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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved BOA minutes 082416Page 1 of 4 Draft BOA Minutes August 24, 2016 St. Lucie County Board of Adjustment St. Lucie County Administration Building Commission Chambers 1 August 24, 2016 2 9:30 a.m. 3 4 A compact disc recording of this meeting, in its entirety, can be obtained from the Planning and Development 5 Services Department along with these minutes. A fee is charged. In the event of a conflict between the written 6 minutes and the compact disc, the compact disc shall control. 7 8 CALL TO ORDER 9 Chairman Lowe called the meeting to order at 9:30A.M. 10 11 ROLL CALL 12 Bob Lowe... ........................................... Chair 13 Ron Harris... ......................................... Vice Chair 14 Michael Jacquin .................................... Board Member 15 Richard Pancoast ................................. Board Member 16 Derek Foxx... ........................................ Board Member 17 18 OTHERS PRESENT 19 Katherine Barbieri ................................. Assistant County Attorney 20 Bonnie Landry ...................................... Planning Manager 21 Jeff Johnson ......................................... Senior Planner 22 Beverly Austin ....................................... Recording Secretary 23 24 ANNOUNCEMENTS 25 Bonnie Landry, Planning Manager stated the Sept meeting will be held a week earlier, Sept. 26 14 instead of the normal date of September 28. 27 28 AGENDA ITEM #1 – MINUTES OF August 10, 2016 29 Mr. Pancoast motioned approval of the minutes as written. 30 Vice Chair Harris seconded and the motion carried unanimously. 31 32 AGENDA ITEM #2 – Public Comments 33 None 34 35 AGENDA ITEM #3–Petition of Outfront Media, LLC for two variances from the provisions of 36 Section 9.02.02(D) & (G)—Billboards of the St. Lucie County Land Development Code. The 37 applicant’s request is to replace an existing billboard with a new 45 foot high, double face, LED 38 billboard with will exceed the maximum 35 foot height requirement and install the new billboard 39 that will be located within a 200 foot radius of a Planned Unit Development. Staff report by Jeff 40 Johnson. 41 Page 2 of 4 Draft BOA Minutes August 24, 2016 Jeff Johnson, Senior Planner stated the petitioner, Outfront Media, LLC is proposing to construct a 42 new 45-foot high, 378 square foot, double face, Light Emitting Diode (LED) billboard that will exceed 43 the maximum 35 foot height requirement by 10 feet as stated in St. Lucie County Land Development 44 Code (LDC), Section 9.02.02(D) and will encroach 105 feet into a 200 foot radius of a Planned Unit 45 Development as required in LDC, Section 9.02.02(G). The location of the proposed billboard would 46 be constructed in a similar location where an existing billboard which has been in place for 47 approximately 25 years. Mail notices went out to 17 surrounding owners within 500 feet of the subject 48 property… as of date staff has received one response in favor. That response coming from a resident 49 on the north side of Mariposa at 2882 Farley Road. 50 The subject, 1.84 acre Commercial, General zoned commercial shopping center strip property is 51 located at the southeast corner of US Highway No. 1 and Mariposa Avenue and lies with the within 52 the City of Port St. Lucie Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). The City of Port St. Lucie and the 53 applicant have resolved their issues by entering into a Billboard Reconstruction Agreement that will 54 allow the billboard to be constructed subject to variance approval. Said agreement allows the City to 55 disseminate public service information that includes; declaration of weather emergencies, Amber 56 Alerts, City sponsored events, and other emergency related notifications. In the record, a letter from 57 the City of Port St. Lucie that formally withdraws a previous letter of objection. Due to changes in 58 County Code requirements and building codes over the years, the existing sign is considered legal, 59 non-conforming due to height, setback, and sign area and structural and wind load requirements. 60 The proposed sign would reduce the existing height by 3 feet and reduce the location or distance to a 61 planned residential development by 7 feet and eliminate the setback, sign area non conformities and 62 comply with current building code requirements. The variances arise from conditions that are unique 63 and peculiar from the land and physical surroundings that would result in unnecessary hardship. The 64 existing billboard, which was constructed over 25 years ago and the roadway/traffic signal 65 improvements made since, would not allow the new billboard to be visible if required to comply with 66 the maximum 35 foot height requirement. The petitioner has provided illustrations that show visual 67 conflicts with the mast arm and traffic signals when a vehicle is positioned at the stoplight looking 68 south on US Highway No.1. According to the information provided, the face of a new billboard would 69 not be fully visible if constructed at the 35 foot maximum building height requirement as opposed a 70 billboard that is constructed at a height of 45 feet. The requested height variance may be the minimum 71 necessary to assure reasonable use of a billboard that provides no visual obstructions for the 72 southbound traveling public on US Highway 1. 