Oh, so glad we got the real thing, baby. So glad we got the real thing. I'm falling in it. Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby. Ain't nothing like the real thing. Talk to me. Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby. Stay away from my window Stay away from my back door Hello, I'm Dave Savigny. I'm the council person from District 10. And today we're here talking about 8-1-1. And I'm with the director of 8-1-1 in Kentucky, Tim Vaughn. Tim, it's great to see you today. Yeah, it's great to be here. This is kind of a holiday almost for us. It is, it is. what so today we're filming on 810 but I guess tomorrow's the big day huh it is August the 11th we kind of steal the 8 and 11 and use that for remember it that have everybody remember 811 great so for our viewers here tell it tell us a little bit about what 811 is sir 811 is a call before you dig it's that simple it's a free service that the utilities around the state band together and provide and we're a not-for-profit agency that operates a notification center and a training and education center to help people dig safe and do projects around utility lines keeping getting hurt got it and is it something that somebody has to do or is there projects of a certain size that you do this on or or does it really matter and does it cost anything for sure it's a consumer. It's 100% free and there is a law KRS 367-4901-4917 kind of gives the guidelines for it and there's penalties involved if you if you do not call 811 before you dig. But yeah there's a there's a series of steps that you have to take but they're absolutely free to do. So Tim once somebody has called 811 how long does it typically take for the different utilities to come out and and do their markings, and is there a requirement that it's done in a certain amount of time so they can plan their projects? Sure. So first of all, it's good that you said that the utilities come out. Most people think that 811 does the locating. We do not do the locating. We notify the utilities and they send their representatives. They can do a far better job of marking and identifying their stuff than we could ever do. But there's a two-day wait period. So you call us, and you have to start your work within 10 days after you call us, And then we notify the utilities and they have two working days to respond to that. And a working day excludes weekends and holidays. And are the markings that they use, are they permanent or are they something that usually fades in a certain amount of time? And we try to nail it exactly. The length of a ticket, a locate request, what I call a ticket, is 21 days, 21 calendar days. So they'll put down a temporary paint that'll last hopefully 21 days in one minute. I'm not sure that's exactly accurate, but that's the length of the ticket. They'll mark it based on a color code system, and you can get access to that color code system on our website, Kentucky811.org. But, for instance, yellow means gas, and not just in Kentucky. Yellow means gas everywhere. Blue is water. So there's a system that they'll use to locate their facilities so that when you go do your project, you know what's below you. Is the system a national-based system? It's worldwide. Worldwide. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Okay. And does every utility that has something buried underground, is every utility required to be a part of the system? No, that is the unfortunate thing about Kentucky. It's us and Alaska are the two states that do not require all the utilities to be a member of the 811 system. So in Kentucky, you potentially could have to call another utility directly who's not a member. We'll tell you who we're going to notify, who the members are. All the gas companies are members. Columbia Gas in this area is one of our best members. I mean, they're very concerned about their safety of their customers and of their services. So they've been a member for a long time, and we'll get all the gas companies. Some of the other ones may not be a member. Will you notify the user who's calling you as to which utility is not? Like you recognize that this utility may be playing in their area so that they're going to have to do something differently? Unfortunately, we don't know who those are. If they're not in our mapping system, it's an electronic system that we use. We load all our members in, and then we'll notify them. Unfortunately, the excavator had to do that research on their own. We need to fix that in our General Assembly. We really do. So that sounds like some work to be done at the state level that actually might help you. It absolutely would help. Again, it's us and Alaska are the two states that don't require that. All right. Well, good. The other thing I wanted to ask you about was tolerance zones. Yeah. Tell me what a tolerance zone is and why should I be concerned as a consumer? Sure. So one other thing I want to say before I get to that is I want to make sure everybody understands that this is not just for the large project or the large excavator who's using a tobacco or a large equipment. This is for someone who's planting a tree, replacing a mailbox. Let's think about this for a minute. A mailbox, about a foot off the edge of the road. It's a simple little Saturday morning project to replace your mailbox. Well, what else is about a foot off the edge of the road? Utility lines. So you've got to plan that project in advance two days so that they can get them marked so that when you go out there and do your project at home, you don't hit a utility line. So it's not just for the large utilities. It's for everybody, for everybody. It's good to know. What about the tolerance zones? The tolerance zone, we're going to mark it, and the utilities will come out and mark the facility. There's a 24-inch protected zone that you can't use any mechanized equipment. So if you go to a rental store and rent a trencher and there's a mark that's on the ground marking a utility, you cannot use that mechanized equipment within 24 inches on either side of that facility. That's just for safety. Absolutely. Got it. Well, listen, Tim, I really appreciate you being here today and appreciate all that you guys are doing at 811 to make our community safe and to keep our residents doing projects in the most effective and safe way possible. Thanks so much. All right. Thanks. And everybody dig safely. Welcome back. And I'm Dave Savigny, the 10th District Councilperson. And I'm here with Lisa Smith, who is from Columbia Gas. And we really appreciate you here being here today, Lisa. And we're here today talking, continuing the conversation about 8-1-1. So, Lisa, tell me Columbia Gas' participation in 8-1-1. How long have you been doing it? And what are the common things that a constituent might be interested about the gas company with regards to 8-1-1? Sure. We've been involved with 8-1-1 from the get-go. So we recognize that it's like the most important thing that people can do to stay safe, whether you're a professional excavator, whether you're working in your own yard, calling 811 or nowadays you can go online and do it. Thank you. Thank you. So what I'll do first is I have called the meeting to order. We have a couple of items that we need to do. First, we have received the minutes. guys receive the minutes on the board we actually have minutes from june and july meetings so if the board has had time to look over there over those and no questions or adjustments i will entertain a motion i'll make a motion to approve the minutes can i do them both together do i have to do no okay um i'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes from june 12 2023 Second. Ms. Hornley second. Okay. Any discussion? Now we'll take a vote. There you go. thank you that motion has passed you have another you're on a roll and then i'd like to make a motion to approve the july 10th 2023 board of adjustment meeting minutes do i have a second miss plumley thank you we will take a vote if no further discussion Great, that motion has passed as well. Now as you can see, we have a full house today, so what I will do first is swear in any witness that plans to speak. So if you plan to speak, whether you're inside or you're in the overflow, you need to be sure to stand up for the swearing, and then I will sound the entire agenda. We will move quickly today to give everyone an opportunity, but also to respect everyone's time. we'll be putting time limits on some of our feedback and our comments, but we'll make sure everyone has an opportunity, but we'll also be respectful and be able to get everyone in and out of here as efficiently as possible. So if you plan to speak at all today, if you can stand at this time to be sworn in, and this is also true for those that are out in the overflow. Okay. Thank you. If you could raise your right hand and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth today. You do? Sounds good. And I will probably ask you again when you get up here, but that's okay. We'll get everybody covered. And again, a reminder, if you have not signed in, when we have a break or a moment, make sure you've signed in as well so we can have the correct spelling of the names. When you do come to the podium, we just ask that you state your name and address for the record, and then you will have an opportunity to speak. What I'll do now I'll roll through all the cases, make sure that the parties are here. And if at that time, if there is someone here that would like to speak or have opposition to that case, I will just take note of it, and we're going to divide the docket into two categories. We'll have the ones that are heard without opposition, and then we'll have the ones that are heard that have some presentation or opposition with them. Sound good? Everybody on track? So the first one is PLNBOA 2348. That's Gibson Taylor Thompson Architecture and Design. Is the applicant present? Over here, back there. And is there anyone here to speak in opposition to this particular case? And how will I know an overflow? Okay, okay, okay. So if you're in the overflow and we've asked, especially if there's no one else that has requested to speak, please stick your head in so we can make sure to put that on the herd case. Okay. All righty, so you will be first today. Second case, PLNBOA 2353, that's a step energy. Is the applicant present? Okay. Have you seen them? Maybe you know before? Okay. You didn't see everyone? Okay. All right. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition of this case? Okay. So as long as the applicant is present, that one has been recommended for approval, so that will be heard second. Now we have PLN BOA 2355. that's Jordan Yasser, applicant present. Now that one has been recommended for disapproval so we'll hear the case in its entirety. Then we have PLNBOA 2357 Mr. John Stoker, applicant's present and that one's also recommended for disapproval so we'll hear you completely. You'll be second on the her docket now under conditional use appeals i have plnvoa 23-50 lexington hispanic adventist church is the applicant present and i feel like i should send somebody out there to look for hands will you check the lexington Hispanic Adventist and a Step Energy actually. East Step, yeah. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition of this conditional use appeal? Did someone say yes? No? Okay. So I'm imagining it would be three on the... I would wait just a second while Autumn's outside to make sure because I know that there was opposition to this application. Okay. Okay. And I would like to note the applicant for E-Step Energy did step inside the door and talked to Ottoman. Great. So he was here. That's fine. We'll come back to that one. PLN BOA 23-51, the Mission Church of Lexington, is the applicant present? Thank you. Present. Great. Do we have anyone here to speak in opposition? I think that will be number 4. Autumn, are they? There is opposition to PLN 23-50, the Lexington Hispanic Adventist Church. Okay, and the applicant is present as well. Okay. Then we have PLN VOA 2352 Shepherd's House. Is the applicant present? Yes. Yes, thank you. And do we have anyone here to speak in opposition today? Yes. We have a couple to be heard. Okay. So that will be heard following the Lexington Hispanic Act. All right. PLN BOA 2359, that's Jan C. Bonewitz and Casey Wesley. Are the applicants present? Okay. And do we have anyone to speak in opposition today? We do have a couple to be heard. Okay. We'll fully hear that case. I think it's number five. Then we have PLN BOA 23-60. That's Anchor Baptist Church. Is the applicant present? Mr. Simpson's here. Okay. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition of this one? Yeah. Okay. And then we have PLN BOA 23-61 Bethesda Pentecostal Tabernacle. Is the applicant present? Present. There we go. And do we have anyone speaking in opposition of this today? We do have a couple to be heard. Okay. And then we have PLNBOA 23-62, Erin Reedy. Is the applicant present? Thank you. Anyone speaking in opposition today? We do have a couple to be heard, okay. And we have PLNBOA 23-63, that's Matthew and Tamara Robinson. is that part of the applicants present and maybe an overflow if you're an overflow will you let us know please and is there anyone to speak in opposition for this today we have one more administrative appeal that's feeling the only twenty three forty nine shaitlin investments lc is the applicant present is there anyone here to speak in opposition of this one today i've got you down thank you so much okay so we'll start back in the beginning again we're going to run to these as an expedient lee as possible the first case is peel and beally twenty three forty eight that's gets in taylor thompson architecture and design if the applicant will please come to the podium Good afternoon. If you could state your name for the record, please. Aaron Gibson. Eric Gibson. And you're with the architecture firm? Yes. And it has been recommended for approval with two conditions. Have you had the opportunity to review those? No. Great. So if the board had an opportunity to review this, if it's been recommended for approval, are there any questions or concerns? If there are none, I will entertain a motion. Thank you. Is this mic on? Yes. Madam Chair, I recommend approval for BLMBOA 2348, Gibson, Taylor, Thompson, Architecture and Design for a variance to reduce the required side yard for a deep building from 8 feet and 7 inches to 5 feet in order to build additions to an existing single-family residence within a neighborhood design character overlay in D1 zone in a single-family residential R1C zone on property located at 226 Chenault Road. This will include conditions 2. so thank you miss family I have a second it's Tucker already second you guys are fast get it going all right no further discussion we'll take a vote your motions pass good luck with the project thank you I would just like to announce that there is opposition in the mezzanine for the anchor Baptist application we'll figure out what that does to the order okay thank you plnboa 2353 e-step energy i believe there we go Good afternoon. Please state your name for the record. Steve Estep. Thank you. And this has been recommended for approval, and there are four conditions that have been listed. Have you had an opportunity to review those? Yes. And are you comfortable with the conditions? Thank you. If the board has had an opportunity to review this project, are there any questions of the applicant? or staff. All right, no questions. I'll entertain a motion. Madam Chair, I make a motion to approve plan PLNBOA 2353 E-Step Energy for variance to increase the required front yard setback from 20 feet to 40 feet in order to construct a canopy for gasoline pumps in a neighborhood business B1 zone on the property located at 1445 Newtown Center Way pending with the following three conditions. Thank you. And Ms. Plumlee a second. And we will take a vote. Motion is passed, good luck with your project. Thank you. Let's see. So now I believe we have PLNBOA 2351, the Mission Church of Lexington. I can state your name for the record, please. Chris Howard with Carmen. Chris Howard with Carmen. Thank you, Mr. Albert. So it has been recommended for approval, and there are four conditions listed. Have you had an opportunity to review those conditions? We have. And are you okay with those? Great. If the board has had an opportunity to review the project, any questions or concerns? Not all, entertain a motion. Ms. Plumlee, she won. Okay, I'll go again. Madam Chair, move approval of PLNN BOA 2351, the Mission Church of Lexington for a conditional use permit to expand an existing place of religious assembly in a single-family residential R1 disease zone on property located at 3288 Beaver Creek Drive. For approval, there should be agreement with four conditions. So moved. Ms. Tucker seconded. Thank you. We'll take a vote. Thank you. Your motion is passed. Good luck with your project. I think that actually takes us to PLNBOA 23-49. That's Shadlin Investments. Yes, podium please. If you could state your name for the record, please. It's Chad Bowman. And the staff has recommended approval, and there are three conditions listed. Have you had a chance to review those? Yes. And you're okay with those? Yes. Okay. And, staff, did we have any letters? Okay. I forgot to check. You're rolling too fast. I'm good to do. So have we had a time to review it? Any questions, concerns? I will entertain a motion. Make a motion to approve PLN BOA 23-00049 Shadeland Investments, LLC. requests an administrative appeal to change one non-conforming use retail to another non-conforming use office within the defined infill and redevelopment area in a planned neighborhood residential R3 zone on property located at 185 Eastern Avenue. Approved with three conditions. Thank you. Ms. Plumlee is seconded. No further discussion? No. Tucker got it. Oh, you got it first? Okay. Come on, you guys got it. I don't know, Chad, they're leaving you behind over there. The ladies are doing all the lifting. Okay. Good deal. We'll take a vote. We're going to be here for a while. We have to have a little fun. A little fun. Thank you. Motion has passed. And let's go back. All righty, here we go. PLN BOA 2355, that's Jordan Yaser. Hold on just a moment. What we'll have is the staff will present first because they have recommended disapproval, and then you'll have the opportunity to present. Hello, Megan Jennings with planning staff. Before you today is PLN BOA 23-55, Jordan Yeiser. It is a request for a variance to reduce the side yard for a deep building from 11 feet and 1 inch to 9 feet in order to construct addition, which is a covered deck in a single-family residential zone on property located at 2108 Bridgeport Drive. The subject property is located highlighted in red here on the screen. It is just under a half an acre in size and is located within the Lakeview Estate subdivision on a cul-de-sac which backs up to what is formerly named Reservoir No. 2 but is now named Lake Fontaine. The single-family residential neighborhood is located between Richmond Road, which is kind of off the – that's not the right button. How do I do a pointer on this one? Hold on one second. pushing forward sorry we got new pointers and this is my first time all right so here's the subject property there 2108 um the property or no richmond road is located off the screen here with uh new circle road off the screen here this road if the pointer would follow me is lake shore drive here just to help you kind of locate where the property is now we can go forward all right here's the subject property just in closer detail um the home as you can see um i can do this again has a circular drive in the front with the driveway running down along the side to a paved area in the rear and the proposed addition is located here on the left side of the structure the property was originally zoned in 1965 as r1 and then in 1969 we did kind of a rezoning of all the r1 zones and kind of broke them down into different categories so this property was formally rezoned in 1969 as r1c at that time the side yard required side yard was eight feet. And then later in 1999, there was a down zoning of properties in this area. It was determined that most of these parcels met the R1B zone, which is what it is now currently zoned, and the down zoning didn't create nonconformity. So it was kind of a massive down zoning of properties in this area, but the side yard, required side yard, was increased to ten feet, which is kind of creating the need for the variance today. These bullets here cover what sections of the zoning ordinance apply. First, the minimum side yard for the R1B zone is 10 feet. And then the second bullet talks about our deep building provision, which increases the required side yard by one inch for every one foot that a building is deeper than 50 feet. So this structure is 61 feet deep with the addition, increasing that side yard. I may not be doing that math right. The building is deep enough to increase the required side yard from 10 feet to the 11 feet 1 inch. The third bullet here talks about how when additions are made to existing nonconforming structures, there's flexibility to allow additions to continue that setback as long as it doesn't create a more non-conforming thing. The end of that bullet states that the deep building provision there in the second bullet, 15.2, B2, takes precedence over the B7. So because it's a deep building, they still have the required side yard, increased side yard, and aren't allowed to make an addition to the non-conforming structure without a variance. Here is a copy of the site plan and it's a little hard to read so I kind of zoomed in to the important stuff. As you can see here in red, that is where the proposed addition is located. They are also doing an addition of a larger deck here in the middle and providing some extra things to get you down. The property itself slopes from the front of the structure to the rear. So this covered porch is actually elevated almost a full story up above the ground below it. So it does not meet the projection requirements and has to be considered an addition to the home because it is so high off the ground. Although the proposed addition is in line with the zoning applied in 1969, 1969. It is not in conformance with the side yard requirements of the R1B zone, nor the deep building provision that is applied because the structure itself is so deep with this addition. The applicant opines that the provisions of B7, which was that third bullet I just covered a few slides ago, should apply. But however, that deep building provision does take precedence, and so they are still required to file for a variance. The applicant states that this addition does not encroach into the neighbor's view of the reservoir and that meeting the required side yard would reduce the size of the addition to a size and aesthetic that they determined is useless. The requested variance is only two feet and one inch difference and the applicant did not provide sufficient justification as to why that is a hardship. And so the staff is recommending disapproval of this variance request. They didn't address why meeting the required side yard is a hardship, nor they have not addressed the special circumstances which apply to this property and not all of their parcels either within this neighborhood or within the same zone. at this time if the board has any questions for staff i'd be happy to answer them do we have any questions of staff okay thank you thank you and the applicant can come forth Please state your name and address for the record. Jordan Yeiser, 2108 Bridgeport Drive. Thank you. And were you sworn in earlier? Yes, I was. Great. Great. You have a presentation? I do. And I want to apologize in advance to the staff and you kind people for having to listen to this. I probably should have done a better job of articulating my case prior to this. i still think we would still be here but i may not have had 33 slides to do to make my case so apologize in advance i'm going to try to go through this quickly and if i need to go back i'll do that quickly and we'll have lots of questions that works best okay so uh what i'm trying to do is add a covered porch on the on the back side of my house which you can see that's oh okay where's the laser that'll hold down the top button okay there we go which is right there and go back here quickly um by my calculations i do not violate the section 15-2b2 or 15-b2-2b7 but and i'll get into that um that's the response to staff recommendation then architectural reasons and utility reasons for for this and why it's a hardship on the existing structure then i'm going to show that i had submitted some some similar plans that i had adjusted just to meet the necessary requirement and why i shouldn't have to build it that specific way because it does not change what will actually be built on this side of the side yard doesn't change that's you know where i'm interacting with that side yard setback so i'm asking not to build build it that way then i get into um uh the final statements about why this lot is affected this way in such a unique condition in regards to the surrounding lots that were converted from r1b to r1c this is the the floor the lower level plan on the right side and the the first floor plan on the left side you can see on the on the lower level plan i've had planned for five foot storage it's an enclosed space of cmu and on the left side i'm you know hoping to put a fire uh you know know a you know a chimney and you can see let's see let's see how do you hold us the top one okay here we go right here is an existing window that we're trying to keep and make a door and then here is an existing three panel uh window that we are hoping to keep to allow light into the bedroom uh that's down in the basement and that's what the 3d rendering looks like um so for in regards to the the violation of section 15. On this edition of Lexington Now, Scarefest, the History Museum and Lexington Police. I'm Neil Noah and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of September 11, 2023. One of the country's most popular conventions will be here soon and is celebrating its 15th installment, Scarefest. So my name is Brandon Griffith. I'm the co-owner of Scarefest Weekend here in Lexington. And I'm Nicole Griffith. I am the co-owner of Scarefest and Brandon's place. Scarefest started in 2008, and this is our 15th show. Like everyone, we lost the lost. So architectural reasons for this request, you can see on the first floor, We do not have good access to this addition other than this window right here, which would be converted to a door. And if we shift this addition over two feet, we will be encroaching on that door. And you can see from the inside view, there's the access there. And you can see here is a five-panel window, which is a breakfast area that my wife will not allow me to put a door in that area. on the lower level we just three years ago we went through a renovation and installed a three panel window and we are planning to have storage in the lower level this is a lake house as you saw is on lake fontaine and in addition to all the other things that we have with the three kids and you know things in the garage that we don't park in because we don't have enough room to parking it as it is, we do have the need for lake storage where it's kayaks, paddleboards, life jackets, and other things that come along with having a lake house. One of the other main points is this tree. It's a 10 and a half foot circumference sycamore tree that we absolutely love. It feels sort of like a tree house when we're standing on our deck that we really don't want to lose. And if we try to keep that same amount of space, we're definitely going to be in the root structure of this tree that we're going to so desperately try to keep. Here is some of the storage that we have to keep up with. I definitely do not want to keep this stuff outside on a year-long basis. It tears up the adhesive in the inflatables. And, of course, you can see I get tagged quite often by the blue herons that are flying around. So now moving on to the approved plans versus the unapproved plans. On the left side, I have a set of approved plans that I was able to sort of manipulate the code requirement or the zoning ordinance that I do not want to build it this way. And then the unapproved plans. And as you can see on the approved plans, I basically extended a plank, for lack of a better word, to get the side yard area required and to make the calculation work for the zoning ordinance. You can't really see here. Let's see if I can get a little closer. So here it is. So basically all I did was just extend the upper level deck to get a side yard area requirement. That's all it is. And this whole thing boils down to I just really don't want to build that plank. Nothing changed on this side, but yet these were approved. And I just really don't want to build this silly little thing. It doesn't do me any good. It's just going to cost money. It's going to look awkward. Here are some calculations from the approved plans. Basically using the side yard averaging, this yellow portion is used to calculate and give me the higher side yard area, which I don't think is useful in this scenario. If I was to try to meet that same side yard area, I would have to shift my addition back 5 foot 8, which would encroach. It's a 17-foot wide addition as it is, which would make it 12-foot wide, which would eat up the door access, which would eat up the storage and the windows on the lower level. And here's basically what that would look like if I was to. That's a requested floor plan, and then you can see if it's shifted back, which just creates a really awkward space back here for a side yard that's just going to collect trash, and it's going to be a useless space. And that's the unapproved floor plan. Okay, we'll keep going. Okay, so the final statements, but not quite final, sorry. I'm going to show here in just a second that my lot at Bridgeport, at 2108 Bridgeport, is actually narrower by 22 feet than the average lot in the area. the you know I really need the storage for all this outdoor equipment that I want to take care of I want to keep it for long term and I want to take care of it and keep it out of the sun keep it away from animals and specifically spiders for my wife and then this with property was constructed with it with it eight foot setback then it was overlaid with a 10 foot setback and because my lot is narrower than all the other ones I am being burdened with that more so than the others The other lots have, on average, 22-foot more setback or wide lot than I do. And I'm really just trying to invest in the property. I'm keeping the same architecture, coming off the same roof profile. I'm not encroaching into the side yard other than that three square feet. And let's see. Okay, in addition to the setback, you can see that this is the R1C zoning compared to the R1B zoning. Everybody on the other side of the lake has R1B. on our side we have the r1c and then there's some r1c right here um and i'm going to get into so that so they still have 10 foot they have the uh let's see yeah they have the 10 foot setback is that correct r1b yeah r1b so then r1c and r1c here okay so here is the average width of the approximate middle of the lots and as you can see mine is 108 and on the average this one is 112 and on average it's 100 almost 130 foot and mine is one of the most narrow lots is the most narrow lot on this cul-de-sac in addition to that if you look at the way the lots are are constructed they were done so to give all of them lake access and if you can see starting with 2105 comes over here and has a little lake access which pushes 2109 which pushes 2113 which they have lake access on Lake Fontaine which squeezes 112 which pushes me over a little bit more and the same thing with 536 they get a little bit and these really awkward lots they start to squeeze and squeeze and I'm in the middle and I'm the recipient of the most narrow lot in the area across the house basically across the width of the house and there's no view there's no impact on the view from my neighbor. The only neighbor that would care, and I'm surprised he's not here to argue his case, and he would have every right to do that, but there's no loss on view. So this is the view from the front of the house, that was the view from closer up. This is the view from the back. I mean, it's full of trees. There's no detriment to his view to the lake. He has a deck off the back here that he has a view angle, and I'm keeping my addition in this area over here. And that's it. Thank you. Do we have any questions of the applicant? I may actually have you go back. I couldn't follow the plank discussion we were having. Okay. So it has to do with side yard averaging, which basically if, and let's see if I can go back here. So currently, the argument why they consider my side yard inconformance is because this portion of the house extends further than this portion of the house. And so this yellow shape here takes this area and then calculate and then adds in all this area all the way up to that and considers that part of my side yard. And so they're saying, oh, your yard conforms because it has this much area, even though in reality I'm six and a half feet off the side yard. So I'm into the side yard, so they're basically making, I'm being made to make up for that area by pushing my addition inward and away from the side yard and giving a much larger side yard. And so, you know, basically by me being smart aleck, I mean, I basically came over here, let me just extend this silly little plank to get that side yard just to get an approved plan, and I really don't want to build that plank. It doesn't add anything, it detracts, and it doesn't actually do anything to change this side of my addition. Thank you. any other questions for the applicant that will give staff an opportunity to talk i don't think we had anyone else in the audience to speak do we on this one okay look at staff the only thing i would want to cover is the side yard averaging thing i know that's confusing There is a provision in the zoning ordinance in Article 15 that allows for the side yard of a structure that's not perfectly parallel to a property line to average the overall width of that