock Road. There is no reason to believe that it would interfere in any way with the flow of traffic on Seal Rock Road. Though the manufactured home that the applicant proposes to place on the property is larger than a single-wide and larger than the existing manufactured home, it is Jo Floor Findings, Conclusion RSV-1-92 - 6 - and Decision not, by any measure, extraordinarily large. It will be only 28 feet wide. - 6,1 :144A DECISION • Based on the findings and conclusions above, it is the DECISION of the Hearing Examiner to APPROVE the Variance Application of J;o Floor to reduce the setback-from =Highway- 101 and Seal Rock - Road..,.for a manufactured home from a20, feet.,to: 10 feet (Application RSV-1-92) . DATED this / day of April, 1992 . /-7//-y-S Camipbell H. D. Klutz Hearing Examiner for Jefferson County A copy or notice of this was transmitted on the day of April, 1992, by the Jefferson County Planning Department to the following: Jo Floor 19 172nd Place S.W. Bothell, WA 98012 Gary S. Cooper 1833 North 105th, Suite 1001 Seattle, WA 98133 Jo Floor Findings, Conclusion RSV-I-92 - 7 - and Decision STAFF REPORT VARIANCE REQUEST FLOOR RESIDENTIAL SETBACK RSV1-92 REQUEST The applicant has requested a variance from the Jefferson County Residential Setback Standards. The standards require>a minimum setback of 20 feet for residential structures from the structure to the property line. Approval of the request would result in the placement of a manufactured home with setbacks of 10 feet from the rights-of-way of Seal Rock County Road and State Highway 101. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Applicant: Jo Floor Site Address: 400 Seal Rock Road, Brinnon Property Location: Approximately 25 miles south of the Port Townsend City limits. The site is also approximately one (1) mile north of Brinnon and is located between the state highway right-of-way and the County road right-of-way. Legal Description: Lots 7 and 8, together with 30 feet of the adjacent vacated street in Block 3, Plat of Jupiter City of Section 26, within Township 26 North, Range 2 West, WM. Comprehensive Plan Map Designation: Residential. The Brinnon Community Development Plan designates the property and the surrounding area as Residential; one unit per acre with individual well and on-site septic systems. Property Description: The lots, as platted, are 52 feet X 104 feet and contain a total of 10,816 square feet. Subsequent to platting, the lots were reduced in size due to the construction of State Highway 101. The 150 foot highway right-of-way reduced the lots to a dimension of approximately 52 feet X 52 feet. The property, including the vacated street right-of-way has 134 feet of frontage on both the state highway and the county road. This site has a gentle slope from the state highway to the county road and onto the beach. A metal culvert approximately 36 inches in diameter has been placed at the south end of the property to channel run-off water from the upland area and the state highway. The culvert channels this run- off water under the mobile home and across the lower part of the property into the waters of Hood Canal. A single wide mobile home and a small cabin have been placed on the property. A septic tank has been installed between the mobile home and the state highway right-of-way. It is approximately five (5) feet from the west side of the mobile home. History of Recorded Actions: Applicants' Property: None Notices: Mailed to Adjacent Property Owners: February 4, 1992 Posting of Notices by Applicant: February 7, 1992 Publication of Legal Notice: February 26, 1992 (Port Townsend Leader) 1 The applicants state the following reasons for the variance: Extraordinary conditions/Unusual circumstances: The County claims a right-of-way width of 60 feet for the adjacent Seal Rock Road. The applicant indicates that in her research the county road right-of-way is only 30 feet in width. The applicant states that if the road right-of-way were only 30 feet in width a variance would not be necessary. Unique conditions of the property/Not experienced by other properties. The applicant states the following as unique conditions on the property. Many owners of property on Seal Rock Road have built in the so called right-of-way. The applicant submitted several photos to illustrate this point. She indicated that she is not asking to build in the right-of-way, but only to be able to place her mobile home on the property as other property owners were allowed to do. Conditions or Circumstances caused directly by applicant: The applicant indicates that none of these conditions were directly caused by herself. Hardship the setback standards place on the use of property: The applicant states that it is impossible to place a 28 foot wide mobile home on the property and still meet the minimum 20 foot setbacks for a residence. Minimum deviation/Other reasonable way to meet standards without a variance: The applicant states that the requested variance to allow a setback of 10 feet from the rights-of-way of the County Road (Seal Rock Road) and State Highway 101 is the minimum needed to place a 28 foot wide mobile home on the property. The applicant states that a total of a 20 foot variance is the minimum setback variance to place the double wide mobile home. Other information in support of the variance. The applicant states that she doesn't believe that the County has a 60 foot wide right-of-way for Seal Rock Road. She also indicated that applying for a setback variance was the easiest way to solve the problem of placing a 28 foot wide mobile home on the property since a lot of neighboring property owners have already built within the 20 foot setback. AGENCY RESPONSES County Public Works Department: Written comments are hereby incorporated by reference. Fire District #4 made no comment. County Health Department: Written comments are hereby incorporated by reference. The County Assessor made no comment. Public Utility District #1 made no comment. Planning Department: The request is subject to the residential setback standards of the Building Department and Subsection 10.301 of the Jefferson County Subdivision Ordinance (Ordinance #1-75, as amended) for granting variances. TESTIMONY As of Thursday March 12, 1992 no written or verbal testimony has been submitted to the Planning and Building Department. STAFF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS 1. The proposal is to replace an existing single-wide mobile home with a 28 foot double wide mobile home. Also, a small cabin has been constructed on the north end of the property. (Refer to Planning Department file for details and description, incorporated by reference.) 2. The County Residential Setback Standards require a minimum setback of 20 feet from the property line of two (2) public roads, unless a variance is granted. 3. The widening of State Highway 101 reduced the width of lots 7 and.8 to 52 feet or approximately 50 % of the platted lot width. 4. The County road (Seal Rock Road) was established in November, 1882, which was prior to the platting of the property into lots in September, 1891. 2 5. The requested variance is consistent with the requirement that r-xtraordinary condition exist on the property. The lots were significantly reduced in width when the state highway was constructed and improved. The existence of an established county road prior to platting was not acknowledged at the time the plat was created and therefore is an extraordinary condition of the property. 6. The request is consistent with the requirement that(6nusual circumstance exist on the property. The lots have double frontage on the county road as well as the state highway. 7. The requested variance is consistent with the requirement that the extraordinary condition or unusual circumstance be peculiar to the property. The lots in seven (7) platted blocks east of the state highway resulted in a peculiar situation because of the establishment of the county road prior to the platting of the property into subdivision lots. The blocks and lots west of the state highway do not have the same circumstances. 8. The requested variance is consistent with the requirement that the extraordinary condition/unusual circumstance not be the result of the applicant. Action by the Washington State Department of Transportation in acquiring eighty (80) feet of additional right-of-way and the subsequent highway widening are not a result of action by the applicant. 9. The requirement to meet the minimum setback from both the county road right-of-way and the state highway right-of-way would result in an unnecessary and undue hardship. Requiring compliance with the total minimum setback of forty (40) feet woul allow the placement or construe 'on of a twelve (12) foot wide structure. existing single-wide mobile home is approximately fourteen (14) feet in width a d already encroaches into the mini m setback. 10. Granting the variance as requested would be con ' S with the public interest o afford the property owner the opportunity and option to upgrade the residential use of the-property since the property has been designated as residential in the Brinnon Community Development Plan. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Based on the above findings and conclusions, the department recommends approval of the variance as requested. 3