73 The granting of the requested variance is neither expected to harm other property or improvements in 74 the neighborhood, nor is it expected to impair an adequate supply of light or air to adjacent public 75 streets, increase the danger of fire, or endanger the public safety. The proposed exterior 76 improvements may have a positive impact on the adjacent properties and the community in general 77 as an LED billboard requires less maintenance. 78 However, if an LED sign is to be installed, the brightness levels need to be regulated to reduce serious 79 consequences for driver visibility and safety. 80 81 Page 3 of 4 Draft BOA Minutes August 24, 2016 Staff has conducted research regarding the brightness level of the billboard. Staff provided a 82 condition of approval that limits the nit level to 100…through further research staff found that this is 83 not how the industry generally regulates LED brightness. The industry standard for regulating 84 brightness is to limit the brightness for a 378 s.f. billboard at a distance of 200 feet to 0.3 foot 85 candles above ambient lighting. This allows the sign to be visible in the middle of the day in bright 86 sunlight (when the ambient lighting is the greatest) and to be visible but not overpowering at night 87 (when the ambient lighting is at its lowest). 88 Staff recommends approval of both variances due to the existing conditions of the roadway and traffic 89 signals. The new billboard will eliminate and reduce existing nonconformities and will allow it to be 90 constructed at height on the property that is visible by the travelling public and not visually conflict 91 with the traffic signal. The new LED billboard will be maintenance free and will provide valuable 92 information with higher resolution and clearness to keep the public informed. Approval of this variance 93 shall be subject to the following conditions: 94 1. The brightness level of the billboard shall not exceed 100 nits and shall not emit any light (with 95 zero footcandle readings at the property line) onto adjacent neighboring properties. 96 2. Prior to the issuance of a building permit, St. Lucie County shall enter into a “Billboard 97 Reconstruction Agreement” with Outfront Media, LLC to make the billboard available at no cost 98 to the County for the dissemination of public service information. 99 Chair Lowe opened the meeting for discussion and questions of staff 100 101 There was discussion about if this is a part of the sign ordinance that the P & Z voted on 3 months 102 ago. Also the agreement with Port St. Lucie and the sign company has Port St. Lucie requested use 103 of this sign; is the County involved in that? There was also discussion about the ambient light. 104 105 Bonnie Landry, Planning Manager stated yes regarding the Planning & Zoning vote, the locations did 106 not change for billboards; the parts that changed were changeable message signs not billboards. 107 108 Mr. Johnson stated no to County involvement, which is why there is a condition crafted that they will 109 enter into an agreement to provide information available at no cost to the County. That agreement 110 will be worked out. Staff has not received a draft copy yet but prior to being issued a building permit 111 it will have to be taken care of and reviewed by the County’s attorneys. 112 113 William McCormick, the attorney for the applicant stated Jeff Johnson was very thorough in his 114 presentation; they have been working with him for about a year. Do not have anything to add. 115 116 Chris Ashley of Outfront Media was sworn in and explained the billboard operations. 117 118 Chair Lowe opened the public hearing 119 No one spoke 120 Chair Lowe closed the public hearing 121 122 Chair Lowe returned to the Board for discuss and/or motion. 123 124 Page 4 of 4 Draft BOA Minutes August 24, 2016 Mr. Harris made a motion: After considering the testimony presented during the public 125 hearing, including staff comments, and the Standards of Review as set forth in Section 10.01.02 126 of the St. Lucie County Land Development Code, I hereby move that the Board of Adjustment 127 approve the petition of Outfront Media, LLC for 2 variances from the provisions of the St. Lucie 128 County Land Development Code, Section 9.02.02 that will allow the construction of a new 129 billboard to exceed the maximum 35 foot height requirement by 10 feet and the placement of a 130 new billboard to be located 95 feet from a Planned Unit Development on the property located 131 at 10600 South Federal Highway because it will not affect traffic and there was no objections 132 from surrounding land owners and is subject to the staff’s conditions. 133 Mr. Pancoast seconded the motion. 134 135 The roll was called: 136 Chair Lowe Yes 137 Vice Chair Harris Yes 138 Mr. Pancoast Yes 139 Mr. Jacquin Yes 140 Chief Foxx Yes 141 142 OTHER BUSINESS 143 None 144 145 ADJOURN 146 Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 am. 147 148