side yard. So if it tapers, the wider angle may be greater than the required side yard, but the more tapered end may encroach into that. But the overall area of the side yard meets what's required. That's a pretty standard calculation that building inspection does with all building permits, whether it's new construction or additions, and that is reviewed in the zoning ordinance that you're able to average the side yard. I think Mr. Yeiser covered the fact that his existing structure, I believe he stated that it is nonconforming, but I think his last statements about the averaging kind of proved that it is not an existing non-conforming structure because of the calculations and his, can we actually pull up the site plan really quick? Because his house kind of has like the two wings. One juts out a little farther existing, and so building inspection included that area into their side yard calculations. It's a little hard to see that there with the sycamore tree, so I'll go here. All right. So the existing structure is here in white, and Mr. Yizer was talking about how this side yard plus this, like ignore the blue and the red, this section of side yard are included in that averaging side yard calculation. And so technically his provided side yard right now is in conformance with the zoning ordinance. The addition here with the covered porch kind of cuts off all that extra space he was gaining because this side of the house juts back a little farther than this one. And so this total area now of his side yard, the proposed side yard, is no longer conforming with what's required. And that's why he is needing a variance for this addition. And he was stating the plank that he was proposing kind of juts out a little further than what the covered porch is, so that he's able to bring that extra side yard into his average side yard calculations. Was this depiction correct of it just being a small portion of that extension? You know, it looked like it was just about... I think we should clarify a plank added to the deck is not the same as an addition to the house. so expanding his deck will not in effect do the same thing as the addition and a wall just a projection of one wall is not a structure right it's a portion of one it's one piece of a four wall structure but more specifically like on the red portion there that says covered porch his illustration had just it being the first maybe three feet down that was not performing is that correct i don't believe so because we're looking at the comp like the total average area of the side yard and he was looking at the part just of the covered porch that was not meeting and i would like to state um mr yeiser has had an approved building permit with that plank design so building inspection has already approved building permits for that that's a plank okay okay good deal good deal yeah um because i know i was asking more specifically because if it is really just three feet that fell out of compliance i would feel a little differently questions of staff all right thank you all If there are questions, if someone in agreement and want to make a motion to the alternative and it's legal, what do we do? I personally, it looks to me, and I may be just looking at this wrong, but it's a crooked lot. It's farther distance off of the existing line, and it doesn't seem to be creating any issue for neighbors or views and things like that. I'd be in favor of allowing it. It seems like the rigidity of the zone is what's restricting it. However, there is still the question of the hardship. It always comes back to that. There's not a specific hardship on why it is other than the lot. It's just kind of a wonky-shaped lot. So I personally would be okay with allowing this. That's my own opinion. Great. Okay. If that's the case, we may want to take a brief moment. I don't know where everybody else stands. I don't want to go too. They agree? Okay. Okay. So we'll get with legal, get some findings, and we'll take five minutes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. you guys were fast look at that look at that I should be an elementary teacher no good deal okay so that at this time we will entertain a motion madam chair recommend approval of PLN BOA 23-55 Jordan Yager's request for a variance to reduce the side yard for a deep building for 11 feet 1 inch to 9 feet in order to construct an addition in a single family residential zone on property located at 2108 bridge fort drive based on number one allowing construction of an addition that extends into the side yard beyond the limitation of article 15 2b2 will not adversely affect the essential character of of the neighborhood know that negatively impact the public health, safety, or welfare, or create a nuisance for the residents because the addition will not block surrounding neighbors views of the neighborhood characteristic features. And two, the variance to permit construction of an addition in the side yard is also justified by the special circumstances of the land and will not unreasonably circumvent the zoning requirements for fences because the side yard is on average 22 feet narrower than surrounding lots for the R1B zone. I'm sorry. Did I say fence? Did I say fence? Did I need to start over? For the minutes, for the record. Oh, there's where it says fence. There we go. Okay. We'll start over on number two. The variance to permit construction of an addition in the side yard is also justified by the special circumstances of the land and will not unreasonably circumvent the zoning requirements for side yards. for side yards is on average 22 feet narrower than surrounding lots for the R1B zone and enforcing the deep building provision would require reducing the size of the addition to the point of uselessness based on other testimony here today and subject to there's no conditions right there's two pages okay This approval is made subject to the following conditions. Construction shall be completed in accordance with submitted application materials and site plan. And number two, all necessary permits and approval shall be obtained by Division of Building Inspection prior to completion of construction. Thank you. Do we have a second? I second the motion. Thank you. No further discussion. We will take a vote. Make sure he's okay with the conditions. I'm sorry, I should have had the applicant come back while we were doing this. You're fine. Actually, your motion has passed. We didn't make sure he was okay with the conditions. Okay. So good. That's your plan. The motion has passed. Good luck with your project. Okay. The next one, PLNBOA 2357. That's Mr. John Stoker and has been recommended for disapproval, so we will allow staff to present first. All right. PLN BOA 23-57, John Stoker. This is an application for a variance to reduce the required Side Street Side Yard from 30 feet to 0 feet in order to provide a circular driveway and additional paving in the side street side yard of a single family zone r1c on property located at 2994 montevista road first the property is outlined here in red kind of in the center of the screen it is a 0.33 acre lot at the southeast corner of montevista road here and claire road here in the vicinity just to help you kind of locate where this property is located uh shinaway road extends down kind of the right side of the screen alumni road is just off the screen to the north and then tates creek road is off the screen to the left and then the park here lansdowne merrick park is located just to the south of the subject property zooming in a little bit closer to the property currently the property contains an 1800 square foot single-family residence that includes an attached garage and the applicant desires to pave the circular drive in the side street side yard here along with some additional paving in in the rear yard for an off-street parking space for their boat. This next slide covers... Can I stop you for just a second? Sure. In our information packet here, we're looking through some of the stuff, the citizen comments, and they're not lining up with the item that's up for discussion. If you're able to set those aside and, I guess, save them for the... We didn't receive any opposition to this application, I don't believe. I'm saying the case that you've got up here, the documentation is not lining up with the citizen comments. What's uploaded in Granicus? Okay. Okay. Do you have the correct staff report and other application materials? Okay. All right. So this property being zoned, R1C, the required front yard is 30 feet, and since it is a corner lot in any zone a corner lot is required to provide the same front yard along its side street side yard so that side street side yard is also 30 feet and then article 16 was updated in the fall of 2022 and it states that no parking loading or unloading space shall be located within any required front yard or any required side street side yard. These next two bullet points talk specifically about what we consider off-street parking or a driveway. First, the article 111 defines a front yard as the open space extending the full width of the lot between a building and a front lot line, which in this case it applies also to the side street side yard. And the depth of the front yard is the shortest distance, measured horizontally between or i guess perpendicularly between the front of the building and the lot line then it also defines a residential driveway as a private paved vehicular access extending on the shortest reasonable i can't speak today i apologize shortest reasonable path through the front yard or side street side yard to the off street parking area this is the site plan that the applicant submitted um first the circular driveway is highlighted here and then you can this is their existing driveway so they're wanting to kind of pave the circular driveway here and then this is the additional paving for their off-street parking of their boat the design of the proposed driveway includes landscaping which the applicant opines kind of screens that circular driveway from the roadway along Clare Road although it's not subject to the requested variants the applicant is working on constructing additions you can see that here on their site plan these are being reviewed and approved by the division of building inspection but the applicant wanted to provide that on this site plan to help provide context as to why the circular drive is being requested. They opine that this circular drive would provide off-street parking for the people living there and any guests and then also improve the safety of the street. They state that the circular driveway allows for them to exit their driveway a little further away from the stop sign of montavesta and claire road and so that's a part of their justification they would be able to pull out of their driveway head first onto claire road further away from that stop sign they also state that on street parking on claire road negatively impacts the safety of the road by blocking the view of drivers turning from montavesta onto claire road blocking the view of those driving to be able to see if there are children playing in the street they further state that the on-street parking narrows the available space for emergency vehicles currently claire road allows for on-street parking on both sides of the street and then lastly they opine that on-street parking along claire road would obstruct the views of the stop sign at the intersection of claire road and montavesta the applicant also cites some other circular drives in the existing like the vicinity there as additional justification for why this proposed circular drive is not out of character with the surrounding area however these nearby circular driveways were paved before these additional parking regulations were put into place last fall these new regulations were adopted in order to modernize lexington's parking regulations in a way that balances the need for parking demand and supply while also creating a safe walkable and livable community staff feels that the circular driveway is not necessary to meet the applicants objectives currently they have a two-car garage that is attached in or i guess a part of the existing structure and they also have an existing driveway that is 16 feet wide and 30 feet long currently that provides up to six off street parking spaces with the new parking regulations we increase the allowable driveway width for this property they're able to pave an additional eight feet of parking or driveway extending the width of that driveway to a total of 24 feet providing even more off street parking for the applicant without requiring a variance both claire road and mota vesta allow for on-street parking along both sides of the street and claire road terminates in a cul-de-sac to the south i guess just to the plan north here and does not experience high volumes of traffic so staff believes that existing off-street parking with the garage and existing driveway in addition to the potential to wide widen the existing driveway as well as on-street parking are suitable for the applicant's needs and talking with traffic engineering the applicant is also able to request a second driveway They would have to work with traffic engineering to get approval, but they would be able to request the second driveway by itself for their off-street parking of their boat. And traffic engineering would take a look at its proximity to the intersection here and whether or not that would be an allowable second driveway. if the neighbors or that the applicant are concerned about Claire Road not being wide enough for on-street parking on both sides and for the passing of emergency vehicles there is a process for having that assessed they can call the Division of Fire and Emergency Services to file and well to request basically an investigation and fire can come out take a look at the road do some measurements and then coordinate with traffic engineering if they feel that restricting on-street parking to one side is needed in order to allow for the safe passing of emergency vehicles so there is a process in place for assessing whether or not Clare Road is wide enough to support on-street parking on both sides they'll just have to contact the Division of Fire and emergency services so with that staff is recommending disapproval there do not appear to be special circumstances that are unique to the subject property that do not generally apply to land in the general vicinity the applicant is able to expand the existing driveway to 24 feet and potentially work with traffic engineering in order to get a second driveway on the rear of their site for that off-street parking area for their boat. And staff feels that on-street parking is suitable to meet the additional needs as Clare Road does not experience high volumes of traffic. I'd be happy to answer any questions if the board has some for staff. Thank you, Megan. Do we have any questions with staff at this time? Could we see the aerial view of Monta Vista and Clare Road again? Is that one zoomed in far enough for you, or do you need this one? That one. Okay, I can try to zoom in. Okay, so Claire is a cul-de-sac. Yes. Okay. Any other questions from the board? Okay. Thank you all. Thank you. And if the applicant... Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. Okay. Hello. Hello. Hello. John and Melissa Stoker for our property at 2994 Monta Vesta. I'll let a better orator continue. I wouldn't say that. Again, my name is Melissa Stoker, and we are here today to ask the board for approval of a circular driveway on the side of our property next to an addition we are currently adding at the corner of Monta Vesta and Claire. Everybody has a copy of the site plan, or you've seen it up there. It's a pretty good-sized addition. We bought this property because we love the location, we love our neighborhood, we love our neighbors, and it had a really nice yard. To summarize, we are a family with four vehicles and a company truck. We also own an 18-foot boat currently in storage at Cape Run. As you can see on the plan, the new addition includes a side porch and an entryway. We are asking for a variance to allow our circular drive so vehicles can exit our drive at the rear of our property and afford motion with clear visibility as opposed to by the stop sign where the only option is to back up. Or juggle cars if there's some in the garage and there's some not. Essentially pulling into our circular drive via our current driveway and exiting out the new inn going forward. a much safer plan for our neighborhood children, walkers, bikers, neighbors, and visitors. Additionally, it allows us to get said vehicles off the street, which can become very narrow when cars are parked on both sides of the street, especially for emergency vehicles, the LFUCG trucks, including garbage, recycling, yard waste. The application is inclusive of many factors, and I'm sure you have all read them, but there are a few points I believe need to be made clear. One of the questions asked if granting the variance would negatively affect the health, safety, or alter the character of the vicinity or allow unreasonable circumvention. First, I can assure you that this addition will indeed keep with the neighborhood we love so much. Our building permit has been approved, and our neighbors are very excited for this project. The next part of that question asks if it allow unreasonable circumvention. Well, in our opinion, safety is never unreasonable. Let me explain. We are aware the staff has suggested disapproval of our application, stating a circular drive is not necessary to meet our objectives. We respectfully disagree. If our only concern was parking spaces, that suggestion would definitely be more compelling. However, their conclusion, as we have read, was based only for adding parking spaces. The suggestion that we can add eight feet of driveway to solve the problem is only partially correct, and by no means the most important aspect of this application. It is repeatedly mentioned in the application submitted that safety is a top concern, not just spaces and the use of more street parking, which from the Chartering Code of Ordinance says in Chapter 18, Article 9, Section 18122, under 24-hour parking, the parking of any vehicle on any street for more than 24 hours is hereby prohibited. Any vehicle parked for more than 24 hours is hereby declared a public nuisance. It goes on to say it will be impounded. Street parking is not exactly ideal. Additionally, as stated earlier for another case, There are those in the area with similar situations that have added the circular driveway on the side, and it works great. In particular, the house that's exactly catty corner from our house on the other side of Claire and Monta Vesta has the same arrangement. And while it has been stated that the ordinance changed or was updated, per se, in, I believe, October of 2022, it does not and should not mean its relevance should not be considered, especially since the purpose of the change was to create a safe, walkable, sustainable, and livable community. So while the option of additional parking is suggested, it doesn't take into account the most important part of the application, the safety of others. Like other streets that back to Lansdowne Park, there's park access at the end of Claircourt. It's used by walkers, bikers, and people with pets from not only our court, but also Clare Road across Four Pines and Monta Vesta residents. They all cut down our street and are on there all day long. We're a busy access point from early in the morning to late at night, and we love that. We love that they're there, and we love the park. All ages. So backing out from our driveway by the stop sign requires one to pay attention to cars turning left from Monta Vesta onto our court, cars turning right from Monta Vesta onto our court, watching for cars coming up the street on our court, watching for our neighbor backing out of her driveway, watching for others parked on the street, all at the same time watching out for the park walkers coming and going on the sidewalk, the bikers. coming up from the park, children from down the street on bikes and big wheels that can be hard to see, pets on leashes being walked up from the park who are also hard to see because they're usually ahead of their owners walking. All these situations have to be considered every single time we back out of the driveway. You'd be surprised how fast a biker can be upon you, even though you didn't see anyone when you started to back. There's too many blind spots to mention when backing up with all these elements in play. Backing out of our driveway requires an act of all many things at once. Since we've been here since December, I myself have almost been T-boned while backing out of my driveway from cars making a quick left onto our court. It was suggested that our court does not have a high volume of traffic. And I would say that depends on if you're counting houses or if you consider the house with the teenagers who enjoy having friends visit, or neighbors who have guests over, or the young children having friends who like to skate and ride bikes and big wheels, or the amount of park walkers and bikers and pets going to and from all day long, not to mention Amazon deliveries on the daily, which some of that's me. So yes, there is a special circumstance, an unnecessary hardship that there is a solution to that provides a safer environment for all as we move forward with the addition. Managing visibility on the corner by the stop sign in multiple directions all at once is even more important than parking spaces. The recommendation states this would be inconvenient for us. Well, we believe it's much more than inconvenient. The safety of our neighbors, our park visitors, and children is what really should matter. So again, the recommendation of disapproval by the staff only addresses parking spaces and not safety, And yes, something as simple as backing out of a driveway has had fatal consequences. Our location by the stop sign, with all the elements in play that we present, are creating the perfect storm. We ask you today to not let that happen. Because we are adding this addition, now is the time to improve the situation. Let's get the cars off the street. Let's get them where they're not in the way of people accessing the park. In conclusion, we can soundly say that yes, grounding the variants will not adversely affect public health, safety, or welfare of the general vicinity. Like others have done in our area, a circular drive offers the safest solution. Yes, the granting of the variants will not alter the essential character of the general vicinity as the addition meets the standard of our neighborhood. And yes, there is a special circumstance due to the location and the safety factors that we have detailed. And yes, the variance will not allow an unreasonable circumvention of the requirements of the zoning ordinance, as we too have applied for this in a timely manner when we decided to make the addition. So we have some extra pictures that John can show you, just a little briefly, just to show you some of the situations. Sorry I wasn't as techie as the last guy that got up here. And I also question adding eight feet onto our sidewalk. Will we be, are we supposed to cut into the curb down there? Thank you. Huh? Well, you're saying that we will extend our driveway eight feet over. Will that cut into the curb or you're just wanting us to pull into our current driveway and not expand on, not cut the curb there? You can expand it all the way out. So you can cut the curb there. Okay, so there's really not much of a difference. Yeah. Okay, thank you. We need an extra copy of that for your record. Okay. Do we have any questions of the applicant? Do you want us to go over the pictures or do you get kind of a fairly good idea? They may have questions. It's kind of hard to see, but I think she, like that kind of gives you, like this one here is just a sorry about the sunlight it kind of got me but you can see where it would go in and make a nice way for us to pull in a car could back up you know he could park his truck in front of our gate to the fence in the back be out of the way so we could you know have access to move around come out on that end and these are just this is a shot over here this is the neighbor that's caddy corner to us that works great they use their circular drive they don't park any cars on the street this is as you can see cars parked on both sides of the street so the top left photo shows directly across caddy corner monta besta there's a circular drive right there and it works perfect so before we introduce our neighbor who is here to speak is is there anything else that we can or she can speak and we can answer questions okay that's all right okay we'll be fine on the rear of your property do you all or you're proposing to put the the back driveway to park the boat that's just on the side of our addition it's not going all the way to the back well we may include the patio may come if you go back to the drawing that we submitted it's at the back of your property though at the back it's kind of like an h you know where you know like we have our driveway here it loops over there it is it loops over and then you can see it would go back behind our property yes so the boat should we bring the boat home like i said it's in storage right now which you know that's getting pricey but it would be behind our property behind the gate as opposed to parking it out on the side of our house. We don't want to do that. We love our neighbors. You know we want to make this as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Is your neighbor okay without a fence back there where the boats park? There is a fence. There's a fence. Yes yes sir and she is aware because yes she's she had a fence before and we you know we've is it a privacy fence or just a six foot yes okay and we do we are aware that you have to be two feet and so we will be planting shrubs and everything all down the side there won't be any water or anything like that it meets the two foot variance as well any other questions of the applicant okay if you could take your seat and we'll allow for public comment then we'll let staff to respond okay this is our neighbor pat hill okay if you please give your name and address for the i'm pat hill i live at 3002 montevester road can you hear me well you hear you wonderfully i must say it's often been hard to hear you guys and you guys so i don't know if it's because i've got a big teacher voice and melissa is just she's just kind of loud herself but it's been kind of hard i've been straining to really hear your comments i don't know can you all hear well you agree with me it's been a little bit hard to hear your comments which are beneficial to the audience too here okay so i'm one of those 20 neighbors who received a letter about what the this family's really is ready to do and Nobody's here in opposition to what they intend to do. I am, of all those 20 neighbors, I am the neighbor most impacted by your decision. Because, let me paint a word picture of how we line up. We're both corner houses. And I'm going to say this and have to stay off my notes a little bit, because I think Melissa did really an excellent job of being very thorough in explaining her situation. Their house is not that big. It's not that big. The garage that they have, like a lot of people here, you know, you would think it's a two-car garage, but there's a lot of need for storage. So they have a small car that they're able to park in there. So don't visualize that, hey, they could be parking, you know, two cars in there. There are really, I think, five cars associated with their family. Not three. They have three. Two big vehicles and a small car. Their son is there often, as he should be, and his girlfriend. So there's five folks associated with this family. We have another car. We have another car. Oh, you do? Okay. I'm unaware of that one. But so I'm the neighbor most impacted by what you do because every day when I come out of my house, I'm looking at their situation. Their house had been run into some disrepair as had mine. I bought mine 10 years ago. They've moved in in December, and it was a house that had been let go. Okay, so we both face Monta Vesta Road, and then so our driveways look at each other, and we have the cul-de-sac, that it's a small cul-de-sac, not a big deep one, but a small one that runs in between us. So now every day when I'm ready to back out because of their car situation, whereas before I could just shoot out, just check to see that there were no maintenance vehicles out there, shoot out and be okay. And now that situation is not true. these folks oftentimes have have to pull their cars up in up in their yard to get them out of the way because you know you've got garbage trucks that have to be able to access street cleaner that you know comes by and so it's not uncommon uh to see the fact that they pull their cars up in the yard, get him out of the way. Now just kind of maybe this is out of order, but I hate to hear that some kind of ordinance has changed, saying that we we no longer somehow want to allow these circular U shaped drives because as his family pointed out, 3001 Monta Vesta, I look directly at that house. It's a ranch style house same situation stop sign right there they put in the circular drive i had not even paid any attention that it was a circular drive for this reason so i think i'd be looking to how people do what they do this family when they put the circular drive in they put a brick planter kind of in the middle it's landscaped exquisitely and so when i was thinking about why is it that i don't even notice that it's because it's got a tree and it's beautiful shrubs it's just very aesthetically pleasing at the end of montavesta you run into like a little two house situation it's called mount drive and that connects into Shinaway. At that point, there's a stop sign there. That family also, probably two years ago, had to put in the same situation. And again, the very same thing that makes you forget they've even got that situation is the fact that it is landscaped beautifully and it's really aesthetically very pleasing. So, as I said, I hate to hear that something may have just been sort of carte blanche like, okay, we're not going to allow anybody to do any circular situations. Ms. Hill, I think if you could wrap up for us, please. We still have a lot of other people to speak. Okay, alright. Let me make sure that... You have to set the timer so it's my fault not yours sure okay um so anyway the um it is like here's what it is like to paint the kind of a final picture when all the cars are lined up here like in the kenwix subdivision where it's like threading a needle to get down through the street that's what it is that's absolutely what it is. Personally, you know, I can see no reason to deny them what they want to do and I will say this, the adding of more length to create a driveway that goes sideways looks like it would create something that would look like a jiffy lube sort of a station. Thank you, thank you, we do appreciate the comment. Now staff will need their opportunity to i will try to speak louder for the audience i think it's actually the mic i didn't feel so loud okay either it's not um first i would just like to state that the new regulations regarding parking applied across all zones there is a massive overhaul of article 16 of the zoning ordinance and these new regulations were adopted by council because the communities desired to reduce the amount of paving between the building and the street especially in residential settings so i just want to say that was a community-based concern that in council adopted those new regulations new regulations i'd also like to state that if there are concerns about the road being too narrow for on-street parking on both sides they can request an investigation from the division of fire and emergency services and that is the appropriate protocol to assess the on-street parking concerns i'd also like to say that adding an additional access point with a circular driveway just creates another point of conflict between a vehicle and a pedestrian or other users on the network and that the existing circular drives that were mentioned here were approved under the old regulations and even though they are existing the regulations have changed and there are new goals for the community especially regarding circular driveways i'd also like to state that there are a lot of corner lots in lexington and the subject property doesn't have special circumstances that are unique from the other properties either in the vicinity or in the same zone that justify the need for this variance in order to pave a circular driveway i'd just like to state that backing out of a driveway is not necessarily a hardship and that many properties have to do the same does the board have any questions for staff i did just quick clarification We've talked a lot about parking, but the issue is the side yard. They will no longer have the side yard that's required. That's right. In order to provide the circular driveway, they technically have to reduce that side yard, side street side yard, all the way to zero. Because no paving is allowed in any required side street side yard. Other questions? Thank you, Megan. Briefly, yes, please. you have to come to the mic that side yard we will be landscaping that it'll be beautiful um megan i was going to see could you put up the aerial view again and could we uh zoom in on 3001 across the street from us that existing circular drive if we could zoom in on it i don't know if we're able to zoom in on it okay But that's one if you can see right there, there's our house. We're wanting to do that right there, right across the street, is exactly what we're wanting to do. And it works very well for them. You never see cars on that street on that side. So just wanted to point that out. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion from the board? If not, we'll prepare for a motion. Thank you. You ready? We have a motion. Thank you. Madam Chair, regarding PLNBOA 2357, John Stalker, I recommend disapproval in support of the staff. in a request for a variance to reduce the required side street yard setback from 30 to 0 feet in order to provide a circular driveway and additional paving in the side street yard in a single-family residential R1C zone on property located at 2994 Monta Vesta Road. The reason for disapproval, A, the applicant has not provided a sufficient justification to meet the requirements of Article 7 of the zoning ordinance of KRS 100.243. There do not appear to be special circumstances that are unique to the subject property that do not generally apply to land in the general vicinity or in the same zone that justify the need for the variance. The applicant has not provided sufficient information determined that the strict enforcement of the zoning ordinance will result in an unnecessary hardship or deprive the applicant of the reasonable use of their land. The applicant is able to expand the existing driveway to 24 feet and provide space to park approximately six vehicles in the existing garage and expanded driveway. With approval from traffic engineering, the applicant is also able to pave a second driveway in order to provide an off-street parking area for their vote. Additionally, all street parking is suitable to meet the applicant's needs. Thank you, Ms. Pumlin. And do we have second? Ms. Tucker, thank you. And are we ready for a vote, please? Okay, the board has actually upheld the disapproval of the staff. Thank you. Our next one is PLNBOA 23-50. That's the Lexington Hispanic Adventist Church. If the applicant is present, please be prepared. we'll have the staff present first because we do have some someone speak in opposition as well and i would like to say i know the applicant was working on um finding someone for kind of translator services so if they could come into the room or if we want to auto may go check and just make sure great we'll give them some time thank you And to the members who just walked in, there are three empty seats up here and two over on the left side. And we do need everyone sitting in a chair for fire code. Thank you. All right, we're going to move forward with this application. I'm giving everybody a chance to be seated, please. All right. PLN BOA 23-50, Lexington Hispanic Adventist Church. They are requesting a conditional use permit in order to construct a building addition to an existing place of religious assembly in an R1C zone on property located at 125 Garrett Avenue. The property located here, outlined in red in the center of the screen, is across from the intersection where Glover Avenue here terminates at Garrett Avenue. for sales road runs to the south of the image here and oxford circle is just here to the right just to help you kind of figure out where the property is located this property is surrounded by predominantly single family residential homes and is approximately one and a half acres in size the existing church is just around 12 000 square feet in size the property has been before the board two times in the past most recently in 1991 at that time the applicant was requesting an expansion of the parking lot which was approved by the board the previous boa application was in 1972 and was for an addition to the building itself the zoning ordinance here states that in the r1c zone places of religious assembly are conditional uses and the second bullet here states that there are no parking requirements minimum parking requirements for the r1c zone and the board does have the authority to establish additional requirements related to off-street parking as they see fit this is the proposed or this is a site plan for the proposed addition the existing structure is kind of washed out in this image but it is here dimensioned the proposed addition is 80 feet by 100 feet totaling an additional 8 000 square feet of the building bringing it up closer to 20 000 square feet in total in addition with the well along with the addition they are also proposing an expansion of the parking area what's shown on the site plan is in pretty draft mode but they are proposing a total of 50 parking spaces a paving permit will be required for the new parking to the rear of the site this parking here does not exist and i think the configuration of the parking kind of to the rear will be affected by the proposed building addition so they will be required to submit a paving permit and during that process the overall design will be reviewed by traffic engineering. The proposed addition will serve as a gymnasium for the church. The applicant states that they will utilize this addition for church-related recreational events such as basketball and soccer along with some youth group events and to utilize it as a banquet facility for weddings and other events including concerts. The applicant also states that this addition will serve as a space for the operation of the food bank that they are currently operating on site, just not in their building. So this will allow them to have an indoor space for that food bank. They state that they expect to accommodate approximately 100 people on this site on a regular basis. A lot of, we did receive some concerns from neighbors and I just wanted to review a few of them. First, the concerns were related to storm water on the property and especially with the expansion of the building itself in that impervious area. This plan here on the projector is actually from their 1991 BOA application. It is a stormwater plan that was submitted. It shows here in the lower left corner an on-site basin for the proposed additional paving that was approved in 1991. And this map here kind of shows existing stormwater infrastructure. In a very light blue, you can see that basin here. And then the pink lines are your sanitary lines, and the green lines are the stormwater lines. You'll notice there's not a lot of stormwater connections in the area, and that's related to the fact that Garrett Avenue actually used to be out in the county when this property was originally developed. And so the infrastructure was not in place when they built. So they have connections now to the sanitary, but they have the basin on site because of the lack of stormwater infrastructure in the area. I talked with Josh Desarn in engineering, who is here if you have additional questions about this process. But he explained that the stormwater issues are reviewed during land disturbance permit process. And so when the church moves forward with their addition, when they file the land disturbance permit, that stormwater will be assessed and they will be required to provide infrastructure if engineering determines that they need additional volume or capacity on site. there were questions as well about the screening along the property perimeter and i'll address those here in a second and there was also a question about the overall height of that proposed addition the applicant didn't state in their materials how tall that addition is and so if they have that answer for us today i would like for that to be addressed considering all that staff is recommending approval of the request we find that the expansion of the use should not adversely affect the surrounding properties and the subject property is large enough to support the proposed addition and the additional parking without imposing on the neighboring properties there is existing landscaping that will screen the addition and the new parking areas will be required to meet the VUA perimeter screening in Article 18. And I can clarify what those are here in a second. And staff believes that the expanded parking areas should be sufficient to accommodate the visitors expected on this property throughout the week. So we're recommending approval with the following conditions. Number two states that the new vehicular use area shall be paved, landscaped, and screened in accordance with Article 16 and 18 of the zoning ordinance. That includes an eight-foot vehicular use area perimeter buffer. It's a mouthful. But an eight-foot wide buffer along all property lines in the parking area that contains one tree per 25 linear feet. and then also two rows of staggered shrubs or a fence or an earthen mound in order to provide just some additional screening from that VUA to the neighboring properties. we also have number three included which addresses the need for a sidewalk to be connected from garrett avenue back to the property itself existing the existing property doesn't have any sidewalks to allow for pedestrians to safely get from the street to the building and so we did would include that condition number three in order to have that internal pedestrian walkways provided. And staff believe that all necessary public facilities and services are available and adequate for the proposed use. I'm happy to answer any questions the board may have at this time. And if there are questions about the storm water, Josh Desarn is here. Do we have any questions? I had a quick question, but I'm sure it's already been addressed. The size of it seemed awful large, but will that combine square footage that still falls within all of the requirements? Yes, they don't need any other setback variances. There aren't any FAR limitations for this property. Thank you. Yes, Mr. Stratton. When will the height of the building be established? Say that one more time, I'm so sorry. The applicant, she wants us to ask the applicant about the height. Yeah. Yeah, so we'll get into it. Yeah, the applicant did not state how tall the addition would be, so if they have that information available at this time, I hope they provide it. All right, if there are no more questions, I'll let the applicant come forward. Thank you. Can the applicant come forward, please? Good afternoon. I'm Councilwoman Brenna Menares. I'm just helping to translate. Thank you. We appreciate it. If we can get names and addresses for the record. Feliz tarde. Mi nombre es David Corro. Soy el pastor de la iglesia. He's the pastor of the church. I'm Isaac Ochoa, I'm second translator just in case. Okay, so we'll get it right. He's actually the official translator. He just wants me to be kind of backup in case there's something he doesn't understand and he needs me to help collaborate. No problem, and we've been sworn in accordingly. We get nervous sometimes and we forget things, okay? So we have two purposes or our ideal goal to build these new facilities to make it as educational facility as possible. We're going to have two purposes, the Pathfinders is a club, Pathfinder clubs for youths. So we're going to service, we're going to do service to all youth in the community, community service to youth and so keep them out of the streets, to provide new skills for the future, and prepare children to the good. And we have extensive of things so they can learn new skills. So normally, this facility is going to be to provide all kinds of learning to youth people around the community. Thank you. Now the staff has recommended approval but there were a couple of questions. One in particular was regarding the height of the proposed building. So he's telling me the building height is going to be the same height of the original building. And it's right there. He doesn't have the exact measurements, but he's saying that it's the exact same height as the existing structure. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have other questions of the applicant? Thank you. We do have an opportunity for public comment, so if you... Oh. Yep. And we'll do three minutes each and I'll remember to set the timer so you guys can take a look and keep track. Paula Singer, 110 Hamilton Park in Lexington. I respectfully ask the board to postpone rendering a decision on this conditional use appeal until the following three items have been addressed. One, the neighborhood needs to be provided with a new mailing, which provides accurate information regarding the applicant's intended use for the addition as well as the dates and times of operation. In the required neighborhood mailing, documents stated the building addition would be a gymnasium addition to existing church building and that the addition would be used for church recreation. However, the applicant in two separate sections of the application states the services provided will be for the area and for the community. This indicates useful not be restricted to church congregants as implied by the mailing. The applicant states that the addition will be used for weddings, banquets and concerts. Celebratory and musical events concern neighbors with regard to noise and hours of operation. Applicant states events will be held any day at any time, indicating they are unfamiliar with the residential noise ordinance. Staff recommends, this is number two, staff recommends approval subject to paving, landscaping, and screening in accordance with articles 16 and 18 of the zoning ordinance, and an increase in parking to 50 spots. Staff specifically and emphatically recommends the vehicular use area be designed with standards outlined in Article 16-6A of the zoning ordinance and that pedestrian walkways be included. The rudimentary drawing provided by applicant does not provide any specifics to indicate whether these requirements can be met. The board cannot be asked to render a decision when an adequate site plan is not provided. Finally, staff states additional traffic due to expanded use will not have a negative impact on the neighborhood, but staff does not account for ongoing and recently approved new construction in the immediate area. East-West Glover dead ends at the subject property. At its western end, Glover's eastern end runs into the Christian Towers apartment complex at Versailles Road. The ongoing construction at Christian Towers has necessitated Glover Avenue's use as an alternate route for visitors and employees, significantly increasing traffic. It appears access to Christian Towers along Glover will be permanent. Directly across from the church, three residential lots recently received staff approval to be subdivided into five lots for the purpose of constructing five new homes, which again will increase traffic. Two more seconds. Two seconds. When the neighborhood traffic safety needs are considered holistically and not piecemeal, the intersection of Garrett and Glover Avenues, where the church is located, is a candidate for a three-way stop. Please postpone a vote on this appeal. We really have to get everyone else in, but we have seen that as well. It's been submitted into the record. Thank you. Thank you. All right, did we have more public comment? Okay. And what we'd like to do is please new information, not to reiterate the same information, but make sure we get everything covered. Okay. Okay. I'm Peggy Henson. I live at 143 Garrett Avenue, right up the street from the church. And I felt like due to challenges with not being able to speak Spanish, that we couldn't properly reach out to the church. I would hope that you would support a postponement so that we could all sit down and talk with members of the church. And they can, you know, our council person who replaced me is bilingual. And I feel like for sure she would be willing to help us in that matter. but The church is very good for the community, and I love the church, and they've never been a problem. But there are a few issues. You know, I'm not against this per se at all, but I do feel like that we should have our concerns addressed. Thank you. Thank you. And we'll make sure we get that information as well. I'm sure the church would love to be a good neighbor and sit down and have those conversations. Did we have someone else? Anyone else? Yes. And were you sworn in while you were out there? Yes. Great. Thank you. My name is Jan Hellebush. I live behind it. I'm 134 Hamilton Park. And myself, I'm 130 and 120. I don't want to waste time. We put up the fence that exists right now, so we manage all that. But I'm not opposed to it either. I want to just support everything Peggy and Paula said. But we just don't have enough information about it. And they do get kind of loud on Saturdays with their speaker system and all that. And I get it. So I thought, oh, Jim will be nice and be quiet. But the building itself has several different heights, the existing building. So I'm curious. It's right out my back window what I'm going to be looking at now. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it. Was there any further comment? My name is Linda West. I live at 135 Hamilton Park. And currently, with the church as it now is, I can hear them in my backyard, which is about 1,000 feet behind the church's back boundary, because they're broadcasting music. They're speaking over loudspeakers. And this will go on for most of the day when it occurs. It does not occur every weekend. It's probably occurred five or six times in the past summer. But the noise level is already affecting my property and others on my street. And I'm very concerned that if adequate precautions aren't taken with this proposed expansion, that the noise level will become a weekly thing and will have even greater impact. Also, the reasons that have been given for the expansion have varied. They are not consistent. Today we heard that what they want to do is provide a place for youth. Is that just the young people of the church? Will they be there daily? We don't know. I think we need far more precise information than we currently have in order to know the actual impact that this will have on our neighborhood. So I wanted to back up everything that everyone else has said to this point and ask that you delay approving of this request. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, we have more. Okay. I'm Bonnie Jacobs. I'm also living at 135 Hamilton Park. And I simply second what the other folks have said that live on our street and on Garrett. And that's all. We appreciate it. Thank you. Do we have any other public comments? Would the applicant like to say anything further? Thank you. That he is very happy to have heard the concerns of the citizens, that he is 100% on board with addressing any concerns that anyone may have, and that he looks forward to serving the community in any greater capacity that this approval may allow. that there are many things that he wasn't aware of were existing so that he is thankful to have been brought into this session so that he's aware of the fact that these concerns exist and he promised to address them. that in the winter, the activities of the air are limited for the children of the church. And the other activities of the church are very small, but I'm sure that we will not be going to be affected. That first and foremost, this space allows for indoor activities, especially in the wintertime when they had limited availability of creating programs for youth during the winter. but other activities that they plan are much smaller and that he doesn't believe will create the concern for noise, but he'll address anything that comes to his attention. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Is David Corral? Just to state his name for the record, it's David Coro Rodriguez. Okay, thank you. She wasn't sure of that. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. Did the staff have anything further? Okay. I would just like to state that the notification mailing that was sent out was done in compliance with due process. We just include the request in that letter, which states that this black text here, a conditional use permit in order to construct the building addition. All additional information about the application is available online, And, of course, people are able to call our office and request copies. But I would just like to state for the record that the mailing was done correctly. I'd also like to state that members of the congregation of the church were the ones that submitted the application materials just due to the language barrier. And so I think that a lot of the information was missing because they were kind of a liaison, a representative of the church, not the pastor themselves. And then I would also just like to state that site plans, especially for VOA applications, often have to go through additional permit reviews in order to nail down final details. And so the stormwater issues will be addressed in further permitting reviews. And then also the vehicular screening and design will be addressed in further permitting reviews, which are, of course, done by their correct divisions here in the government. Does the board have any questions about any of that information? Questions? Okay. Thank you all. All righty. There's nothing further. I'll entertain a motion. It seems like the majority of the dispute comes from the days of the week and the times, and I know your neighbors are wanting you to kind of clarify that. Would you be willing to stipulate somewhat instead of just any time, anywhere? Where? I know if I was your neighbor, I'd be a little bit nervous about that too, so. So, Saturdays it would be approximately 8 PM to 10 PM, and then Sundays it would be 11 AM to 5 PM. The rest of the week would just be working hours. And weekdays is few and far between. It's nothing regularly scheduled. Thank you. Thank you. We have another question, please. Would you be willing to meet actually officially with the neighbors and you all could talk? I mean, it would be much more adaptable instead of us trying to have this arrangement here. I mean, we could actually make that a condition maybe that we have. He has no problem making an official appointment and putting something on a calendar, date and time to meet with them and address any concern. Thank you. Do you want to motion and add that as a condition? Well, Chad was going somewhere with it. I don't want to. They said you shouldn't do that. Legal is the same. I think the difficulty with making that as a condition is how is it actually going to be enforced. Okay. It's reflected in the minutes, so we do have record here. Well, I know that when a developer is going to go to a neighborhood, he nowadays tries to meet with the neighbors, and I don't think that happened here. And so that's what I'm trying to do now, is to get them to sit down together to meet. I think this board can certainly encourage that, and that's a good thing to encourage. I just don't know that it would be appropriate to make it a condition of getting the conditional use permit, because we've already got the permit, and then they have to meet afterward, and we can't really – there's really no mechanism to enforce it as a condition. So it sounds like the possibilities would be either a postponement, so you can meet with neighbors, Or write this in the 8A to 10B and then 11A to 5B on Sunday. Yes, that's true. And the bylaws provide that you can do a postponement, that's an action of the board. There's not really a mechanism to do a postponement when the applicant hasn't actually requested it. And the applicant has not requested it. So if the applicant is agreeable to that to resolve that with the neighbors, then this board could take that action. Or you could approve it and then add the condition for the hours that you requested. I'm not sure. I would go in the opposite direction. I don't know why we would postpone it. I think that part of the community neighbor and being a part of the community, that will be ongoing. But I don't know how that, I thought it was a little clearer what they're requesting and how it's allowable. And they still have a lot of details that they have to put out, but that's going to be continued into the remaining of the process. And there are ordinances already in place regarding times and noise and availability. So those things we can restate, and we've done them before, and we've restricted them some before. But mainly just an awareness, we make sure if they're aware of the ordinance, then that's basically what we're saying, they have to comply with all the other ordinances and permit process so i i wouldn't see any reason for a postponement in this case and the applicant has an ass so it's not so this board either can approve disapprove or postpone no no we haven't been asked for okay so we can approve or disapprove okay no public comment is closed at this point thank you aware of your discussion i've been translating translating yeah good okay we'll entertain a motion if there is one If we need a break for an amended motion or you guys have to approve. I want to just sit down and talk. I can't make that happen. How would you guys feel? Well, maybe what's the particular, oh, I'm sorry. How would you feel about doing this alteration of times as part of the motion? Would that be all right, or are we going to just leave it the way it is? If they're agreeable to the times, that's fine. I would probably – I feel like that's a – I'm not making a decision for you guys, but I feel like that's a much more limited amount of time than we normally would give any kind of operational. I mean, I want there to be some limits, but that limited their use to just a few hours a week, which is not normal for the use of a church. So I would feel like that would be more restrictive. You could alternatively do a condition where the facilities will not be used any later than 10 p.m., so you don't really restrict them to a certain period. They just wouldn't be able to use it any later than that. Would it be agreeable to that? So it's nothing later than 10 p.m. He's agreeable to that. Okay, thank you. I just don't want you to agree to something that's more restrictive than anything else we've done. Okay. So I was just explaining what it meant to agree. So he doesn't agree to keep it to 10. He would be agreeable to saying 11. just he would hate to agree to 10 and then they carry over 5-10 minutes when they're supposed to end at 10 things are scheduled to 10 and then somebody complains that there was noise at 10-10 is that in alignment with the ordinances written okay the ordinances it's consistent with the noise ordinance which begins at 11 p.m. consistent with the ordinance. So it is 11. Okay. All right, I'll entertain a motion. I started a plot so I'll do it. Since the ordinance already covers most of this stuff. Madam Chair, I move to approve PLM BOA 23-50 Lexington Hispanic Adventist Church request to amend a conditional use permit in order to construct a building addition to an existing place of religious assembly in a single family R1C zone on property located at 125 Garrett Avenue based on staff recommendations and subject to the four conditions. Thank you and do I have a second? We're adding a fifth condition I'm sorry. Oh I'm sorry did you forget your extra condition? You said four conditions. I thought you were adding a fifth condition for the hours. No, no, no. It was because the ordinance already covered. Oh, okay. Let that go. Okay. We do still have four conditions on the actual staff report. Yeah, okay. Didn't I say four? You said four, yeah. I'm with you. Get me live. That's okay. We're good. All right. Do I have a second? Second. Second. No? I'll second. Gotcha. Thank you. Any other questions? Discussion? Oh. Councilmember Menares, can you confirm that they understand they need to build a sidewalk from the existing structure out to the street? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The motion has passed and good luck with your project. We really do encourage the community conversation. if we could this time take a short 10 minute break if that's okay thank you 10 minutes is that good okay we're ready to get back into session If everybody can please take a seat, please, and thank you. I don't know why I'm here. Okay. Okay. All righty, our next case up is PLNBOA 2352, Shepherd's House. It is recommended for staff approval, but we do have quite a bit of public comment that we want to get in. And we'll let staff present first, and then we'll let, I believe Mr. Nicholson is presenting on behalf of the staff. then we will open for public comment. All right, so your next application is PLNBOA 23-52, Shepherd's House. This is a request for a conditional use permit to establish a rehabilitation home within 500 feet of a residential zone. The property is zoned P1 and is located at 2141 Executive Drive. The property here outlined in red in the center of the screen. is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Executive Drive which runs north to south on a screen and Thunderstick which is this road that kind of curves around and intersects Executive Drive by the subject property the property itself is just over an acre in size and the current building is around 7600 square feet and has historically operated as an assisted living facility the surrounding properties as shown here on this map this is a zoning map the blue color shows the p1 zone the brown colors to the north and west of the property are zoned residential and then further down here on Winchester we've got some B1 zones let me actually go back really quick just for additional locational context we've got actually interstate 75 located here it comes down in Winchester Road is just off the screen to the south so just to help you kind of figure out where in town this is located all right back to zoning there is the land to the left to the west of the subject property is undeveloped but is actively zoned residential and in general the proximity is a mix of commercial and professional uses along with the residential uses rehabilitation homes are a principally permitted use in the p1 zone as long as they are located 500 feet from a residential zone due to this pro this property's being adjacent to a residential zone it requires a conditional use permit in order for it to be established there were some concerns from the neighbors that not all of the residents received a mailing a notice mailing and i just wanted to include this map the nos area map for conditional use applications we send letters to all property owners within 500 feet of the subject property So the properties outlined here in blue are those that fell within that 500 feet and the property owners received a letter in the mail This next slide covers the zoning ordinance that applies to this application First in article one we define a rehabilitation home as a building or group of buildings that provide supervised residents for persons recovering from the effects of drug or alcohol abuse these facilities may also provide in other services like counseling or other vocational services and generally have staff and 24-hour a day supervision then in article 15 which is the p1 zone it states that with rehabilitation homes that are located within 500 feet of a residential zone they require a conditional use permit the subject property here which we have zoomed into is the building itself has historically operated as an assisted living facility it was actually approved by the board back in 2013 and along with the conditional use permit for the assisted living facility they also received a variance to reduce the required setback from a flood plain to 10 feet along with the building the property also has two covered patios which are located here to the rear of the structure I wanted to zoom in closer and show the zoning just for the sake of proximity the southwest corner of the existing structure located here is approximately 25 feet from the undeveloped residential land to the west and the established residential land to the north this zone is located approximately 75 feet from this the nearest corner i believe the nearest residential structure is located farther away from that but i wanted to at least include the distance to the edge of the zone boundary itself next this is the site plan for the property you can see on this plan the applicant has included the floodplain line here and their variance was to reduce the setback so that they could construct here and here and that variance was approved by the board in 2013 the applicant which is the Shepherd's house has other facilities throughout Lexington but this facility would be their only residential treatment center the applicant states that this facility is not a detox center they state that it is a that rehabilitation homes in general are needed due to the rising opioid crisis and that the proposed facility would create less traffic than the previously approved assisted living facility due to the restriction on visits to the site from family members or guests the applicant also states that the proposed rehabilitation home will offer 24 7 care and supervision of its residents during its 30 to 90 day treatment program the facility offers in addition to this care they offer some other services such as individual in-group counseling vocational counseling life skill development peer support etc the applicant opines not the typical day for a resident living here or receiving treatment at this facility is carefully structured and tightly scheduled they also state that the residents will not be allowed outside of the facility without supervision and that any visitations are scheduled and supervised by staff of the facility the applicant states that the proposed rehabilitation facility will have a total of 32 beds for men aged 18 and above they plan to have a total of 13 employees which are comprised of both medical professionals counselors therapists case managers as well as overnight facility supervisors so that the facility will be staffed 24 7. they also state that they plan to have security cameras installed both inside and outside of the facility this next slide in blue shows where the floodplain is located the property is subject to or i'm sorry adjacent to a tributary of the bryan station creek and its associated floodplain which is shown here in blue the therefore because of its proximity to the floodplain the facility must continue to be compliant with article 19 requirements and this article addresses proximity issues to floodplain as well as storm water runoff with the site affecting the flow of water in that floodplain you're not allowed to increase the water in a floodplain due to the building's proximity or the building's proximity to the floodplain was addressed during that 2013 boa application where they approved the variance and this applicant is not proposing any changes to the exterior of the building or the site and so storm water runoff should not be affected by the change in use and due to the floodplain the applicant is not able to install any fencing along the western and northern part of the property where the floodplain is located because fencing even if wrought iron fencing can catch debris and affect the flow of water which is not allowed in article 19. um due to the flood plain which is um we're looking kind of at the we're standing on the south side of the property i'll show you here i was standing here when i took this photo and shooting north across the parking lot and you can see back behind the structure there's a lot of vegetation and trees where that floodplain is located and the property itself has a lot of landscaping installed around the parking lot and also up next to the building the proposed use due to that floodplain and the existing vegetation is sufficiently screened from the neighboring residential uses and here's an additional view i'm standing at the intersection of executive drive and thunderstick can this picture looks north up executive drive towards that residential neighborhood and you can see the abundant vegetation here and across the street to where that creek and flood plain continue here's another photo i'm standing on the north side of the building looking west so you can see that pavilion that exists back behind and this is the existing vegetation both on the subject property and in that floodplain and then this i am standing on the bridge that goes over the creek there and i'm shooting west into the floodplain so you can see how dense and abundant the vegetation is within that floodplain and you can see the water down in the bottom of the photo due to all these reasons staff is recommending approval we're supportive of the requested conditional use for the rehabilitation home we find that it is a need in the community in order to address surprising issues with alcohol and drug addiction and dependency that affects the health and welfare of the entire community furthermore the scale of the proposed facility is consistent with the previously approved assisting assisted living facility that is operated on this location for the past 10 years and it should create less traffic for the surrounding area due to the limitation of visitors along with our recommendation of approval we are recommending that these following conditions be included because this property currently has a development plan it will need to be updated to show the boa approval on that final development plan although no physical changes are being made to the property the update to the development plan is required in order to denote this if the board decides to move forward with approval the approval of this application and i'm happy to answer any questions the board may have at this time Is there actually a bridge over the creek that separates the residential zone from the business zone? It's a part of the road. I didn't get a good photo of the bridge itself, but it is right here. It's a part of the road. There's no actual bridge connection from property to property, like a pedestrian bridge on the facility. It's just the bridge along Executive Drive. Thank you. Any other questions from staff? Thank you. If the applicant would like to come forward or a representation, we'll do that now. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Sean Spaulding, 300 West Vine Street, Lexington, Kentucky, 40507. So I am actually joined by several members from the applicant. They are here and they will be available to answer questions for anyone specific to the facility. I won't, I'll try to go quickly and I won't try to repeat the things from the staff report that we agree with so i am here to mostly provide some context for shepherd's house in the need for for the facility so the shepherd's house mission is to provide a structured setting that enables their clients to develop a sense of community financial and employment skills necessary to lead a fulfilled life that is sober at present shepherd's house operates three outpatient residential facilities within the lexington area and as a private non-profit organization shepherd's house is licensed to provide intermediate care facilities in kentucky that offer a cost-effective residents in a supportive living environment. So here's just a little bit of background on the inception of Shepherd's House and some of its members. And then here is a general overview of what the Shepherd's House programming looks like. So the 12 to 18 month timeline is a multi-phase approach. And as staff referenced, the specific time spent at the executive drive location would be in the 30 to 90 day range of that overall 12 to 18 month treatment period. So this location, the executive drive location would not actually be the client's first stop in their road to treatment. So nor is it the long term destination. so attendees at this particular location would either be covered by private pay insurance or private pay clients and specifically these are not court mandated inpatients intake patients here is a more detailed look at the facility which staff has already touched upon including including just to reiterate that this facility is not a detox facility. To the contrary, completion of a separate detox program would be a prerequisite to being able to be a resident in this particular facility. So I've got several of the same slides, so I'm just going to quickly go through these rather than rehash. The star there is the site, and there's just a helpful, slightly zoomed out, you can see the bridge that we were referencing earlier. so zoomed out star on the site um same zoomed in uh zones staffs already covered this sorry about that uh so this one i do want to pause on just for just a second this is actually from the lexington fayette urban county government gis map and this just highlights that actual the the brine station creek and so you can see a little bit faded out you all might be able to see it a little bit better but the natural physical boundary that heavily separates the commercial uses predominantly to the south of the creek and the residential use to the north of the creek. And so that zoning map you'll saw kind of follows the natural boundary there. So why is this facility necessary? The answer to that is Shepherd's House is addressing a critical public health crisis nationally and specifically in Kentucky. Per the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, overdose deaths have been on the rise. And as you can see in these numbers, the substance abuse crisis plays an active role in hurting our Kentucky communities. Here are some demographic information information on from the Kentucky Injury Prevention Research Center. One thing that I noted in looking at it with a less than scientific eye is the demographics kind of break some of the preconceived notions that folks might have on who is affected by this public health crisis. It is not limited to solely a young generation. Another data set, this is a per 100,000 folks trend line, both in the U.S. and Kentucky, reinforcing that upward trend in both deaths per 1,000 and inpatient stays per 1,000. this is not just a general kentucky problem but this is very much a fayette county problem as well that has been covered as recently as february of 2022 the lexington herald leader reported uh did a large expose on the impacts of substance abuse deaths within fayette county here is a more granular data set specific to Fayette County again as you can see the overall trend line is up for deaths and the overall impact felt by the community it's important to note that this facility is not strictly a drug-related treatment facility, a very key component of this facility is alcohol treatment and alcohol use disorder treatment. We live in a state that has built its identity on a very distinguishable intoxicant, and we all are one to partake from time to time, but with that comes some very serious consequences. And so per the research brief from the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky, alcohol-induced deaths in Kentucky have markedly increased over the last seven years, and a lot of this research has been driven by pandemic and post-pandemic usage. um overall the uh impact of alcohol use disorder um is is just barely beginning to be studied this particular research brief uh looked at data from 2010 so uh so they're still working on getting new data but they estimated that the uh and i want to get this right the economic cost of excessive alcohol consumption in kentucky cost the economy 3.195 billion dollars overall looking at things like health care costs lost work the actual impact of medical conditions and its impact on the healthcare system. Another interesting bit of data that I got from that same research brief is of the Kentucky adults surveyed, 8.1% of those adults reported that it reported needing but not receiving treatment for alcohol use disorder. Another interesting thing from that, they viewed adults as anyone over the age of 18. And I wanted to include the quote from the research brief as well because I thought that was pretty impactful just circling back to the economic impacts of untreated alcohol use disorder. And then more recently the Lexington Herald reported on a reported on the issue emphasizing that this is something that touches on both sides of the political spectrum, no matter where you fall on it. At an event recently held in Manchester, Kentucky, both Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, and U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell met at an event discussing the impacts of these facilities and the positive impacts that they are having. Specifically, Mitch McConnell praised the work and efforts of a nonprofit organization providing substantially similar treatment services to that of what Shepherd's House would be providing at this particular location. my takeaway from reading the article was specifically that we the medical communities have been actively working to reduce the substance abuse deaths that peaked during the pandemic however if we do not provide some real means of treating those individuals then the efforts to save them from death might be in vain so overall and as part of our conclusion we are aware that there are individuals in the public that object to this particular location and so we wanted to go ahead and point out several things with respect to shepherd house and their operational history in their more than 30 years of operation in this specific area law enforcement has never been called to a shepherd's house location to so much as investigate a crime shepherd's house does not admit sex offenders and they do not admit violent offenders into their particular program the facility as referenced by staff operates on a lockdown policy though a client cannot be physically restrained from leaving a client that leaves the facility is not allowed back onto facility grounds as part of the treatment program so specific so shepherd's house is a non-profit institution with its roots firmly planted in the local community and their church's mission to be a good neighbor and to help those in need they are addressing a recognized medical condition for which compassionate care is required and should be the focus rather than public shame and segregation from productive society i doubt that public opinion would be the same if we were discussing a radiation facility that treats smokers with lung cancer or a dialysis center treating the an alcoholic with liver failure So we should not let or allow our empathy and logic to yield to stigma and fear associated with those who take the positive step to seek treatment. Singling out those patients would discriminate against their legitimate medical needs and conveys that they're not welcome within a productive portion of our community. These are not bad people seeking to be better. we are talking about people who have an illness who want to get well. They are individuals who are parts of families, sons, fathers, grandfathers. We are simply asking that you concur with the staff approval in granting the conditional use permit application. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any questions of the applicant at this time? Okay. Thank you very much. We will open for public comment. We will be very firm on the three minutes. Each will also ask anyone that speaks to be sure that you're not bringing up a point that the person has already brought up beforehand. So if we have anyone that would like to speak. And I'd just like to state, since there are people out in the mezzanine, potentially in the overflow area, if they would like to come into the council chambers, they can form a line so that just things move a little quicker. Okay, so hopefully everyone in the overflow heard that if they would like to speak, they can come on in and form a line. That's a lot to cover in three minutes. Oh, you got it. Bill Fish, 2084 Call Drive. Thank you. I think we're going to have a slide up here. By the way, we do not object. I mean, we value the service and we recognize the need for it. That's not even on the table. That's not even in question here. Among other things, Section 1.3 of the Zoning Ordinance states, the purpose of the Zoning Ordinance is to promote public health and safety, to facilitate orderly and harmonious development, to require buffering between non-compatible land uses, and to protect, preserve, promote the aesthetic appeal character and the value of the surrounding neighborhood. Upon reviewing the Board of Adjustment staff case report, it does not appear to adequately address these points. If the Board of Adjustment approves the conditional use request for the Shepherd's House, I believe you may be breaching the public trust. This is not a request because the facility is 450 feet away instead of 500. It's 75 feet invisible of one of it. It's a shared road and sidewalk. The trees don't even stop homeless people from setting up camp there. That's no buffer at all. Anyway, you should have received a petition with 155 signatures from residents of our neighborhood, which is adjacent to the property, requesting you deny the conditional use permit. So everyone who answered their door, 97% of the residents want you to deny this permit. All the circles are the homes that want you to deny it in the neighborhood. And you can see the assisted living place circle down below, 75 feet, and a little bit of trees there. And you can take a picture any way you want, but it's 75 feet away. You can switch back. According to the AmericanAddictionCenter.org, research indicates that up to 75% of individuals who begin treatment for substance use disorder reported engaging in physical assault, mugging, using weapons to attack other persons, and other violent crimes. It doesn't mean they were prosecuted or caught. They admitted to it. For others, violence crime is a long-term side effect of substance abuse. 40 to 60 percent of individuals relapse while in recovery. Less than 42 percent of individuals who enter treatment complete it. According to an MLS study, only one I found determined that homes located with an eighth of a mile from a treatment center on average had 8 percent drop in value and up to 17 percent drop in value when they treat opiate addiction, which this will. That's going to be 30 to 50 percent reduction in home value for every home within an eighth of a mile, potentially. Okay, I know it probably doesn't sound like it, but I and many of the residents are proponents of conditional use, are proponents of the rehabilitation services. We do value those, just not that close. So anyway, we ask for the reasons that you already received. You've received probably many of my communications already, but we're asking you to deny this permit. And because we don't believe that it fulfills the purposes of the zoning states. It's not a question of how valuable it is. It's a question that it's not going to be a harmonious development. It's not going to provide adequate buffering. And it's not going to protect our neighborhood and its value. That's the issue at hand. Thank you very much. We appreciate your time. Do we have any other speakers? No, we'll get one coming down. I need to call this on the record. Okay. Yeah. Hi, my name's Rob Perez, 405 Bridgeway Road. I just want to speak to the 75 folks that I've employed over the past six years from the Shepherd's House. So that I can speak to really what this whole program is about. It is about people that are deciding to make a change, that have decided to be accountable to drug and alcohol testing, to be in a program that is assisting with trying to fix some of the things that have been broken in the past. It's also really a place of community that is so well managed. The data that showed that there's not people that are violent, not people that have a tendency to be breaking laws. And much to the contrary of the belief of some of the folks, I think it's super important that you understand that there's rules. more rules in this process because of the drug testing, because of the therapy, because of the community, that anything that happens, it's a violation, those folks are asked to leave. So in effect, people are much safer in this environment because it's being treated. It's being established that this is about recovery, not about addiction. And I hope that you all taken into consideration what the rules are and that it's already been ruled that it's has all the appropriate needs and that we move on with their approval i thank you for your time thank you very much hello good afternoon my name is tracy javid this is my husband Can I confirm that you guys were sworn in earlier? I was not sworn in. Okay. Okay. I didn't think I saw you. Can we swear you in? Raise your right hand, please. Oh, I got it. Swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth today. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. Now, did you get their names? Do they need to repeat it? Okay. Tracy Javid. Yes. Tracy Javid. Yes. And my husband. Bahid Javid. Yes. I knew you'd ask to spell that. Yes, we did sign in. it's j a v as in victor i d as in david yeah a little tricky there so my husband and i are the owners of the assisted living community and um we are very we have been very excited about selling this property shepherd's house as a side note i personally worked with the chairman of the board for over 10 years and so i feel like i have very good knowledge and understanding of the shepherd's house and was very excited about this opportunity we do not feel at all that this is going to negatively impact anyone and we were kind of very surprised at any opposition since we feel like it will be operated quite similarly to the assisted living we feel the neighborhood does not really have full understanding and a comprehension of what the program is and what it will offer we feel like initially i had a few neighbors stop by and say is this going to be a drop-in center is this going to be a hope center they think there will be you know these participants milling around in their neighborhood and they are we're frightened of that but that's actually quite the opposite of of what the program will be after i did find out there were petitions being circulated i did put up an info box with your old staff case report and maybe they would not have signed it had they truly understood the program very very well i believe that we believe that the shepherd's house will not in any way negatively impact the neighborhood and it will continue to be a quietly run operation providing a much needed service to the community i did have i don't don't want to overkill but I did have one more picture that I think and here's one more bridge picture for the gentleman that wanted a bridge picture if we want to see that but I feel like this picture shows that on the other side of the creek there is a pretty big distance between the vegetation and those homes and they all have high fences but there is so the vegetation is so dense you cannot see through it even in the winter so if I'm standing on the edge of the bridge, that does show these huge tall trees and all the vegetation and that property there that runs up to theirs. So it is a lot of vegetation there. And also on the back of the property is a big drop-off to the horse farm. So I feel like the property is well bound on the boundaries and the corners and we feel very comfortable with that. Again, we're very excited about this and feel like it would be a great addition and I feel like it was built for them as well as for us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Jared Thomas, 2541 Flying Ebony Drive. I am also the president and CEO of the Shepherd's House. And to speak to what the gentleman said, I was also a member of the homeless population here in Lexington. Kentucky 15 years ago before I got sober. Was homeless and elected in Kentucky for nine years. So I've slept over in that area. The reason I qualify myself like that, I want you to understand what sobriety looks like. Because I also own a home in Hamburg and I have a beautiful wife and I have raised a child. I can do that today because I'm sober. So I wanted you to know what we're offering. We have built a company that is a million-dollar company. We do millions of dollars of work every year, and we've done it with a group of people that society threw away. When we get sober, we become counselors, teachers, vice presidents, CEOs, and presidents of companies. That's what we can do when given the opportunity to get sober. So what we're asking you to do here today is to give a group of men the opportunity to get sober. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, everybody. My name is Guy Heuclid. I'm the chair of the board, Shepherd's House. Actually a resident in Paris, but a lifelong Lexingtonian, 65 years. So I'm going to ask you all a question and I will hush and I'm watching my clock. You should never give me a clock. You're going to be a carrot, you're going to be an egg, or you're going to be a coffee bean. And here's what I mean by that. If you've got a hot boiling pot of water and you put a carrot in a hot boiling pot of water, what happens? Carrot gets soft and mushy. it conforms to the pressure, the outside pressure of people that don't like what's going on. That's what a carrot does. Or you can be an egg and you put an egg in a pot of hot boiling water and it turns into a hard boiled egg. And what happens there is simply this. Mean, angry, rigid. I don't want change, closed-minded, unwilling. You can become that kind of person. Or you can be a coffee bean. What happens when you put a coffee bean in a hot boiling pot of water? It turns into something precious, beautiful, delicious, hot coffee that benefits us in ways that you cannot imagine. The coffee bean changes the environment. And that's what we have an opportunity to do today, guys. I've been working in the world of recovery for 32 years of my life. Shepherd's house for 30. We have an opportunity to change our environment in this great community. This place we live in is fantastic. Everybody comes here and loves to live here and raise their families and work. And this is something we need to make our community better. And I hope you guys will support us and be a coffee bean. Thank you. Do we have any other comment? Good. Oh, no, you've already gone. No, you're cheating. what i'm just joking absolutely absolutely yes yes do we have anyone else no one outside i guess they came in okay does the staff want to readdress anything or the applicant applicant first would the applicant like to come back and readdress anything I'll just real fast I'm not going to address much you know or just to remind that the the harmonious portion of this application is through the adaptive reuse I'm not going to touch on the Virginia MLS study and the other the only other thing was to remind about the very serious and aggressive vetting process for these individuals before they're admitted to be be given this opportunity, that level of vetting does not allow for many of the concerns that were raised in the objection. So that was all I was going to add. Thank you. Thank you. And Steph? We feel our presentation covered the application sufficiently. Thank you so much. Do we have any questions or additional concerns from the board? All right. Okay, ready. I'll entertain a motion. Well, and I am sorry, did the applicant have an opportunity to look at the conditions? Are we okay with the conditions as stated? Yes, no objections. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Thank you. I recommend approval for PLNBOA 2352 Shepherd's House. In the request for a conditional use permit to establish a rehabilitation home within 500 feet of a residential zone and professional office zone on property located at 2141 Executive Drive. Subject to the three conditions. The use should be operated in accordance with the subjected application materials and site plan. Board approval shall be denoted on the final development plan for the property. Three, all necessary permits should be obtained from divisions of planning and building inspection as well as state agencies prior to occupancy. So moved. Thank you and I see Ms. Tucker has seconded it. And we will open for a vote. The motion has passed. Good luck with your project. Our next item is PLNBOA 2359. That's Jancie Bonewitz and Casey Wesley. I'm sorry, we'll give folks a moment to exit. And if anyone is in the mezzanine, there are some open seats in here so they can come in and try to find a seat. So no need to overflow anymore. Come join the party. Chocolate. All right. And I will just mention, so we'll have staff presentation, then we will have the applicant come up, and is the applicant represented yourself? Yes, thank you. Okay. And then we also have a brief HOA presentation as well, and then we'll open it up for public comment. All right. The next application before you today is PLNBOA 23-59, Jancy Bonowitz and Casey Wesley. This application is a request for a conditional use permit for an unhosted short-term rental in a single-family residential R1C zone on property located at 2497 Eastway Drive. First, this is the very first short-term rental application that the board is reviewing. And so I wanted to just review some general regulations for short-term rentals because these are pretty new and this is our first application. Council officially adopted these new regulations on July 11, 2023. City Council actually initiated the Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment to adopt these regulations or to draft these regulations. They held stakeholder meetings and then sent draft text to the planning commission for review, and then that final draft returned to council for final approval and adoption. Short-term rentals, which were legally operating before this date, meaning they had a rental of one time a week and met the definition of family, can be considered grandfathered in and may not require a conditional use permit. If they are under 12 people in their occupancy, they only need to get a zoning compliance permit, or what we often call a ZCP, from the Division of Planning, and they do not need to file for a conditional use permit. Existing short-term rentals only have six months since when these regulations were adopted in order to be considered grandfathered in. short-term rentals with occupancies greater than 12 whether they're existing or new require a conditional use permit and then all other new short-term rentals if the zone requires them to have a conditional use are required to file hence our new grouping of short-term rental applications before you today because these regulations are so new the city does does not yet have sufficient data to comprehensively list all of the short-term rentals in Lexington. And so we utilize this program called AirDNA, which is an organization that tracks all short-term rentals. They pull from all of the host sites like Vrbo and Airbnb, and they track all of the short-term rental listings and then some other general statistics. According to AirDNA, there are currently 1,200 short-term rentals operating in Lexington. Since July when these regulations went into place, the Division of Planning has processed over 100 ZCPs for these short-term rentals. So there's still a lot to go, but we have already processed quite a few short-term rental zoning compliance permits. Section 13 of the Code of Ordinances was also updated in addition to the zoning ordinance to include regulations for short-term rentals. The Code of Ordinances more addresses business licensing and permitting, and they include some additional regulations related to nuisances. Since the Board's not charged with reviewing the Code of Ordinances, I don't include that in my presentation, but I just wanted to let the Board and the audience know that the Code of Ordinances also includes additional regulations for short-term rentals. article 3 of the zoning ordinance is where these short-term rentals are located and it does explicitly state that short-term rentals shall not be utilized for private events such as weddings or parties in which the number of participants exceeds the maximum occupancy limit and no private event shall occur between the hours of 11 and 7 which are the code of ordinances noise ordinance. Thank you. I was blanked. And then special events for a commercial purpose shall be prohibited. So you can't rent a short-term rental just for a party. So I just wanted to give a brief overview of that since this is our very first application. And this next slide is a map from AirDNA showing where all of these existing short-term rentals are located in Lexington. all right so on to the details of this application this application is an unhosted short-term rental for up to 12 individuals and they do require a conditional use permit here in the r1c zone the property is located at 2497 eastway drive it is located near the southern end of eastway drive it's highlighted here in red i wonder if i can do the zoom thing there we go and you'll see that east way there we go terminates here and hillendale road kind of cuts across and terminates in this one property as well pasadena drive is just south of that it kind of runs parallel to hillendale and then southland drive is just to the north off the screen just to kind of help you locate where this property is in town the area surrounding the subject property is all zoned uh well is zoned r1c and is comprised of single family residence residences we also had some concerns from neighbors that they did not receive a notification mailing and i just wanted to include this map again to show what properties did receive a mailing and were required to receive a mailing so this is a 500 foot buffer from the subject property and all of the properties outlined in blue are those where the property owner was sent a notice mailing according to our regulations neighborhood associations within this 500 foot buffer are also required to or also get a notice mailing and both the deer field and the hill and dale neighborhood associations were sent notification mailings All right, zooming into the subject property. The property currently contains an 8,000 square, or no, I'm sorry, the property itself is 8,000 square feet in size. I was going to say that's a big house. And it currently contains a two-story, 2,500 square foot single-family residence that was constructed in 2013. The structure itself features five bedrooms and three bathrooms. and the applicant is not proposing any expansion of the existing structure in order to accommodate the use. These next few slides I've listed some of the zoning ordinance regulations. The first one here states that unhosted short-term rentals are conditional uses in the R1C zone. The second one lists a definition for short-term rental, which addresses some of the length of time for a rental, as well as some of the other rules about providing no meals or renting a primary resident. I said that incorrectly. And then the third bullet there defines an unhosted short-term rental, which is meaning that the primary resident of the property itself does not occupy the property during the short-term rental period. So the only residents on the property when it is being rented are the guests. This next bullet in Article 3 states that the board shall establish a maximum occupancy for short-term rental, or they have the authority to do so. The general rules is that there's a maximum of two individuals per bedroom plus an additional four, or a total of 12, whichever is less. the board may allow for additional occupants when there is sufficient evidence that a greater occupancy will not result in overcrowding or create a nuisance. And then further in Article 13, it states that the board shall take into consideration those four bullets, the number of short-term rentals in proximity, demonstrating compliance of the applicant, especially if they have other short-term rentals in lexington the occupancy rate of short-term rentals in the general vicinity including those operated by the applicant and then also whether or not short-term rentals in the vicinity have have been cited as a nuisance or if the applicant and their other short-term rentals have also been cited as a nuisance this was the site plan submitted by the applicant as you can see no changes to the existing structure are being proposed they have indicated that there is an existing six foot tall privacy fence that goes around the perimeter of the property and they plan to maintain that the home being five bedrooms they can actually according to the calculation of two people per room plus four they can actually accommodate 14 guests but they are only requesting a maximum of 12 at this time. Parking for the guests of the short-term rental will be accommodated in the existing attached garage as well as the existing driveway which in total can accommodate up to four vehicles. On-street parking is also available on Eastway Drive and is allowable on both sides of the street. The applicant opines that their short-term rental will not have a detrimental impact on the surrounding area as they are marketing this rental towards traveling families with children and they are imposing strict quiet hours that reflect the 11 to 7 time period of the noise ordinance. And they further state that that existing fencing sufficiently screens the property from the surrounding properties. this map here shows some future road connections some potential future road connections there have been concerns expressed by the neighbors about an increase in traffic as well as congestion on eastway drive because it does currently stub at the southernmost end by this property future road connections are expected and shown here in the green dash lines here and here Eastway itself is supposed to extend all the way to Pasadena once this property here redevelops. Also, Hillendale Road is expected to extend all the way across and attach to this end of Hillendale. Once this connection, Hillendale connection, is made, Sunseeker Court, which runs here to the right side of the map, does have its own connection to pasadena but that connection will be closed once this hill and dale connection is made just to manage all of the road connections there on pasadena and then shown in blue here is a private access easement for development on that property where seven townhomes have been approved by the planning commission they're not yet built but i believe construction is underway. There were other concerns expressed by the neighbors about Eastway Drive being too narrow to accommodate parking on both sides. Currently it is allowed on street parking is allowed on both sides of the street. But if the neighbors feel that it is too narrow to allow for emergency vehicles or even the city's solid waste trucks to access the street with cars on both sides they are able to contact the Division of Fire and Emergency Services to come out and do an investigation and then the Division of Fire will coordinate with the Division of Traffic Engineering if they feel that restricting parking to one side is appropriate so that's an avenue for the concerned neighbors about the on-street parking that's the appropriate route to address potentially limiting on-street parking along Eastway. And then there was one more thing I wanted to say. Maybe not. All right. This map here on the right shows kind of a zoomed in of this air DNA of the existing short-term rentals in the vicinity. The purple dots are the existing ones and the red dot shows the subject property for this requested conditional use. The map here on the left shows the subject property in red and then the pink circle is the thousand foot buffer around that property. This AirDNA data is our best source as of right now since we don't yet have a comprehensive listing of these short-term rentals. And AirDNA, in order to protect the privacy of the short-term rentals they do not list the explicit property addresses for these rentals but staff was able to determine that within this thousand foot buffer there are actually a total of five properties i believe we only said three in the staff report but i do want to correct that there are five properties with short-term rentals within that thousand foot buffer doing my best to kind of deduce based off of the short-term rental listings photos i believe i found the exact addresses but yet can't fully confirm that and then doing a search in acela for complaints i was not able to find any complaints active complaints for short-term rentals in this area there was one filed in 2017 for a short-term rental for a property on hillendale but the zoning enforcement officer at that time inspected the property several times and ended up closing the investigation due to not being able to actually see any activity on the site and then also there were no further complaints from the neighbors so just wanted to address those up front and there are a few properties in this area that have already come forward and gotten a zoning compliance permit from our office so considering that staff is recommending approval of this application we find that it should not have an adverse influence on the subject property or the surrounding neighborhood we don't believe it the subject the general vicinity has a concentration of short-term rentals either within a thousand feet of the subject property and the applicant themselves this is going to be their first short-term rental and so there aren't any existing compliance issues with other short-term rentals they may manage and it does not appear that other short-term rentals in the area have been cited as a nuisance either along with our recommendation of approval we are putting forth these four conditions And I would just like to note number four. This is related to the code of ordinances, that if they do not follow all of the rules in the code of ordinances or kind of maintain their special fee license, the short-term rental license can lapse or be revoked by the Division of Revenue. And along with that, their conditional use permit is automatically, it automatically becomes null and void. So I just wanted to clarify number four, and we do include that it is limited to the 12 individuals, even though their home can accommodate up to 14 based on that calculation. We did receive quite a few letters of opposition, and I believe we'll hear from the Neighborhood Association after the applicant. Does the board have any questions for staff at this time? I do. I just have a quick question or clarification. where we're counting existing Airbnbs. I do understand that you're using the public data, but should we not just consider those that have already registered? Because if we're going to be determining the concentration in the area, is it not just a who comes first kind of deal? I think because we're still so new in tracking and we only have 100 of potentially 1,200 short-term rentals in the area, We'll look at our currently registered short-term rentals, but we'll also kind of look at the AirDNA just to do our best with the data we can have access to right now. And we'll continue to build our database of the registered short-term rentals. Okay. Thank you. I've got a quick question. I was fortunate to sit on the short-term committee with Councilmembers Brown and Sheehan, And so I'm glad to see the very first application coming before us two years after I sit on that thing. So thumbs up or thumbs down. I'm glad to see it at least coming to the end of the road. I did have a question about item C on the approval. It almost seems like, and again, you guys are in the middle of this because this is the first time we've seen this, But it seems like this is almost setting the precedent for denying the possibility of a license. And this wasn't something we vetted or discussed in any capacity. And I didn't know if that was something that's come down the pipe since or I mean, it's not as a deniable condition necessarily, but it is put in the report. So it's trying to get a little more understanding where that where that came from. Yeah, the federally, and Mr. Walker is talking about item C here, which is one of our findings for why we're recommending approval. The federally designated areas of persistent poverty and historically disadvantaged communities is a database that's often referenced by the Department of Transportation. And we found that it was at least an appropriate database to refer to in our staff report. It's definitely not the only thing that we based our recommendations on. But I believe moving forward, we will include more local reports. There's a report from the mayor's office on neighborhoods in transition and some other ones about affordable housing. So we'll include those in our future reports. We did not include that in our first round. We're still kind of working everything out. Any other questions of staff? Thank you. Very thorough job. I'll go back to the title slide. Absolutely. Absolutely. The applicants would like to come forward. I feel like we should have balloons or do like confetti or something. It'll go down in history. Hi, my name is Casey Wesley for Forest Hill Drive. Jancy Bonowitz, same address. All right. We want to take a moment to express why we wanted to turn this into a short-term rental. so this property was previously owned by my best friend Mark Maynard and just a quick aside we're such good friends that we decided to have children together so they could also grow up and be best friends which they currently are that's how close we are anyways he bought the house shortly after it was built 10 years ago and planned to make this his forever house frequently Mark would use the house to host events that typically centered around sporting events where all of our inner circle of friends would come and hang out and celebrate. Each year, he would typically engage in some project to improve the house, whether that was adding solar, which he did a few years ago, or to build a screened-in porch, which was his plan for this year. Unfortunately, this year's plan had to be abandoned, not because of finances or because of lack of desire. He changed his plans because he no longer felt safe or welcome to raise his family in Kentucky. One of Mark's children is transgendered. In March of this year, Kentucky passed one of the strictest anti-trans laws in the country, which would hinder Mark's ability to provide the necessary medical care for his child's needs. Additionally, Mark has been reading the news from other states, such as Florida and Texas, and noticed that typically anti-trans bills tend to make their way up to us after some time. So, earlier this year, Texas Governor Greb Abbott issued a directive that called transgender gender-affirming care child abuse. Fearing that Kentucky was the eventual path for this, Mark decided that he needed to leave the Commonwealth because he was fearful that he could no longer properly take care of his transgender child or in the worst case be labeled a child abuser and have his children taken away from him. Mark was terrified and wished to leave as soon as possible. So because of that, we agreed to buy his house from him the way it was so we no one ever had to clean it up so we could do that. and we chose that we could run ahead as a short-term rental. This would allow our friends to continue to use the property as a gathering place, while additionally providing a place for other people to gather who come to visit the Lexington. In the past, we've personally had difficulty finding short-term residential that could accommodate our large group of extended family when we meet for family gatherings. We were designing the space for the intergeneration interaction centered around playing games together. The property features a first floor bedroom for anyone who had limits in mobility and four additional bedrooms upstairs. We are not your typical investors and we plan to self-manage this property. We were not looking to buy a property, but this property fell in our lap. And we hope that we'll be able to be the glue that keeps our friends together. We love this house, we love the neighborhood, and we love Lexington. Thank you. Thank you. I apologize. I have to leave and go pick up my children. okay so i'll be taking all the questions okay thank you do we have any questions of the applicant at this time no no thank you we will open it up for public comment and as mentioned we'll do three minutes and try not to be repetitive no i'm sorry first we'll have the hoa presentation is that miss Ms. Gail Leitner. Ms. Gail Leitner had requested some additional time to speak today. I'm Walt Gaffield. I'm president of the Fayette County Neighborhood Council. I live at 2001 Bamboo Drive. I don't think you're going to have a lot of information on which to make a decision today. And first thing I want to point out is there is an inherent adverse impact of short-term rentals. You know, for one thing, there's a lack of social value in having one next door. You can't go over and borrow a sugar or something like that. Children can't interact because people are coming in every two or three days or every week even. I think for Lexington, because there's demand for short-term rental property, it's going to increase costs because there's going to be a reduction in supply and increase in demand. And we have an affordable housing crisis, so to say that there's no impact isn't right. um the you can you can control how many people people can put or a operator can put in a house and i wanted to make note that staff the staff recommendation to the planning commission actually was to reduce uh the the item coming from council saying it could be 10 or 12 or whatever So staff actually favored a reduction, and that's something you can change if you choose to. It's unclear how staff identifies whether an area is one of concentrated short-term rentals or not. There's not a definition. They have a map with dots on it. And it's going to, so we don't know. So we need a definition of it, and you should ask for that. There is a problem with declaring a short-term rental a nuisance or not because the ordinance says you should look at citations. Civic Lex recently said there were roughly 6,000 nuisance complaints in Fayette County, say, over the last year, and there were only 33 citations. There are only 33 citations because that requires legal action in court. So it really doesn't apply well to short-term rentals, and I think the Board of Adjustment should require a list of complaints by owner and by all of the owner's properties. I think it's a mistake to do otherwise, and seeing as how this is the first one, this is important. There's no record of short-term rental compliance issues because there has been no enforcement, and there won't be enforcement. until six months have passed from beyond when the council passed the ordinance. So basically that whole thing in what staff has provided is not relevant. I think there's a lot of work that still needs to be done on it. I think you're just not going to have the information you need in order to make proper decisions. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. I prepared a three page handout. Your name and address first. I'm sorry, Janet Cabanis, 704 Cumberland Road. Thank you. And were you sworn in earlier? I'm sorry to, had you been sworn in earlier? Oh, sure. Okay. I was back there. Okay. Anything else? No, no. I'll let you know. Okay. Okay, now to my handout. You should have a table of things, and you could put those up. You can't read them because I didn't realize they would be projected. Apologize for that. But my point is a simple one, that we were told by our council people, I was working with Hill and Dale Neighborhood Association, and Fayette County Neighborhood Council to try to see what we could do. I was president of Hillendale for too many years, and I am working with Gail Leitner. My part is to try to figure out how many current short-term rentals are in the area, because our council people told us that just like I saw in your zoning ordinance written and projected on the screen, If there are already a lot, you don't need any more and you might have some status for saying, please don't put any more in there. My table here, it's not easy to figure out how many short term roles are, as Walt said, and as Megan said, because there's nothing written. So what I did was, if you'll look there, Airbnb results in the proximity. When you go to Airbnb.com, you tell them what city and what area you want, what are your dates of wanting to rent, and how many guests. So, as you can see, I wrote down there on the paper that you have. I wrote for Bradford Drive, which is central to Hillendale. When was September 8th through September 13th? I did it last week, and for two guests, which is kind of a standard request. I got 44 suggested places. I press the button after I put my constraints in, I get 44 responses. I have tried to digest those just to give you an idea. They're numbered in the first column on the left. They either give, for each rental, they give either a host name, so you can see James, Leslie, Andrea, everything, or they give a name of a facility like Arcadia, Rebel Road, and all those. And then I tried to explain in the wide column there why I thought that these really were accurate reflections of where you are. I know Hill and Dale, you probably don't have it memorized like I do from living there for 35 years. At any rate, some of them are really revealing you know they're there. The others gave clues because we're close to the football stadium and Central Baptist Hospital and such things as that. They gave clues, and those are in the right column. And that's a little hand-drawn map to help people who don't know Hillendale. The point is, there are, okay, we already have a lot. And within that Eastway address, there are three on Hillendale that are within a thousand-foot radius. Thank you. Thank you. Next commenter. I understand I'll have five minutes. That is correct. Okay. That's five minutes. My name is Gail Leitner. I'm at 279 Clearview Drive. I'm also the president of the Hillandale Neighborhood Association. The position of the Hillandale Neighborhood Association is that we do not want the residents to receive a conditional use permit to operate an unhosted Airbnb for up to 12 people. Our reasons are that most households on Eastway are working families, some with very early departure times. They must leave for work at 4.30 a.m. in order to report for their shift. The local ordinance permits parties until 11 p.m. When Hudna met with the owners, they blightly said, just call us and we'll come over if there's a problem. But since they live almost 10 miles away, they couldn't get there to the house to calm the party for at least 20 to 30 minutes. We don't feel that's acceptable. Eastway is an unusual street. 2497 is approximately 3 tenths miles from Holly Hill Drive, the only outlet street for all 26 homes on Eastway. It's already been mentioned that emergency and regular government vehicles already have a difficulty getting in there. They have to back out. The development of Eastway has been far from standard. In the 1960s, Eastway was built with 36 homes. As it was further developed with 12 more houses by 2012, the intention was that Eastway not remain a dead-end street. But plan after plan has been proposed for its connection for over 20 years. and it still is a long, dead end, a.k.a. Stub Street, as you'll see on the picture. Ordinarily, the future of a Stub Street is that it will be connected to other streets to provide normal connectivity. We ask you to consider that no acceptable plan has been put forth for connecting these streets. Although there is an uncertain plan to connect Hillandale with Sunseeker, close Sunseeker's access to Pasadena, and then perhaps connect Eastway to the Hillendale connection. That plan is not in effect in any official sense. The plan has been on the books for 20-plus years to nobody's satisfaction and fought by the Hillendale residents each time it's come up. It seems likely to cause even more congestion on Eastway and Sunseeker when and if this plan is put forth. Perhaps the most salient reason for not allowing another short-term rental is the large number of such rentals as pointed out by Mrs. Cabanus that already exists within the neighborhood. We simply do not need another short-term rental to make it 45. However, if approval is granted despite our wishes, we ask that such approval be contingent upon the enforcement of the following conditions. Number one, require that all cars driven by temporary residents of the SDR be identified by a new unique placard to be placed on the dashboard. This way we will know which cars belong on Eastway. Having these cards made and deploying these cards in each renter's car would be responsibility of the owners. We ask for no parties after 9 p.m. Some residents must leave for work at 430 and they can face termination if they report late to work three times. It's important that the street be quiet at a relatively early hour. We ask for limited on-street parking for only one car from the rental, two in the driveway, two in the garage. Short-term renters should be cautioned in the Airbnb listing about the importance of not blocking the driveways of residents to the effect that residents vehicles cannot get out of their driveways. We ask that yellow no parking paint be applied to the curb area on both sides of each driveway please bear in mind that we do not like these conditions and we feel free feel certain that a currently peaceful part of our neighborhood would change irrevocably and be less peaceful thank you thank you do we have any other comment I think this may be our last one. Is there anybody else? If you want to come up, why don't we come up and line up so we have a sense of who we still have. Thank you, sir. Your name and address, please. My name is John Hayes. I live at 2322 South View Drive. I'm a board member of the Hillandale Neighborhood Association. Like Gail Leitner, we are opposed to having a home converted to short term rental. Walt Gaffield has listed many, many reasons why this works against what is best for our community. Having 12 people showing up after UK ball games, Keeland, whatever else event, unrelated. I was once 25 years old, and I'll tell you right now what's going to go on. We're going to be calling Ms. Jancy here at all hours of the night and day saying, we've got a problem, get over here. The Lexington police are not going to do anything. I know that. I've got a problem on a building I own on Goodwin Drive behind the Catholic Action Center. I know exactly what Lexington police will and will not do to enforce nuisance complaints. other people will talk about the value of the community about what it takes to make a successful neighborhood a short-term rental with 12 people flip-flopping does not work in the favor of what we see as a neighborhood a neighborhood where one resident mows the lawn of a 94-year-old widow like I do or shovels her snow or when I get sick, another neighbor brings me chicken noodle soup. That's a neighborhood where people know each other and understand each other and help each other. No offense against the owners here and what they're trying to do, but that's not what a neighborhood is. We want a neighborhood where we know each other and support each other. People also have financial concerns of what this can do and impact. And I have a solution to this. If you want to come in with a unit or a use that is potentially destructive and has a downside value on associated properties, make the permit applicant get a bond, get insurance equal to a certain percentage of the adjacent property values. And if it can be proven that something happens that's adverse to property values, that the bond holder has to pay out to all the other owners to compensate and make it part of the setup. You want to have a conditional use that could be detrimental? Get the bond, post it. Businesses do this all the time. A performance bond, casualty insurance, it's there. Find somebody to underwrite it. And again in summary, the neighborhood needs good neighbors. They need continuity. They need people that help each other, that are there, day in, day out. That's what we need in Hellendale. not not more transients in and out not more noise not more disturbances thank you okay thank you let's just keep moving thank you i need to be sworn in okay okay i'll do that if you raise your right hand here yeah you swear to tell the whole and complete truth today yes ma'am thank you State your name and address for the record. My name is Jennifer Bailey. I live at 2489 Eastway Drive, which is two houses down from 2497. Thank you. Okay. I do oppose the conditional use permit. I want to address the statement that no short-term rentals in the area have been cited as nuisances because they should have been. I want to read statements written by two residents of the Hillandale neighborhood, Terry Steele and John Straley. My name is Terry Steele and I live at 266 Hillandale Road here in Lexington. I live next door to a short terminal and have two more right across the street, so I currently have three in view of my front porch. Often, the short terminal next door is occupied for wedding parties, Keeneland events, and other large group gatherings. One significant issue we've encountered is the disturbance caused by guests engaging in loud conversations in the middle of the night, which has been a consistent nuisance to us. The owner of the house has placed a sign with quiet hours, but those hours are not always followed. Second, my name is John Straley. My wife, Barbara, and I own a home at 258 Hillendale Road, just around the corner, less than 1,000 feet from the property that is being considered for unhosted short-term rental use. I've lived at my current address since 1987. There are a total of five short-term rentals within 250 feet of my house. In fact, there's a hosted Airbnb across the street from me at 261 Hillendale Drive that has three different rentals available at one property. The owner rents a bedroom, basement, and a tiny house in the backyard. There are constant noise problems day and night with multiple cars that are often parked in front of our home, vehicle doors and trunks slamming early in the morning and late at night. This is a constant nuisance which disrupts our sleep. Although there have obviously been adverse effects and subsequent complaints made by our neighbors living close to short-term rentals, they were not considered severe enough to have the property cited as a nuisance. The noise ordinance alone in Lexington is very poorly enforced. According to civiclex.org, in 2022, almost 6,000 noise disturbance calls were made to the Lexington Police Department. And over 3,000 of those calls were investigated, and of those 3,000, only 33 citations were given. The city council recently met about a couple of weeks ago to reexamine the noise ordinance because it's not adequate, not for short term rentals. So it is incorrect to assume that a nuisance is not occurring with the short term rentals. But there is very poor enforcement of the complaints, which are primarily at this time noise related. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good afternoon. I'm Kelly Wooten. I live at 2496 Eastway Drive, directly across the street from the property that's asking for a conditional use permit for unhosted short term rental. This part of Eastway was extended, I think approximately 2003, maybe it was started. The first house sold in 2005 and I purchased it. Everyone that lives in that neighborhood bought their house to raise a family and for their children to be able to play with neighbors. I think that we've got in that one section, Ten children that are under age 16 and six that are under age 10. They need to be playing with people that they're familiar with, not families that come in for a weekend and bring their kids that we don't know anything about. There's some other issues there that's been touched on and I want to add to that. Garbage trucks have to back up from Holly Hill to the end of Eastway because you can't turn around. The only way to turn around is in driveways and obviously heavy vehicles can't get on the driveways. If a fire truck comes up there, it has to back out to Holly Hill to turn around. There was an incident in our neighborhood about three years ago. I think there was five fire trucks up there. There were cars parked on each side of the street. They couldn't get around each other. So what if the last fire truck really needs to be in the front? It can't navigate. So there's issues with that, mail delivery, et cetera. There have been incidences where neighbors have had parties, baby showers, birthday parties, whatever. And there's ten houses in this one area that we're talking about here. There's been times I've had a hard time getting in and out of my driveway because of all the cars that's parked coming to these parties. I don't have a problem with that. but we don't need to add to that with a short-term rental that can have up to 12 people, and we don't know how many cars. So thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you. I haven't been sworn in either. We need to do something. You have not been sworn in? Okay. Do you swear to tell the whole and complete truth today? Yes. Thank you. My name is Alden Harover. My address is 254 Clearview Drive, and I'm on the Hillendale board. In support of my neighbors on Eastway Drive, I would like to request that the conditional use permit for the unhosted short-term rental at 2497 Eastway Drive be denied. Until additional research has been done by the Planning Commission concerning the appropriateness of permitting a 12-person short-term rental at this location. I'm addressing two concerns in particular. First, that the conditional use permit be delayed until the negative impact on the Eastway infill neighborhood is further explored. The two properties adjacent to Eastway, each slated for seven townhouses, the ones that land faces Pasadena and Hillendale, are already stressing this neighborhood and threatening disintegration of this family community. As we anticipate 14 new families in a rather small area and no parking. The addition of a 12 person short term rental will only increase pressure on the neighborhood and the city services as additional trash services and emergency services will be needed in an area which is already scheduled to become drastically more congested. And particularly you might consider the trash that just normal, a normal pleasant group of 12 people can generate a lot of trash if they're celebrating a little bit. Currently there is very limited on street parking and there is, as Kelly mentioned, no provision at all for turnaround beyond using neighbor's driveways. And I think that actually addresses rather strongly point B on your all's reasons for approval. Second, I requested the conditional use permit for the unhosted short term rental be denied until such times as it meets the licensure requirements. as set forth in the Urban County Council approved code of ordinances and zoning. Specifically, item three states that the short term rental operators must provide a signed sworn affidavit, attesting that the STR complies with the safety requirements of the ordinances, and that it will comply with all applicable building codes, fire codes, and all applicable state, federal, and local laws of regulations or regulations. KRS 219.0113 defines a hotel as any building that is publicly advertised as a place where sleeping accommodations are provided. This includes motels, tourist homes, and similar establishment. A tourist home is defined as a private home or condominium that is not occupied by an owner or manager and is rented, leased, or furnished in its entirety to guests on a daily or weekly basis. They may be referred to as vacation rentals. So as the first gentleman stated, these are maybe considerations as you all are looking ahead to how you want to regulate your Airbnbs in general. The American Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design, Title III, Regulation 28, I'm going to finish, defines accessible transient lodging to include but not limited to resorts, group homes, hotels, motels, and dormitories. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. In conclusion, the conditional use permit must be denied until such time that the STR meets our licensure requirements and further consideration is given regarding negative impact on the neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. Would the applicant like to respond at all? As we stated earlier, we're not your typical short term rental host. We love this house and that's the reason why we've gone into this venture. When we looked in April about comparable homes, we found the house on Hill and Dale and Airbnb listed that it was a rare find to find vacancy at that property. We've had to trouble ourselves finding adequately sized properties in order to provide a bedroom for myself, a bedroom for my children, a bedroom for my parents, and a bedroom for my sister. It's not fair to look at Airbnbs for two guests and compare that to an Airbnb for 12 guests. I invited the neighbors, Gail contacted me that the neighbors had some concerns and she asked if we'd be willing to meet with them and I said yes, we'd love to hear their concerns. I invited them over to the house so they could see the space. And we talked through some of their concerns. We have a camera currently on the front door. And what I told the neighbors was we would address concerns as they arise. I offered myself a number to them, a few took it. And we only live 20 minutes away in Hamburg. I know that might feel like a lot, but some other rental operators don't even live in Lexington. So we do tend to be attentive. been there a lot working on the property we've talked to everyone who's outside we're very neighborly i i think that you will find that the typical interaction people have with one another you guys will have that with us like casey and i are great people and like we we love this house and i really hope mark can come back to it one day when kentucky gets rid of sb 150. thank you thank you very much yeah i think the staff has a couple of points to wrap up don't you love being called the staff the staff megan um there are just a few items that i wanted to readdress or clarify um first which see if i can fast forward to the road connection map and i went too far no i didn't i'm so sorry if i'm making anyone dizzy there we go i just wanted to point out that this property that we've kind of been waiting to sell did recently sell in august we haven't received any applications for development for that property yet but it has recently sold to a new owner so addressing those future road connections may be something we that happens in the future and then regarding the on-street parking issues or concerns i covered this earlier in a presentation but there is a process where the division of fire and emergency services can investigate the existing facilities there on eastway drive and determine whether or not restricting on-street parking to one side is needed in order for safe access for their vehicles as well as other city vehicles in order to address you know the access issues that have been expressed by the neighbors here and that process is complaint driven so a call will need to be made to the division of fire in order to start that investigation and fire will coordinate with traffic engineering if they do determine that on-street parking needs to be restricted they'll work with traffic engineering to determine which side of the street is the most appropriate so i just wanted to cover that there is a process for that if the on-street parking is an issue the second issue i wanted to address was the blocking of driveways by vehicles on the street that is an issue that's covered in other ordinances and the police can be called to address that that's something that i think they will respond to the other item i wanted to address was the concern about parties the zoning ordinance as well as the code of ordinances state that parties are not allowed like for the sole reason of renting a short-term rental you can't rent a property just to host a party you have to be a resident there in that structure for the night and if a guest does decide to host an event or a party while they're renting that short-term rental they are not allowed to exceed that occupancy limit so if events are hosted in a short-term rental it has to be done by someone staying there and then it is also limited to the existing occupancy rate so i just wanted to clarify those existing regulations as well and then i wanted to kind of just briefly summarize how enforcement of short-term rentals has happened in the past. Before these regulations, short-term rentals were regulated. under our definition of a dwelling unit which the minimum amount of time that a dwelling unit can be rented is one week so in the past before these regulations short-term rentals could operate as long as they were only renting once a week or a total of 52 times a year and also they had to operate with our current definition of family which relates to the number of unrelated people in a structure at one time so if a short-term rental was assumed to be operating out of compliance with those rules a call could be made to zoning enforcement in order to investigate and determine whether or not that short-term rental was operating within those definitions and if they were operating according to the old regulations so i just want to state that there was enforcement of previously existing short-term rentals and these new regulations provide much more clear guidelines on what a short-term rental is and allowed to be those are the things that i wanted to address if the board has any other questions i'd be happy to answer them any questions making you doing great thanks okay all righty i'll go sit down thank you all righty here it is the first one you guys need any further information any discussion or i'll entertain a motion madam chair i recommend approval for plm boa 23-59 jancy bonewoods and casey wesley request a conditional use permit for an unhosted short-term rent on a single family residential r1c zone and properly located at 2497 eastway drive based on staff recommendations and subject to the four conditions. Thank you. Any second? No second on the motion. Do we need further discussion? Questions? Yeah, we'll discuss it. This is the first one. So we're moving. And I think the council passed this ordinance, the short-term rental ordinance. And I'm sure there were people that didn't think that was a really great idea, but they moved forward with this. And in that ordinance, there was room for meetings such as we have today. the opportunity for those to come forth and say, I don't think I want this in my neighborhood right now. And that's the question why we're here today is because this is an unhosted application with up to 12 people dwelling in rentals dwelling. And well, actually, short term rentals, Commercial use of a dwelling unit. And these neighbors today have told us, I think, that they like their neighborhood the way it is. We've got people that leave for work at 430 in the morning. They want to be assured that they're going to have a quiet neighborhood. And I think this is America and where you live, you should have opportunity to say this is what I want my house to be. Let's keep our decorum here. No, I'm just speaking how I feel. And that's just, as I said, that's how I feel about it. that these neighbors and the only reason we're having this hearing today is because to listen to people. And if we listen to the people who have spoken, I don't think they want it. And so I couldn't vote for it right now. Okay. I do have to disagree slightly. I appreciate the neighbors, but as you said, they should have the freedom to operate in their properties. and we have the ordinance that's passed, and this is the path that was voted to move forward. So individual homeowners also have the ability and the capacity to use the ordinance as it is, and this is the path in which they do it. And I think that a lot of the reasons, I guess the betterment of this is that now they'll be able to do it, we'll be able to regulate this. I mean, short-term rental has happened. It's been going on. It's going to continue to go on, and there's been no way to track it and regulate it, and I do believe that's the entire purpose of the ordinance, which, you know, council and planning and, I mean, they've worked on this for two, three, four years to come up with an ordinance that actually allowed us to manage this process, this thing that was happening. So it is definitely allowable and it's allowable use for an individual's property. And I think we have to consider it and we're going to have to consider each one that comes before us. I think we'll close for public comment right now. I'm also concerned about the B for the approval the proposed you should not have an adverse impact on traffic in the general vicinity is adequate off-street and on-street parking is available I know that Lexington is kind of done away with structuring parking the way that it used to but from this site map that I saw and the parking that's available depending on how many drivers that you have in that house at one time I think that this could be severely impacted particularly on this little narrow street and that's part of the reason that I feel like I cannot support it right now I think we'll probably need to take a break because we'll have to get with legal if you guys are looking to go against staff's approval and the ordinance then we'll have to find some findings in which to do so so we'll take a 10 minute break or a little bit longer and if you guys like to confer with legal okay it can happen okay okay now we're ready so there was a motion on the floor that was not seconded so i do believe that motion has failed at this time if the the minutes can note and if there is a secondary another motion to be made i will entertain it at this time i make a motion to disapprove plan voa 2359 request a conditional use permit for an unhosted short-term rental in a single-family residential R1C zone on the property located at 2497 Eastway Drive Council District 10. I move for disapproval of the conditional use permit on the grounds that Eastway Drive is a narrow stub street with inadequate connections to the roadway system to support this commercial use. And the increased traffic and parking will have an adverse effect on the surrounding neighborhood. further there is a high concentration of short-term rentals in the area which will contribute to the traffic okay do we have a second i second miss plumbly has second is there any discussion i would just again like to to make a comment this is our first one and we have put a very specific path forward for um people that are in this industry it is a industry that's around that we've worked really hard to try to put the framework forward to regulate so i'll vote against the disapproval but specifically because what is what is the path forward i mean what is the opportunity what is the option it seems that we're specifically going against what we worked to not we but the council has worked two to three years to put in place as a protection to give homeowners a path forward in this particular area so it's just personal opinion and miss car i share your sentiment and i think that that they appreciate the neighbors coming out and um but also to miss plumley's point we just approved a treatment center and a whole bunch of people came out as well so there's about this lady offering to let people into their home and offering to her cell phone and things like that i think that's quite neighborly in my own opinion and i think these regulations are the best we've got we'll have to kind of weed through it but also this is number one all the other ones around there technically aren't legal this is the very first one so as time will tell we'll kind of weed that through but you're the first and i don't I don't think you should be penalized as such. We vote it? We vote. Okay. The motion for disapproval has passed, which means that the SDR has not been approved. The conditional use has not been approved. Thank you. The next item on the list is PLNBOA 23-60, that's Anchor Baptist Church. This one has been recommended for approval, but we do have people here to speak in opposition, so staff will present first. All right, the next application before you this evening is PLNBOA 23-60, Anchor Baptist Church. which is a request to amend an existing conditional use permit for a school of academic instruction in order to construct new buildings in an R3 zone on property located at 3601 Winthrop Drive. The subject property is outlined here in blue in the center of the screen and is located along Manowar Boulevard here. Winthrop Drive is on the borders the east side of the property and then Boston Road is over here to the west just to help you locate where this property is in town. The subject property itself is eight acres in size and adjacent and nearby uses are primarily residential but include a mix of single family and multifamily dwelling units. The church at this location was originally approved by the board in 2001, Anchor Baptist Church. The plan approved at that time was modified in 2003 in order to allow for a phased construction of three separate buildings. They have two of the buildings constructed now, and there was a third one located here that would serve as the main sanctuary for the church. that has not as you can see here in the aerial been yet constructed and the requested school of instruction which is a modular classroom building is being proposed in the location where that sanctuary was previously approved along with the buildings there is an existing 140 space parking lot immediately to the south there. The parking lot is served by a long access drive that extends all the way out to Winthrop Drive. In 2010, the church was approved to host a school of academic instruction in the buildings for up to 100 students. They returned in 2012, this was the Trinity Christian Academy, who's the applicant today. They returned in 2012 to increase that enrollment from 100 to a total of 200 students on the campus. And that application, they were proposing or were approved to utilize this building here for their classroom space. the zoning ordinance states that in the r3 zone schools of academic instruction are require a conditional use permit and are subject to review by the board this is the site plan submitted by the applicant first i just want to point out the modular building that's before you today is located here which is where that sanctuary was previously approved and on the site plan they include an alternative location and i just want to clarify this site plan was what was submitted to the state for their approval and so that alternative location is no longer relevant for this boa application it's just still on the site plan because they used the old document and so they've requested location for this modular classroom building is located here outlined in red. The modular building itself is just under 9,000 square feet and it will contain eight classrooms and be able to accommodate 97 students. The applicant states that this additional structure will not result in an increase in enrollment but will instead relocate existing classrooms from the existing church building. the total of enrollment currently is 170 students so 30 fewer than what has previously been approved by the board and then the number of staff that will be located in this modular building is a total of eight employees the applicant opines that many of the existing classrooms in the existing building are too small and several are only able to accommodate up to 10 students per classroom They desire to have classrooms that can accommodate up to 20 students, and this will also offer more flexibility if a need for social distancing protocols arises again. Aside from relocating student activities from the existing church building to the modular building, the school's day-to-day activities will not change. And I will be clear, the school is still going to be utilizing the existing building. this modular building will just provide some additional space for the current student population. With that, staff is recommending approval. We are including a condition, I'll review that on the next slide, that this modular building be removed in a year. The applicant has indicated this is a temporary structure. the school itself is working on a final home for all of their students currently they're spread across a few different campuses and this temporary building this temporary modular building is in fact temporary and they will be relocating it to the final home of trinity christian academy next summer and so in order to provide just a little bit of flexibility construction is always finnicky we have included the condition of removal of this temporary structure to be by the end of september of next year so i just wanted to be clear about that along with our recommendation of approval we do have these conditions which number two is clarifying that removal of that structure by september 30th 2024 and in order to enforce that every year we have zoning enforcement officers go out and inspect each previously approved conditional use permit to make sure they are following their conditions so next september the zoning enforcement officers will go out and inspect this site and make sure that that modular structure will be removed by the end of the month so enforcement wise that's kind of how we'll proceed in enforcing number two as a condition we also include number three that once the structure is removed the site itself shall be reseeded and restored to its previous condition just so there aren't any runoff issues with the dirt that may be exposed once the building is removed if the board has any questions about this application, I'm happy to answer them at this time. Thank you again, Megan. Thank you all. If the applicant wants to come forth, please. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. I'm Bruce Simpson. I'm here on behalf of the Trinity Christian Academy. We, of course, endorse the staff's recommendation and agree to the conditions. Just a little bit of history about this particular request. As Megan pointed out, the board has previously approved the construction of a new sanctuary in the same location where this modular building is. however because the modular building is not a sanctuary it's an addition to the school we need the conditional use permit and to be candid with the board an arrow was committed when the church engaged a contractor locate the modular building on this current site the church believed the school believed I should say that the contractor would comply with all of the provisions, including zoning. But after I got called and we looked at the contract, zoning was not part of their obligation. So we got a notice from the building inspection that we needed to get a conditional use permit after the building was already there. That caused some concern, obviously, of the neighbors. We met with the neighbors a little over a week ago and fielded their questions and responded to them as best we could and explained to them the building would only be there for about a year. September 30th, we would be out. The church is presently constructing a major campus in northern Jessamine County, off Brown and Crossing in northern Jessamine County. That construction is underway, and they plan to be moved into the facility by the beginning of next school year. Regardless, approval of this request would mandate that this structure be removed on or before September the 30th, and it will be. There was concern expressed at our neighborhood meeting about, well, will it really be enforced? and notwithstanding my conviction that the government has enforced all of the conditional zoning restrictions and conditions for all of my clients for the past 40 years, I think there was still some skepticism about whether or not you all would require enforcement. So you'll probably get some questions about that. There are also questions and concerns about increased traffic. As Megan has pointed out, the school was approved for 200 students a number of years ago, and it currently has 170. So there's not any increase in students or increase in traffic beyond that, which was originally approved a number of years ago. There's been 20 new students included or added to the school in this new school year. and they're all because of once this church got the notice that they needed to get a conditional use permit for this modular building, they never moved into that building. They stopped construction on the building, and all the students have been crammed together in the existing church building, which is approved for up to 270 students. But I was over there. I've seen the classrooms. They are very crowded together. It's a very well-monitored school. It's a very well-disciplined school. Peter Hansen, you'll hear from him very shortly, who's in charge of the Executive Director of Trinity Christian Academy, will explain to you its operational hours and how the students get to and from. We do not believe this will be an adverse impact to the neighborhood. We don't believe the neighborhood will know any difference at all with respect to increased traffic because we're still under the maximum number that this board approved several years ago. But we did make a mistake in terms of getting this building, which was not a sanctuary on the site, without getting an amendment to the conditional use permit that was approved for the school previously. And that's why we've committed to having that building off the property by September 30th of 2024. Other than that, I don't believe the neighborhood will see any negligible change whatsoever. It's a $1.2 million building. The construction has stopped. The neighbors did complain about the porta potty that was outside. That's been removed. We need to add the skirt and do a couple of interior finishings in hopes that the students that are crammed into the existing church building now can finish out the remainder of the year in this modular building that will be removed by September 30th of 2024. I'd be happy to respond to any questions, but Peter Hansen will be next and he can entertain any questions about operation, hours, and things of that nature. I appreciate your attention. Thank you. Do we have any questions at this time? Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Good afternoon and good evening. My name is Peter Hansen. I'm the head of school at Trinity Christian Academy. I live at 2212 Cascade Way, 40515, and I have been sworn in. So I'm assuming this is a public comment period. So I can speak in his applicant. Okay, excellent. Well, then, like, two hours? Just kidding. I know. Three and a half. I just want to thank all of my people for being here. This matters a lot to all of us because we care deeply and passionately about our mission of our school. And we need this modular in order to operate. And I just want to give you a little bit of context to our organization. You know, why Trinity exists. Our mission is to provide an excellent classical Christian education for the glory of Christ and the good of the bluegrass. We exist for the good of our community, and we believe in that strongly. And our four core values are faith, scholarship, virtue, and community. And our goal for our students is that they would love God, that they would love learning, that they would love goodness, and that they would love each other. And that, I think, is a noble mission. It's one that we've been committed to for over 30 years. Why are we doing this modular? And Bruce has already given us some of the answer to that. But I want to take you back to that awful time in March of 2020 when the world shut down because of COVID. And all of our children were forced into schools shutting down, distance learning nightmare. It was a catastrophe. And it was a catastrophe for us and for our students. And it was during that time that the students at Anchor Baptist suffered the most. Because while we're blessed and grateful for the facility that we have had there and the opportunity to be there, the brute fact is that the classrooms are too small. They're too small for the size of our classes. And they're too small for sure if we are required in any way to do any sort of distancing. And so we purchased a modular. It was at great expense, $1.2 million. And it is, I want to be clear, a modular building. It is a nice facility. It is beautiful. It is temporary, but it is not a trailer. It is not an ugly eyesore. And we purchased this for long term, knowing that we were going to try to move out to our new campus. And we're building a brand new high school on Brandon Road. And that whole operation got derailed because of COVID. We lost two years on that operation. Raising money became difficult. Costs increased exponentially. And delays in construction were rampant. And as a result of that, we have had to, when we purchased the modular, we were intending to move it out there, we have had to temporarily located it at Anchor Baptist, where we're currently at, until our new campus is completed. Bruce mentioned that is going to be completed for the fall of 2024. So we are just pleading and asking for some mercy and grace, some temporary from our community, neighbors who might not like that. I respect that, that there may be people who don't like the fact that it's there. It is very temporary, and it's for the good of our community and for the good of our students. So that's why I'm asking for you to approve this measure. I'm pleading with you to approve it. Our students are desperate. If we go into another season of COVID and they're talking about it openly, like, I mean, it's new variants, new problems. They're talking about new restrictions. Our students will suffer. We will have to shut down. We cannot operate in that environment on that campus. We can on our new campus, but we're not there yet. And so we need this modular because without that, our students will suffer. They will experience loss of learning, high anxiety, high levels of stress. It will impact their futures indefinitely, their opportunities to get into college. And so for the good of them, for the good of our community, we're asking for some leniency here. We do apologize. It was a mistake that we put it there before. We got the cart before the horse, you know, and that was an honest mistake. We thought our contractor had that taken care of. He thought we had it taken care of. And we messed up. But so we're asking forgiveness for some understanding as well. So with that, I just say please approve this. And we're hopeful that we can have a positive year without COVID. But if we do have any requirements to socially distance, I just want to reiterate, that will shut us down. And that will result in incredible harms to at least 90 students. Or, no, I'm sorry, 170 some odd students who are on that campus who will not be able to distance there. So thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. Thank you. We appreciate it. Do we have other public comment? I think there was a couple. I haven't been sworn in. You have not? No. Okay. Do you swear to tell the whole truth, the complete truth today? Yes, I do. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. I'm Mark Hopp. I'm at 3855 Lockdale Terrace. My main concern is it's ugly. It's an eyesore. You know what? If they want it, that's fine. Put it in the alternative where everybody doesn't have to look at it. You turn from Manowar onto Winthrop, it's there. It's in your face. And quite frankly, my knowledge of stuff like this, the last two cities I've been in, the churches have done this, and they stay. They don't move. All of a sudden, it's a permanent building. And I honestly don't want to look at six air conditioners on the side of a building. and it's just i mean you know they're saying well there's no you know the covet thing well if there's a covet thing then it's not going to be gone again by the end of a year because he said his building got stopped from that so it's going to get stopped again i mean we're can we just put it in the back where the alternative was so we don't see it i mean i'm i'm fine with it being there i'm fine we're putting up with inconvenience for the while, for the traffic. But I just don't want to look at the thing. I bought here not that long ago, and part of the reason I bought there was because it is a beautiful church sitting there. There's condos that were taken care of. The neighborhood's all well-maintained. Now I've got to look at a stupid, ugly building. Thank you. Hi, my name is Jackie Newman. I don't live in Lexington. I live in Garrett County, but I work here in Lexington. And I love the Lexington community, and I love my Trinity school family. I have a sixth grader who goes to the upper school in Winthrop. The upper school is the middle and the high school children who are currently housed at Anchor Baptist. The Trinity families and administration have worked hard to make sure our children receive the best classical Christian education possible. A new school is being built that will accommodate all the children and will be a blessing for our families. In the meantime, this modular building was put up on our upper campus for our middle schoolers. The modular building is absolutely beautiful, and it's very aesthetically pleasing. And it's absolutely the necessary space that our kids need. Our classrooms right now are very crowded, and the teachers are having to share classrooms. Our kids are meeting in rooms that weren't meant to be classrooms. and they're busting at the seams. We're asking for consideration for the permits to be issued so our children can learn in a healthy environment for just the next year. Remember, this is only temporary. I understand that some have been upset that they have to drive by and look at the building for this short amount of time. This building is vital to our children's education and our teachers' ability to teach. I especially worry about the winter months and what those will look like in our crowded classrooms. I want you to know that there were over 30 families that were here that were wanting to speak with you, but school got out at 3.30 and a lot of them had to go get their children, but several of us stayed because this means so much to us. We ask that you please approve this building and allow this modular building to remain at our school. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Katie Willie. I also don't live in Fayette County. I live in Jesmond County. Do you still leave my address? Oh, no. That's fine. And I have been sworn in. First of all, thanks for giving us the opportunity to talk to you about why we believe that this should be approved. I have been a part of the Trinity family for six years now. I have a sixth grader and a third grader, and I echo what Jackie said. Ditto to everything. I have had the pleasure of getting to know many of the upper school students over my time there, both through sports and through having many of them babysit for us. And one thing that I can tell you unequivocally about the students is that they have servant's hearts. And this community is better because of our students. I can go on about all the different things that they do to help our community. We've got kids that mow lawns in neighborhoods, babysit, take care of people's pets. Last week they did child care for our church so that they could hold a separate function. They do mission trips. Today they're working to help raise money for firefighters and EMS at the 9-11 stadium walk that's happening tonight. This community is better because of our students, and our students have that servant's heart because it is fostered at Trinity. Trinity provides more than just an education. it really does develop our children into formative young men and women that love each other and that love Jesus and love to serve. And their education and that fostering of their characters will suffer if we do not have this building. I beg you to please approve this. and in regards to moving it to a separate location really the location where they have it planned for now is the safest location for them to get to and from the modular back into the other building for lunch and things like that so i ask for you to approve it as it has been proposed Thank you. Hi, my name is Brooks Ward. It's 4629 Longbridge Lane. You've heard from a lot of adults today, so I thought I would read a statement that one of our eighth graders wrote. We are very thankful for the building that God has given to us. We are also very thankful for our growing population here at TCA. This school is amazing. We would love this space to educate students and also to form them into God-honoring people. Our goal is to grow in wisdom, virtue, and service throughout the entirety of our lives, but especially in these formative years. A bigger and more spacious facility would enable less distractions and provide a better learning environment. I am the principal for the third through eighth grade at Trinity Christian Academy. Our preschool through fifth grade is not at Anchor Baptist. It is at Tate's Creek Presbyterian Church, which is at 3900 Rapid Run Drive. That facility provides adequate space for those students. The learning environment at our lower school campus is exactly what our elementary school students need. At Anchor Baptist, that is not the case. We have classrooms that are 400 square feet or less. This modular building is going to provide classrooms that have 715 square feet. Research shows that a child should have at least 30 square feet in a classroom. And with our students and having about 20 students in our classes, that is what is going to be provided in this modular building. So I encourage you to please approve this. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Luke McAnally. I live at 884 Overview Drive here in Lexington. I'm the high school principal at Trinity Christian Academy, but my address says I have a unique position here. I also live in that neighborhood. So I've worked at Trinity for 10 years, and I've been in that facility at Anchor Baptist for these past 10 years. and our students and teachers have shown a remarkable ability to pivot and to modify the way that we do school because of our facility having this modular building will allow us to conduct school in a more traditional way having those additional classroom spaces is going to be very helpful for us not just from a space perspective but also from a pedagogical perspective particularly middle school students the more space we have the more creative we can be and how we go about educating those students. As Mr. Ward did, we had several students who were not able to be here today because the meeting is during a school day. We had about 20 students write short statements that they wanted us to share with you, and I've got two of those here, and these are both from seventh grade, one from an eighth grade student, one from a seventh grade student. The first one says, as an eighth grade student at Trinity Christian Academy, this year is critical for me going into high school next year and being able to have the best environment to learn. Having this building will give us more room to learn and have classes closer together. We might not have a long time in this building, but it's not just for eighth graders. It's for the whole middle school. So I say we should be able to use this building. It will help later generations of Lexington to come. And then from a seventh grade girl, this school is such a blessing to everyone, and this modular will help us. The modular will provide more space, and it will help with the sound. Some of the classrooms don't keep sound in, which is a challenge with middle school for sure. It's also very hard on the teachers because they have more stuff in the room and they have to move. So both of those statements are very true from our students' perspective. They're excited about this, and I'm happy for our teachers to have an opportunity to have more space. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Andy Waters, 4804 Pleasant Long Way. I'm chairman of the board for Trinity Christian Academy. I've been on the board for 12 years. Just a couple of points, not going to take much of your time. Just want to clarify, the church is not putting the building on a property. Trinity is the one putting it. Trinity is a tenant for Anchor Baptist. We're a ministry of Tate's Creek Presbyterian Church. So Trinity's putting the building on the property, and it's a very beautiful building. As a board member, when we talked about doing this, you don't spend $1.2 million on an eyesore. So when I first saw the facility, it's a much better building than even I could imagine. And I just agree with the statement that one of our mothers said earlier, that the location of the building is important. If you go on the property and look at the two buildings they showed you on the screen, it's the logical place. If you put it in the other location, it's not safe, and there's a lot of walking back and forth. And so it's just logical where the church was going to expand just to put that building. We'll be there temporarily, as we said. So we're very good tenants, and so we'd appreciate your approval of this recommendation. Thank you. Any other public comment? And if there's anyone else, if you'd like to come up, so I won't miss you. Madam Chamber members of the board, my name is Brian Evans. I'm a parent of two children at Trinity Christian Academy. I'm very proud to be a part of this school. We have some outstanding leadership. This school is incredible. Trinity is one of the few nonprofit Christian schools in Fayette County. And should the board believe that a hardship of our neighbors are greater than the hardship of our children, then I'm confident that the leadership of this school will still adapt and find a way to find what's best for our children. I understand and appreciate our neighbor's concerns. The very last thing that Trinity wants to do is upset anyone. And it's unfortunate to learn that we have done this. And I can tell you as a parent, this modular is not ideal. And as a parent, we're going to do our best to make sure that Trinity leadership gets us to that new facility as soon as possible. Because we don't want to be in a modular. Our kids have been dealing with this problem for the past 37 days of this school year, crammed in together. So if we're comparing hardships to hardships, which has been a common theme throughout this meeting, I believe the hardship of our children is much greater than the hardship of an eyesore, if that's what we're dealing with. So from one parent hoping for only the best for our children to probably other parents in this room, we strongly hope that you approve our modular facility. Thank you. Members of the board, my name is Barry Cooper. I live at 2341 Old Hickory Lane. I have three kids that attend Trinity Christian Academy. And I really love the school and what it does for our kids. And I know that even now, being crammed in the basement, they're getting the best education that they can. I'm excited for what can and will happen for them when they're in the modular with your all's approval and how much greater this education for them can be and the overall school experience and life at the campus can be for them. Certainly understand the concerns that come with the modular being there unexpectedly, but at the same time I would agree with Brian that this is such a greater benefit to have this there for our children and in this new facility and in this new space. So we'd like you all to approve this for us and thank you for hearing us today. Appreciate it. Thank you. Do we have anyone else? No? I thought we had. Okay. All righty. If there's any questions, the staff or the applicant, then I can entertain a motion. Is it too loud? I didn't hear the whole thing, but I'll do it then. Oh, you okay, Senator? Oh, go ahead. I'd like to make a motion to approve PLN BOA 2300060 Anchor Baptist Church. Request to amend an existing conditional use permit for school academic instruction in order to construct new buildings in a planned neighborhood residential R3 zone on property located at 3061 Winthrop Drive. Based on approval made of the subject of the following conditions listed, there are five. Use shall be operated in accordance with submitted application materials and site plan. Modular structure shall be removed by September 30, 2024. Upon removal of the modular structure, the site should be reseeded and restored to its previous condition. Number four, enrollment shall not exceed 200 students. Number five, all necessary permits shall be obtained from the Division of Planning and Building Inspection prior to occupancy of the modular building. We'll just confirm Ms. Plumlee had the second. All right. Our screen was going. Okay. Good deal. We'll take a vote. Thank you. The motion is passed. Good luck with the project. Okay, so we have PLN VOA 2361, but that's the Pentecostal Tabernacle. This has been recommended for approval, but we do have some public comment, and we will first still have staff do the presentation. All righty. Okay, the next application before you is PLN BOA 23-61, Bethesda Pentecostal Tabernacle, Inc. It is a request for conditional use permits for both a place of religious assembly and child care center for eight children in an R1D zone on property located at 125 East Tiverton Way. The subject property is outlined here in red in the center of the map. It's located on East Tiverton Way, Nicholasville Road, runs here along the left side of the image. The summit commercial development is here to the south of the property. and the home base for Bethesda, their main church location, is located right across the street from the subject property at 120 East Tiverton Way. Surrounding uses are mostly single-family homes. There's also an apartment complex just to the north and, of course, the summit development to the south. The subject property itself is just under a quarter acre in size and currently contains a 1,300 square foot single family residence. The zoning ordinance states that in the R1C zone, a place of religious assembly and a child care center are conditional uses. Further in Article 8, it states that a fenced and screened play area shall be provided, which contains not less than 25 square feet per child. The applicant is proposing to occasionally use the existing structure as an extension of their place of religious assembly. The applicant states that they will host Bible studies here as well as some other religious educational opportunities and that they approximate there's about 10 seats available in the main area of the structure, so most likely the living room. In addition to the expansion of that religious assembly from across the street, they are also proposing to use this property as an emergency shelter for children in the foster care system. is pretty common for places of religious assembly to have accessory uses similar to what's being proposed today. Often this could be food banks, emergency shelters, child care centers, etc. These accessory services may be considered as a part of the operation of the place of religious assembly itself and doesn't necessarily require additional approval. but because they might use this property solely for the shelter and then solely for a place of religious assembly, we wanted to make sure that their requests covered all of their bases. So that's kind of why we're including both of these at the same time. Here in Article 1, we have two different definitions. We don't explicitly define an emergency shelter, especially in the foster system, And so we looked to the ordinance for uses that are very similar in operation. We identified both the child care center, which is that first bullet there, which is a non-residential facility, which provides either full-time or part-time care, day or night, to children who are not related to the operator or in legal custody of the operator. We also have a definition for a type 2 child care center. This is based on the Kentucky State definitions for child care centers. And this type of facility is located in a primary residence and is allowed to provide child care for children related to the operator. But both of these uses are permitted conditional uses in the R1C zone. This proposed emergency shelter for children in the foster system incorporates elements of both of these uses. It is a non-residential facility that provides full-time care both day and night to children, but technically, because they're in the foster care system, they are in legal custody of the operator, so they would be in legal custody of the church operating that shelter. Now, the Type 2 Child Care Center allows for that, and because they're both allowable conditional uses in the R1C zone, We felt that the proposed emergency shelter is consistent enough with both of these and would be an allowable conditional use in the R1C zone. This is the site plan that the applicant has submitted. They are maintaining the existing facilities and not making any changes to the existing structure. And they have highlighted that they will provide two parking spaces behind the structure. they state that there's an existing fence and some screening along the perimeter that they will maintain they state that the existing residence is has four bedrooms and three full bathrooms and that they expect to house two to three children per bedroom and the expected age range for the children is six to 18 years the children who may be staying there at that shelter would be placed intermittently by the state while they search for a permanent foster home. The applicant argues that there is a great need for a foster care shelter and cites that the state does not have enough beds available currently to place children. They state that the proposed facility would create opportunities for the children to receive care, to have a safe space to sleep, and have access to nutritious meals and some therapeutic support as well. They state as well that the proposed facility would create jobs for qualified individuals to provide care for the children placed in this facility and if the board decides to approve this application, the proposed facility will be required to be licensed by the state of Kentucky's Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Staff in looking at this, we felt that it was appropriate to recommend approval. When looking at the condition of kind of the existing building and the parking in general, we felt it was appropriate that the applicant repave the parking back behind. It's not in great shape right now. And so that will be a recommendation or a condition of our approval if you decide to move forward with that. We are in support of this request as we do not believe that the proposed uses should negatively impact the subject or surrounding properties, and the extension of the place of religious assembly from across the street should not create a nuisance as the scale of operations on the subject property will be minimal, and they are in very close proximity to the main campus. The requested foster care shelter also is needed in the community in order to provide additional bed openings for children in the foster care system. so with that these are our recommended conditions of approval we include in number two that the parking area be repaved which will have to submit a paving permit to the division of building inspection and then number three we state that the religious assembly services shall not occur when the child care center is operating so because it is kind of a state foster care system those two uses cannot be mixed and so we just wanted to be sure in that condition that that was clear. And then number five, of course, that they shall continue to comply with the requirements of the state of Kentucky's cabinet for health and family services related to the proposed facility. I'm happy to answer any questions the board may have at this time. I just was wanting a little clarity on the number three, the religious assembly and services shall not occur when the childcare center is operating. So if you have a day and night, if you've got foster kids in there 24-7. Can you say that more into the mic? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. One on. There you go. You have the sign too. But anyway, about number three, the religious assembly services shall not occur when the childcare center is operating, but if we have foster care kids in there that are 24-7. If they do not have any children under their care and so they don't have to use the facility for an emergency shelter, that's when they would be able to use that home for religious assembly. But we've got to keep with the separation of church and state for, and that's why we included number three there. Yeah, and just my other concern would have been with that was having people come in when the children are in there. So, thank you. Yeah. Any other questions to staff? Okay. Thank you all. We'll have the applicant come forward. Almost made it. I got it. Good evening. I hope it's, I can tell it's been a very long afternoon. And I'll try not to make this as long as a sermon. And I'm sorry, did you state your name? I'm sorry. Jason Morgan. I'm volunteer chairman for Bethesda Pentecostal Tabernacle. So as many of you all may have heard, some of you may not have heard, Governor Rashear in previous weeks spoke about the need for, I guess, additional resources for kids, children, and teens who are displaced from their homes and families. Over 10,000 of those kids are in Kentucky. Of which a social worker recently told me that there were kids sleeping in DCBS offices because there's no place to put them. And on top of that, these children have been victims of various situations that have brought them to the point in the life where they have been removed from their homes. It's a very traumatizing, very upsetting situation for kids. I worked in education for almost 15 years, and I cannot imagine anyone not wanting a kid to have a place to lay their head in the middle of the night and get a nutritious meal. Because Maslow's hierarchy of needs says that a kid can't learn at school if they have no stable home environment. And part of what we're doing is provide them a stable home environment while they are with us. So kids coming into this facility, they will be vetted. Obviously, we wouldn't be taking kids who are violent or anything of that nature. And the people working with these kids would be trained. They would be part of the program. They just wouldn't be random people coming in and out. That would be a violation of HIPAA. So this would not be a situation where we would just have random people coming in and out. So where would the children be during the daytime? During the regular school day, those kids will attend the public school district school that's in that area. We will not be providing school education for them during the day. So there will be opportunities during the day that there may not even be kids there. So what is the commitment we've made? This is about kids. This is not about adults who disagree or adults who have their qualms with each other. But this is about providing a stable environment for the youth in this state. There are less than 10 other residences like this in the state. And there could be hundreds more and not even touch this population of marginalized kids. Not only are a lot of them socioeconomically oppressed, they come from very poor areas. And not only that, but a lot of them identify in diversity cultures that many families don't want. And it would be a shame for anybody to not want this for a kid, to have a place to lay their head. So our goal is just beyond being a temporary emergency shelter, is to provide an environment that minimizes further traumatic experience to these kids. I have worked with kids like this. They're going through a lot of trauma. Their mom or their dad or whomever they've been living with may have abused them or there was neglect in some way. They're the ones suffering, not me, and not the people that have a place to lay their head at night and food on their table. This is about children that could be my niece or my nephew who have nobody to advocate for them. That's what we're going to do. That's what God wants us to do. And this place is called Caritas House. Why is it called Caritas? Keratos is Greek for love in action. And that's just a little bit about what we're doing. Thank you. Thank you. Does the board have questions of the applicant? Thank you. And we do have some time for a public comment. We had a few people that wanted to speak regarding this matter. I've already been sworn in. Okay. So I live at. I wrote your name. Oh, my name is Sheila Hobson. I live at 121 East Tiverton Way, and I oppose this petition. First of all, the petition said child care. It didn't say anything about foster care. So that was not clear in the petition to me. Secondly, I oppose this petition because they're going to be in and out all times of the night, coming in and out of that house, because it's emergency placement. So that's going to wake me up in the middle of the night. And so I work at home, and there's going to be noise constantly next door. I need to be able to concentrate and do my work and just get my work done. Also, I've had problems with the church being too loud. I've even had to leave my house because the church across the street from me is so loud that I have to leave. If they have church assembly next door to me, it's going to be magnified. So I have a problem with that as well. Well, there is a problem with the traffic, and it's not that it's the amount of traffic, it's the speed of the traffic going back and forth in front of that house. So we've addressed that issue with the city, and we've tried to get stop signs put in to minimize the traffic, but that has not been done. And we've been turned down several times to put a traffic stop sign at LaRue. Because there's several trucks in our neighborhood that speed through there. They gun it. When they get off of Nicholasville Road, they gun down that street. So traffic is a problem in the event of speeding constantly. The other issue I want to address is crime that nobody has addressed. There is crime in that area, specifically drug trafficking. And that's something that I've, since I've lived there, in the six years I've lived there, I've constantly either called the police or monitored the crime in that area. The house next door to that proposed petition area has had two families living in it. It's a rental. And both families were peddling drugs out of that house. I was able to stop some of it by minimizing their oncoming traffic in there. So when they had people coming in there, I was out in my yard waving. I'm here. I'm watching what you guys are doing. Or across the street at the church. And the church has been a magnet for these drug dealers to come out. They either park in the parking lot. They park in front of it. They come from the side of the streets. Try to peddle their drugs in front of that church. Now, the church doesn't know that history, but I do. I've lived there six years. And I've tried my best to get rid of it. And so I think that's a problem. If you're going to have a daycare there, you need to look into the crime area. I have called the police on multiple occasions, and they can't do anything about it because they have to witness it. I quit calling them because they said they have to witness it. The most recent incident. You were out of time. I thought you were wrapping it up. Well, I'll tell you, the most recent incident was on Wednesday that I witnessed. Thank you. Do we have other comments? I think, Council Member. Thank you. I know it may surprise you to hear me speak in opposition for this because who wouldn't want to house even if it's just temporary foster children. So my name is Councilwoman Brenda Menards and I represent the 4th District which is where this property is located. First and foremost is for concerns of safety. In 2019, there were 13,496 cars captured in one week only, and this is only going eastbound. It did not count going westbound. I put a speed trailer just this spring on East Everton as well, and just in a four-year period, it has increased to 30,233 cars only going eastbound. In the last 12 months, there have been 15 collisions between Nicholasville Road and Habersham Drive. These kids would be attending the public school system. The bus stop for those kids would be on the corner across the street from this home on Habersham and East Everton Way. The speed trailer that I put down just this past April captured 40% of vehicles going 40 miles an hour or greater on that street. The speed limit is 35 miles per hour. I requested the speed limit to be dropped to 25 miles per hour, but I've been told that that's not warranted because this is a collector road, so that's not an option. Putting speed tables on this road is also not an option, and we've been denied a request to put any stop signs between Nicholasville Road and Haversham Drive as well. In addition to that, this past October, you'll see a copy of the zoning compliance permit that this petitioner was granted for their church, which is there across the street from this property, for an emergency shelter. I just took office in January. Since my term started, we have had multiple calls both to my office and to police on a weekly basis because of transient individuals in this area, because of this emergency shelter that has been put there. We received complaints from constituents, and so did the police department, regarding harassment from these individuals. We also get multiple complaints and calls to police with regards to drug use and drug transactions in this area. also increase, and the police believe that it's because of this emergency shelter that is there with this petitioner. And I know that it is not labeled a nuisance at this time, but just as a previous case mentioned, complaints are different from citations, and although there are hundreds of complaints by the time police arrive, it sometimes does not equal citation, and everybody knows about how much our public safety officers are understaffed right now, so the priority sometimes for these calls is less than other calls going out to police officers at the time. They also operate a kitchen that serves the public, so that also increases the number of individuals coming to and from this church. While the notification to this area was within regulations as far as the 500-foot radius, a lot of individuals that have called my office to complain are from the apartment complexes and the condominium buildings in the summit there, but those were not captured within this radius because the regulation only had the letter go out to the owner of those buildings and not the residents of those apartment complexes or those condos. Just as those houses that you see there across the street, not all residents received a letter regarding this hearing because it went to the owner of those single-family homes that are being rented and not the residents of those homes. The petitioner has also stated that they intend to use classrooms in the basement of that church in order to open a sober living facility. I think that this would also increase the number of calls to my office and to police and to further increase concerns for security in the area. I believe that the inability for the applicant to maintain a secure environment within just their church should be a reason to deny this petition. While there is a need to house children, even if it's just temporary in the foster care, I don't believe that this location is currently the correct place to house these children and definitely not this location at this time. I think that we need to consider what the unintended consequences would be of placing those children there. Because even though we can show statistically how much we need housing for these children, we can also show statistics for how understaffed our cabinet for family services has been and the fact that Kentucky right now rates one of the highest in the nation for abuse and neglect of these children. So let's not place these children in this environment at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else with a comment? The applicant would like to address any of those? And mainly, and I don't mean to speak out of place, but those things specific to the case before us in particular. I mean, there was a lot of things that weren't really specific to what your request is. Yeah. So we are not running a full-time kitchen out of our church, the basement of our church. It's actually just when we have our own dinners. That's when we use our kitchen. Now, in terms of safety, about one year ago, we put 24-hour surveillance around our church, and I have seen no evidence where there has been any drug transactions happen at that location. Matter of fact, maybe previously before we occupied it, there may have been issues, but that has not been an issue since we've been there. because we do surveillance that constantly 24-7, and that is in the front and all around the sides. And if there has been an incident occur, I would welcome an opportunity for me to find that video because it is constantly recorded and monitored 24-7, and I have seen no such evidence of that. Now, there wouldn't be any increased activity on that road in terms of traffic because, I mean, there's limited access to the house. This is not a situation where we're going to have people coming and going all the time. This is qualified adults that are going to be there, not a house full of addicts or whatever the case may be. That is not there. I mean, we're not housing that there. It's not part of what we're doing. This is a residential place for kids. Yes, if the kids were not there and we wanted to have a Bible study, it would be a Bible study. It wouldn't be a full-fledged church service. We have a place we can do that. We wouldn't need to do that at that particular house. So I don't know how the concerns would equate to giving kids an opportunity to lay their head down somewhere and to thrive and to learn from people and learn daily skills. Because this is not, you're not talking about criminals going in and out of here or maybe the risk of an adult facility that might be a group home. This is about children. And we can lay our petty differences aside. one child at a time and meet those needs. Thank you. To answer your questions. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I just wanted to clarify a few things that were stated. First, in the notice mailing, the property owners are the only ones that are required by the zoning ordinance to be notified of applications that's just what's included in the current regulations second we utilize the term child care center in our statement of what their request was for because that was the most in line with what they were requesting we don't have an explicit definition for an emergency shelter like this and so we utilize child care center because it was the most comprehensive term that we do have currently defined in the zoning ordinance. And then the last thing I want to state about the subject property is that when the church has some of the religious facilities or services there rather than operating the shelter, the maximum occupancy will be related to fire code. So I just wanted to be clear about that. I think they covered that they won't be hosting full services on that property at that time. I just wanted to state there are fire code that will limit how many people can actually be in that structure. Does the board have any additional questions for staff? Thank you all. Any further discussion, concerns, comments, or a motion? Okay. you think we need to talk through you can't ignore this which which part in particular yeah the councilman's yeah but which which individual concern Well, the traffic concerns would not be a concern. The kids aren't driving. I mean, there's no additional, but let's address, see if we can address some of the drugs. Okay. I'll just take a stab at it. No, don't talk to you. Look, we're here. Okay, and this is just the beginning. I mean, granted there is a desperate need as indicated by the applicant for such a shelter, But I also have concerns and much respect for the issues a council person has raised here. So that just gives me pause to think about this a little longer. I think there are concerns over this. Are we alleviating the problem by approving this for the children? Are we adding to the problem with the drug situation by having the children there? And I don't know at this point. Other comments? I'm a little torn on this one as well, but the thing that I'm trying to compartmentalize is the traffic issue. What we're basically approving or not approving is the house across the street from the church, correct? Yes, being used for foster care. That little house isn't causing doubling the traffic count, and it's tough to... to it. Sorry? Thank you. Sorry, I missed that. She was talking about traffic because of the walk to the bus stop. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're kind of two separate issues. I don't know. Frankly, it seems like the church might be a mildly bad operator. I don't know that that ties in with the house. it's the same folks, but you almost have to put blinders on and look at them one at a time. So, yeah, I think there's obviously an issue here, but I don't know which way to go on it, honestly. I have no idea on this one. I guess I didn't see the evidence of the church maybe being a bad operator. I didn't even the the public comment said it was the house on the other side that all the activity is I don't want to give the church the responsibility of that. But at the same time, if the church is doing proper security and stepping up in that measure. That's right. And I'm sympathetic. I understand that drugs are a consistent issue with Lexington anyway, but if the church is closed, and I'm just going on a limb here and saying when the church is in operation, it probably isn't seeing the drug activity. And if it happens when it's closed, it's not always necessarily the church's fault. They're trying to mitigate it, but it's still a, yeah. For me, the foster care housing is fine. If there's any concern, it's about hosting additional religious assembly over there, bringing people over into the residential space. That would be more of a concern for me than the foster care housing, the emergency foster care in particular. I'm concerned about that as well, and I'm sure that this falls under the umbrella of, I'm not going to get this right, but the social workers who are constantly regulating and checking in on the foster kids. But when they're in the home, I don't think that there needs to be anybody else in there other than the people who are taking care of them. That does seem to be explicitly stated in the conditions. Do you need a brief recess? Do you guys need to, someone need to confer? It's a tough one. No. I think again the conditional use for the use for the emergency foster care seems pretty clear. I mean it's not pretty clear. allowable based under the child care assumptions we don't think the addition of the kids are an issue in any case i mean we're not saying that are we no i think the issue is is the condition of the neighborhood conducive to the foster care home well you're scared of concerned about bringing the kids into the neighborhood yes based on this information Based on that, I think we need legal to write us something. Do you want to go? Do you want to go over there to legal? We'll take a 10 minute. . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Transcription by CastingWords Thank you. Thank you. Okay, okay, we'll call back to order. we've done some consulting i'm ready to entertain a motion i move to disapprove the request for conditional use permit on the grounds that the adjoining collector streets has a higher rate of speed and collisions and the introduction of the child care center will have an adverse impact inverse impact on the traffic flow. Further, the evidence shows that there are other shelters in the area and public facilities may be inadequate to serve both the existing facilities and a child care center. Further, the conditional use is not appropriate in this location because there are not adequate pedestrian facilities to allow the safe crossing of the street by the resident children to access the existing church facility or the school bus stop thank you miss plumley second or you who's that it was miss tucker okay thank you any further discussion actually i do intend to vote against it and i actually think i disagree with every one of those items on the list i think kids cross the street the rest of the street to go to their bus stops i think i think we're missing an opportunity here and i was making a statement earlier and maybe it's because it's late and i should quit talking and maybe i'm just grumpy but it does feel that with several times today we've said it's a great idea it's a great thing it looks like our ordinance allows for it conditional uses are acceptable but not in our neighborhood not in our backyard and it's not very neighborly even though we're intending to protect our neighborhoods i actually think the opposite is occurring but personal opinion at seven o'clock on a monday night there we go we'll take a vote vote. Okay, thank you. The motion for disapproval has passed. All right, our next item is PLNBOA 2362. That's Erin Reedy. Is the applicant still present? I'll have the applicant speak first. Okay. I'm going to pass my application until next month so that we can better address some of the complaints that have been raised today. So the applicant is requesting a postponement, so we need a motion to accept that, or we can just take the postponement for you? Well, the bylaws do provide, since it has been noticed, that you'll need to state the reason for that action at the hearing. but you definitely would need a motion to postpone in a second and to approve that. Yeah, I missed that. So we need a motion to propose, but we still need a reason for postponement. Yes, you need a motion and to state the reason for the postponement on the record. Okay. And you need more time? More time to finish the project and then also better address the concerns that some of the objections we got today. Okay. You don't want to be second? Pardon me? You don't want to be second? No. Okay. I'm just joking. Good deal. Okay. I'll entertain a motion. Thank you. Madam Chair, I move postponement of PLA BOA 2362 Aaron Reedy. Request for a conditional use permit for an unhosted short-term rental in a single family residential zone on property located at 621 Lane Allen Road. So moved. Sorry, the next meeting is October the 9th. Oh my goodness, yes, we're going to do it the next meeting. Okay, so it's October 9th. October 9th. 9th. At 1.30. Okay, thank you. Same place. 1.30, same place, same time. Thank you. I'm sorry, we have a second? Yes, Linda's second. Linda's second, okay, we're open for a vote. All right, that one has been postponed. have one more appeal in boa 23 63 matthew and tamra robinson all right the last application today is plnboa 23-63 this is a request for a conditional use permit for an unhosted short-term rental in an r1b zone on property located at 775 shinaway road the applicant is requesting an unhosted short-term rental for up to 12 individuals i've included again these two slides just in case this was kind of the first short-term rental application we were going to hear um i'll briefly kind of review some of the key points existing short-term rentals that existed before these new regulations were adopted may be grandfathered in and may not require a conditional use permit. Within Lexington, there are an existing 1,200 short-term rentals according to AirDNA. And since these new regulations went into place, only 100 of those have come in for a zoning compliance permit. That's still a lot to process in just over a month or two. These regulations changed both the code of ordinances and the zoning ordinance related to short-term rentals and added regulations related to land use, but also business licensing and permitting. And then my very last bullet there just provides some clarity on what type of events or parties are allowed or not allowed in short-term rentals. and then here again is the map of from air dna showing all existing short-term rentals in lexington all right the subject property is located highlighted here in the middle of the page outlined in red 775 shinoahe shinoahe kind of runs right down the middle of the map here and terminates at well not terminates but alumni road is just to the south off the map here just to help you kind of locate where this property is in town the surrounding area is comprised solely of single-family residential uses and the property itself is near the intersection of Shinaway Road and Hampshire place zooming in a little closer to the property itself the property is just about a half an acre in size and currently contains a one-story 3,600 square foot single-family residence that was constructed in 1961. According to PVA, the structure features three bedrooms and two bathrooms and the applicant is not proposing any expansion to the existing structure in order to accommodate this use. Next few slides include text from the zoning ordinance related to short-term rentals. They are a conditional use. Unhosted short-term rentals are conditional use in the r1b zone and an unhosted short-term rental means that the primary resident does not occupy the property while it is being rented the second slide talks more specifically about occupancy and then also what the board needs to consider in reviewing these applications there is kind of a standard formula for calculating occupancy it's either two people or two individuals per bedroom plus an additional four or a total of 12 whichever is less and the board may allow for additional occupants when there's sufficient evidence that greater occupancy will not result in overcrowding or create a nuisance and then the four bullets there at the bottom are what the board need to consider in their review of these applications this is the site plan that the applicant submitted with their application according to the operational plan they that the applicant submitted they expect one to six guests at a time based on the calculations that i just described per their bedroom count they can host up to 10 guests at a time and the applicant states that parking for the use will be accommodated in the existing attached garage and driveway which can accommodate up to four vehicles the applicant argues that their short-term rental should not have a detrimental impact on the surrounding area as they only anticipate to rent the property from 3 to 14 days a month furthermore they state that they would like to keep the property open for their own family members to stay there while they are visiting the applicant and they want to also minimize the wear and tear on the property which is an additional reason why they're limiting the amount of times they'll rent the property itself as a short-term rental the applicant states that they will not allow for parties or large gatherings at all and that they will be sure to explain the local noise ordinance rules of when guests check in here's a map of the existing short-term rentals in the area it's a little faint so I'll kind of highlight where the roads are Shinoahe Road runs here the subject property is that red dot which is confusing because my pointer is also a red dot but the purple dots show the existing short-term rentals in the area for context Tates Creek Road is just here to the left. This data is pulled from AirDNA which is kind of our current best source for where short-term rentals exist in Lexington at this time since these regulations are so new. And based on this data there are no other short-term rentals within a thousand feet of the subject property. All the ones that are on this map are outside that thousand foot radius so with that staff is recommending approval we do not believe that this application or i guess this use will have an adverse impact on the subject property or the surrounding neighborhood the area does not feature a concentration of short-term rentals and um the applicant does not have a history of compliance issues this is this will be their first short-term rental and so it does not also it does not appear that other short-term rentals in the area have been cited as a nuisance this like i said would be the first short-term rental operated by the applicant so there's no compliance history to review and there are no records of other short-term rentals in the vicinity of the subject property that are cited as a nuisance by the divisions of building inspection or code enforcement and so with our recommendation of approval we have listed the following four conditions it includes number three which states that the occupancy shall be limited to ten individuals which is what the applicant submitted with their materials and then we also include number four which will be kind of a standard condition I believe for short-term rentals and that the conditional use will become null and void if the division of revenue revokes their special fee license or it lapses i am able to answer any questions the board may have at this time question megan that's a bike lane but there's no parking in a bike lane is that the rule that's correct there's no on-street parking i believe on chinoaay i'm sorry i couldn't hear you no on-street parking on shinaway all right i'll let the applicant come forward so you want us to state our name and the property address is place and have you been sworn in we haven't we haven't okay we were out raise your right hand please yes and you swear to tell the whole and complete truth truth truth today yes thank you matthew robinson and tamra robinson 775 shinaway road we're here to seek approval for short-term rental. We own the property at 775 Shinaway and for the last over a year have been slowly renovating the home up to our own standards that we would want to live in. And my brother and wife and baby live next door to the property and we use the property, My husband has used it as a home office for six months as a place to get away from the kids. We've got four daughters at home. In summer. Summer's hard. But my parents come visit and his parents come visit quite often. Since we moved here, we have brought along three siblings with us as well. And so our parents are pretty upset with us that we've taken all the grandkids away. So they like to come visit often, and so we've decided to keep the home for them to come and stay. It's a single-level home, no stairs as they're aging, and it's been a great place for them to come and stay. And being right next door to my brother, we would like the option to be able to rent the property occasionally to offset some of the property taxes, the cost just to keep the home in a good state. We don't see it as a large source of income or business, but we would like the option to be able to rent it to, we had anticipated about one to six. It's not a large home. and so i'm hoping that we can calm some of the opposers feelings about this turning into a party house that's not our intention at all we've been renovating the home and we don't want to see it destroyed or a lot of wear and tear to the home but we would like the option if we see fit to rent it on an occasional weekend or week. I've had neighbors that live near us. By the way, we live less than a mile away from the property. And I've had neighbors express, oh gosh, I would love to have an Airbnb in the neighborhood for my family to come and stay. And so I think there's not a lot of options in the area. So we come before you to request approval for the short-term rental. Thank you. Do we have any questions of the applicant? No? Thank you. We'll give opportunity for public comment. Thank you. You guys have been here a while. You know the drill. We'll line up, say your name, address, and three minutes each. My name is Brian Chafin. I live at 739 Shinaway. I've been sworn in. And I'm not going to take a lot of time. We have a few people that are going to speak. I do agree with several of the other people that spoke at the first rental about it. being part of a neighborhood, I could see what they were saying in their section of town where they live. This might be a little bit of a different section of town. And there's a reason why there aren't a lot of rentals on Shinaway. And I think that that's important that that's taken into consideration. The only thing that I could say before we turn this over to other people is that I'm just looking at all five of you and if you wouldn't buy a house next to a rental or you wouldn't live in a house next to a rental, then you vote no. Thank you. Have you been sworn in? I have. Kyle Ray 1404 Hampshire place. I think what's important is we actually need to look at the actual ordinance. The ordinance says that if there would be an adverse influence on the subject property or the neighborhood, a conditional use permit cannot be granted. There's adverse influences here, and there's multiple. And I will lay that out first, this is a single family residence. That's what it's zoned for, it's for single families, three, four, five people, not ten. It's not zoned for a hotel. If people run a business, they should go to a commercially zoned area, not a single family zoned area, which this is. If approved, this would actually go against the intent of what this area is currently zoned for. Next, when it comes to adverse influences, people buy this in this area because it's location, it's safe, you want to raise your family. And it's also quiet. A short term rental is not going to be quiet. A short term rental is going to have a bunch of noise, because the people who are coming there to stay do not live in that neighborhood. They don't necessarily know their neighbors and don't care about their neighbors. We do live in the neighborhood. I know these people. How many people here are here to oppose this? Raise your hand, please. That's a lot of people in the neighborhood here to oppose this. And I think our voices should be heard. Next, adverse influence has to do with traffic. Shinaway is a busy road. There's no parking on the street. Traffic backs up from where Shinaway and Alumni Drive are every day at 5 p.m. Next, adverse influence, safety. People, I have a seven-year-old daughter, and she knows the people that live next door. People across the street, their kids are going to come actually babysit my daughter on Thursdays. I can go to an event at her school. My daughter should not have to come home, nor should anyone's daughter have to come home and wonder, no, who are her neighbors that day? Are these people safe? Because the short term, you don't know who that is every day. And that's not what our neighborhood is designed for. Our neighborhood is designed for short term, not for short term, our neighborhood is designed for single family residences, which these are. So because of all these adverse influences, in accordance with the chapter 20, section 7-6, this conditional use permit has to be denied. Thank you. Thank you. And we had others to speak, if you guys want to line up and who's next? Hello, I'm Barbara Crandall and I live on 1413 Hampshire Place. First of all, I want to applaud you for combing through an enormous amount of detail and listening to you approve 20 to 30 feet of space and deny some of these very small appeals is amazing for me to sit through for the first time. yet I am very shocked that you would potentially approve something that would drastically change the framework of our neighborhood and how it was designed and how it was zoned and zoning as you know it and regulatory oversight of that is what makes an area what it is I'm therefore asking that you deny this request I was born and raised in New York City I lived in Paris France for nearly seven years before moving to Lexington I chose to move here with my husband to say goodbye to transient neighborhoods to raise a family in a neighborhood to know our neighbors if any of you have children grandchildren I or friends with children, I'd ask you to think about and visualize opening your front door and letting your child play in their front yard when every 72 hours or every week they are facing a complete stranger. Think about not being able to call your neighbor ahead of a trip, which we often do on Hampshire to say, hey, I'm going to be traveling, can you keep an eye on things for me? Or, hey, I'm getting a package next week, can you keep an eye on things for me? This proposal would drastically change the essence of our neighborhood and why we chose to move here. The applicant has occupied, to various degrees, this home for more than a year. Yet, we are all seeing these people for the very first time today. We have had no interaction, no communication with them whatsoever. The staff approval indicates that part of the basis for the approval is that the area is not concentrated with short term rentals. But I've also heard you talk about your inability to have good databases. so you're relying on certain information. I've also heard you say that you have not yet limited the number of short-term rentals in Lexington. And I find it amazing that you could then begin to approve these one by one without actually framing what this means and what the long-term impact is for our community. And at what point in time do you stop approving? And are you ready to face lawsuits from people who state a claim that they feel unequally served, if you are approving these initial ones and denying ones later? Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it. Before I get started talking to, I've got... Do you have an extra copy for the record? Yeah, I do. So, before I start talking, this is about 25 emails from neighbors. This is a copy of the article that I gave to the board members. This is a Google printout. If you do a Google search on Airbnb lethal shootings, there have been tens, if not scores, this summer across the country. This is a group of articles on Airbnbs and property values and issues like that. I have the affidavit of the lady that Robinson's brought the property from, which we'll talk about in a second. And then I have some pictures that show part of my house and what I look at from there. So I'd like to put all those in the evidence. I'm Chuck Adams. I have been sworn in. I live at 779 Shinnewe Road with my wife, Laura. We've lived there 20 years. The council has really given you all a big job, and I think you're starting to feel that. I mean, this is obviously going to be a contentious thing. And if I had had any idea that I'd be having to stand here and say the things I'm getting ready to say about what's happened, I would have said that that will never happen in a million years. I gave you an article. Just briefly look at it in terms of what the Robinsons are trying to do. No city in the United States has been able to do, to have unhosted short-term rentals without the parties, without the shootings, without – and I know that you all got – and we had to have something. I know you all worked hard on the ordinances, but if you do any research, you know New York just this last week, there are no unhosted short-term rentals in New York anymore. There's a huge fight in Arizona right now. And like I said, you can do a Google search about Airbnbs and big parties, and, I mean, you get pages of complaints and so on. So these people, they have a legitimate concern here. They have a legitimate concern. On the standard, I mean, the burden of proof is on the applicant for conditional use, I think. So, you know, I've been trying to track that all day, and it's hard for me to follow, but I want to restate that. And, you know, the four or five things that the council said you all should look at, I think you cannot ignore, though, the statute KRS 100-237 that says when you're considering conditional uses, you're supposed to be deciding, you know, which conditional uses may be suitable in specific locations within certain zones and only if certain conditions are met. but you are fully within your authority to just deny it. You don't have to come up with conditions that make it acceptable. When somebody has property, they don't, just because the council has said, we're going to have conditional uses in R1B, that doesn't mean they just get it. You have to approve it. Or they would have made it a primary use or whatever the term is, or accessory use. They made it a conditional use. So every one of them is going to have to come before you all. and i'm going to have to ask for more time because i want to talk about the affidavit what the robinsons did and i and to this day they've they've owned that property for two years i've never seen them never seen them i've seen i guess it's her father some in the yard but they told the the people that owned the property for years that owned it for 24 years they told them may i move for more time well we're at a disadvantage we don't have a homeowners association so we don't get the extra time that somebody would get can i can i yield my time no this is it okay Okay, thank you. I really appreciate that. If you look at the affidavit, paragraph five, they told the previous owners through their agent, Tamara and Matt Robinson, absolutely love your home, see themselves in this home for many years. school district something they've really been looking forward to the beautiful yard and all the glass looking out it's just what they want they don't want to tear anything down they just want to live in the home as it is they've never lived in that home and in fact as soon as they bought it as soon as the contractor started coming the neighbor on the other side and i went over and talked to contractors and he said what are they doing over here because it's exciting you know they said oh they're turning this into an airbnb they decided that from day one all right so if look at the pictures that and i don't know if you can put that up i can tell you what i'm looking at first picture is going to be me oh okay okay so this is looking back that's my driveway from chinois road okay there There are garages on the left. Maybe a little more color, but anyway. Then go to paragraph two, or page two. So now we're looking from my driveway. at the back of their garage and what you see there are boxwoods with weeds so big and full that they've turned into trees growing through them and there's a third picture they haven't done their yard sticks out on shinawe road nobody has a yard like theirs on shinawe road that keeps it like that but they actually live over on cochran and they have beautiful brand new landscaping and i should have brought a picture of it but it's 303 cochran you can go look at it they've done nothing in two years there's no mulch it's all weeds it's in the front side i look at this through my breakfast thing every day so they've never come over and talked to us about this they miss they misled the lady they bought the house from they haven't tried to to work with anybody about the conditional uses or the conditions or anything they've just taken the position that since we were able to get the property and in july the council passed some new ordinances that were entitled to this thing we've lived in this house 20 years the cowgirls lived in the house next door to us for 33 years the burks lived 40 something years harold tate the house he bought your previous is 12 before that the people lived there 41 years 50 years he's a 50 years what you're talking about doing or they're talking about doing is dropping a transient airbnb or whatever it is into an area where owner occupier homeowners have lived forever And to suggest that that doesn't change anything about the character of the neighborhood, I don't know what the staff considered. One last thing. Parking. This is it. This is it. I already gave you three. Okay. Parting gift. Parting gift. They don't have a circle. They don't have parking in the back. So if they've got 10 people and they've got eight cars trying to back out onto Shinnewe at rush hour, and I know that was a concern before, it'll never work. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Okay, who's next? Come on. Let's keep them rolling. Give everybody an opportunity. Hi, my name is Tommy Puckett. I live at 1009 Turkey Foot Road. I'm opposed to this. I guess you can call me an expert. I was a Lexington police officer here for over 35 years. The last 17 was in this neighborhood which I now live and traffic is unbelievable on Chinaway Road. There's no parking allowed. There's very limited for this driveway, for this kind of environment. It's very concerning for me as far as safety. And I must point out that even without somebody overseeing the facility, naturally the neighbors obviously are going to be calling the police. I know all about the police. I not only have been here for this, I was here at 8 o'clock this morning for a meeting because I'm on the police and fire pension board and have been for 28 years. And had meetings all morning and then I had to stay and I stayed for this. Right now there is a real issue are concerned with police in Lexington. Right now we are 129 officers short. We have four more that are leaving Wednesday that are retiring. We cannot get applicants. We just graduated a class of six. Four is leaving Wednesday. So we're going backwards and everything. So when you call the police now, if anybody notices, there's not any police cars because there are no police we're 24% short and going further down so you know the concern I have is if you do have the loud party or the disruptive or anything is even getting somebody there and that is a that's a concern for everyone in Fayette County at this time so that's my expert thank you do we have any further comment I'm Joe Brumley I live at 1021 Turkey Foot Road I am here speaking opposition to this a few things may be more philosophical but our city obviously has shortage of housing needs anytime we're taking homes that could be used for single-family or personal use off the market for rentals for transient uses I do have a concern about I think it detracts from hotels or things that are happening for transient uses in business environments I also have concern that this is just out of character for the area I know that Ms. Jennings put up a slide that showed how many short-term rentals were in that area I didn't see any nearby and the ordinance says that should take into account the proximity STRs in the proximity of the property I don't know if that means if you have a lot of STRs in the neighborhood you should have more or if you don't have any that you should prevent that it do we know Ms. Wade if that's clear when it says that one way or the other when the council adopted this ordinance that was just direction they provided to the board of adjustment to consider there there weren't any judgment there was no judgment and that that's up to the trying to load up a lot or have none we don't know it's really up to the board to make those just after this board of adjustments to decide and I believe Miss Jennings there are 58 homes in the notification range is that approximately right 57. 57 homes in the notification range and how many mr adams do you know how many letters of opposition we had to this i don't know how many got submitted but i have 25 or so emails sure so you know we feel like more than 50 of the notification range as opposed to this I know earlier Mr. Walker had mentioned that some issues with that we've been through this process and Miss Carter as well as a community we decided that we wanted to have some regulation over STRs. I guess what was decided that we have some zones where this is a principal use. If it's B2, B2A, B2B, B4, I1, I2, CC, B6P, MU3, that it's an automatic use. But in all these other R-related zones, it's a conditional use that we would be seeking for you to approve it. So from my standpoint, I would just request that you not approve this request. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone further? If the applicant would like to rebut or respond to anything? I'll start by lightening the mood a little bit if I can. I'm the landscaper, so that was a direct attack at me personally, and I have failed at the house a little bit. So we do have it professionally mowed, but the other stuff is on my to-do list to clean up and make better. It was a little overrun when we bought it, but it's got room to improve. so um and just to address mr adams i i have tried to be somewhat of a good neighbor i prescriptions were delivered to my house and i brought them over to try to meet you i've met your son and your dog millie i haven't been you know intentionally you know trying not to meet you and i don't know where you got your information from neighbors but we actually did intend to move into the home. That's why we renovated it. And that's false that we bought it to become an Airbnb. Please talk to the board. So that was never our intention to buy it to make it a rental. We have four daughters and we wanted to be in the school district. We wanted to live in the home. COVID made it quite long to get anything accomplished. That's why we had not lived in the home for that long. and just the rest of our story is a home came available two blocks from the schools our kids go to which was a dream situation for us so this house became an extra house that was in the middle of a renovation we couldn't just walk away from it or so it's been trying to figure out what to do with it and our honest intent is to follow the process has been outlined to to follow the rules so there's been a little bit of what feels like a character assassination but that's been our only intent is just follow the rules and see what's possible for this house. Thank you. Any questions of the applicant? No? Thank you. Thank you. And staff, do we feel pretty well addressed? I'll just say something for back here. I just want to clarify that the adopted ordinance by the council allows for single family homes to be rented as a short term rental. Hosted single family homes in all residential zones, as long as their occupancy is 12 or fewer, is an accessory use. With a hosted occupancy greater than 12, it requires a conditional use. And then unhosted also requires a conditional use. I just want to be clear that the ordinance allows for single-family homes to be rented as a short-term rental, sometimes with the approval of a conditional use. Thank you. Okay. It's back to you guys. So the staff has recommended approval. So either the motion is for approval or we may need to get additional findings otherwise. And I'm not sure if the same would apply. Thank you. I think we have a similar situation as to what you were talking about earlier this afternoon. The neighbors find the whole idea disagreeable. Property value is backing out on Chanaway. And the use of where they are dwelling now has been threatened because there is a different use in their neighborhood. It's no longer really single family dwelling. Now it's become a commercial area. And that's a situation that I see it now and I don't have any real recommendation at this point, other than what the neighbors had voiced and it's a disagreeable to them. Their lifestyle is threatened and when that happens, when you've made considerable investment in a home, have lived somewhere maybe 40, 50 years, you get a little temperamental when that's threatened. And that's what's happening here. And I am sorry that the zoning folks and the council folks didn't dwell with that better, deal with that better than, and leaving it to us in this position. But that's the way it is at this point. Thank you. I feel like I'll just rehash the same stuff as last time, but to answer your question, both properties on either side of me are short-term rentals, and I haven't had any issue with my neighbors. I think you were the one that brought that up earlier, but it always ends up being this party house problem. And that doesn't guarantee, because it's a short-term rental, it's going to be a party house. I've got a friend who had a short-term rental that during COVID rented out for free to traveling nurses. That way they could help assist in the pandemic. There's been people that stay at his place that have been in town for treatment or, you know, a wedding or a funeral or whatever. So it doesn't automatically mean that it's going to be down and dirty. And fortunately, here's the good part for you guys. If this short-term rental stuff did go through, you know, these folks back here, if they did rent it out and they had a bad long-term renter, it's way more difficult to get a noose around them than it is with short-term rental. Short-term rental has a lot more hoops to jump through. And this is a legal use. The council approved it. It's gone through staff. You know, this is a legal use. and I get that people just don't want it. I really do. But this is, I would say it's the second one, but the first one already got denied. This would be the first one. So there's no data specifically that says it's going to be a bad deal. And if it is, then there's a lot greater recourse to get them gone. If they mess up, they're out. They get a couple of cop phone calls or if they're licensed labs, If they get hammered on by the neighborhood, then it goes away. So I think you're, in my mind, have a lot more, I don't know, I guess, accountability with a short-term rental. It just so happens that you may not know your neighbor. And I've lived in multiple places where I don't know my neighbor. Sometimes I don't want to know them, and a lot of times they don't want to know me. So I don't know. I just don't see that it's that big of an issue yet. I would encourage you to let it happen, and then if not, if it goes down the wrong path, then you've got a lot greater ways to pull the reins on. And it's a legal use. I appreciate that, Chad. And I would just add, and it's not a question I would ask, I guess it's more rhetorical, if people have stayed in Airbnbs, because this whole party space is just not what I'm familiar with. Most families that I know travel with Airbnbs because they've got multiple kids or they're going to the beach and they want to bring all their stuff or we're two families going together or doing something. Most times, they're actually, I mean, we're not loud. I've got two kids and we're in bed at 10 o'clock on a vacation night. So when we travel and we use an Airbnb in other locations, that also hasn't been my experience. So I'm sorry that we're portraying Airbnbs as that way. Just one little comment. The very people that will be policing this, the neighbors that are sitting there just now, because you will be the one that report should there be wild party situations or whatever, because there's no inspector that comes by at 2 o'clock in the morning and says there's something going on that shouldn't. It's the neighbors that would be reporting keeping tabs should that happen. Yes, as always. Anytime your neighbors loud, please call. So how do they get a revoke? If we call, how do we revoke? There are provisions in the code of ordinances in which the license can be revoked based on substantiated complaints or if there are any false information on the application that is made. As far as the conditional use permit being revoked, that can be revoked if there are complaints to zoning enforcement that are substantiated, that the applicant is not meeting the conditions of approval that the board would lay out in their potential approval. If it was found that they were operating outside of those conditions, they would be given an opportunity to come back into compliance. If they did not come back into compliance, the board could hold a revocation hearing to revoke the conditional use permit. But also, likely the quicker way would be that the Code of Ordinances special fees license would be revoked, and upon that revocation, the conditional use would automatically be revoked as well. Is that a whole last place in the pool? It is. The code of ordinances is available online as well as the zoning ordinance. And there's information in there about what the steps are. Thank you. Okay. Any further discussion? Now I need a motion. I'll make a motion. I know it's going to be a flip-flop anyway. Madam Chair, I know it moved to approve PLMBOA 23-63. Am I on the right one? Is that Matthew and Tamara Robertson? Yes. Matthew and Tamara Robertson requests a conditional use permit for an unhosted short-term rental in a single-family residential R1B zone on property located at 775 Shinaway Road, based on staff's recommendations and subject to the four conditions. Thank you. Do we have a second for said motion? Okay. I believe the motion's failed. Okay. It died? Died. Okay. Okay. So do we need a break for someone to have an additional motion? Okay. Okay. It will take hopefully five minutes or so. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Everyone's ready, I think we're ready up here. Got one left. Thank you Madam Chair. I move for disapproval of PLN BOA 2363. Matthew and Tamara Robertson request on conditional use for permit of an unhosted short term rental and single family resident on R1B zone on property located at 775 Chennaway Road. And the reason for disapproval would be a move for disapproval on the conditional permit on the grounds that Chenoway Road does not allow on street parking so allowing a short-term rental for up to ten individuals could increase traffic and have an adverse impact on the surrounding neighborhood so moved do I have a second Tucker has second and we'll open it for a vote right so motion has been disapproved I mean the request All right, let's see what's next on my agenda. We still have items on the agenda, so if you would like to leave, please do so in a quiet fashion. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, what I do have next on the agenda here is, hey, welcome, Bob. We do have newly appointed members to the board. We broke in really, really good. He's old by now. He's old now. So Bob Sturdivant. I think my foot's asleep. You are? Yes. Thank you. And then actually Brandon Gross has been reappointed as well. He's just home sick today. So he's always conveniently absent when we have long ones. We'll remind him of that. And let's see. Other than that, we've already signed our declaration. We'll present that to Chad next week, next month, next month. And I don't think, does staff have any other items? No. No? If you do, you don't anymore? I just wanted it to be quiet so we could finish the agenda. There we go. All righty, all righty. So our next meeting will be October 9th at 1.30, same place. Hopefully you guys don't have to be back then. We do. This is longer than normal. Thank you. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.