Issue Statement: The applicant, Tombee LLC., is requesting a variance from meeting the minimum lot size requirement to construct a single family home pursuant to Chapter 24 of the City’s Code of Ordinance, the Land Development Code.
On January 30, 2018 the Board of Adjustment recommend approval of the variance request by a 5-0 vote.
Application: The applicant would like to build a house on a vacant, residentially-zoned property located at 325 NW 32 Street. The current platted configuration of the property requires an additional 88 square feet to meet the minimum lot size requirement of 6,000 square feet to construct a single family home.
The applicant is requesting a variance from meeting the minimum lot size requirement to construct a single family house pursuant to the Chapter 24-31(C)(1) of the City’s Code of Ordinance, the Land Development Code.
The property is currently a vacant lot which once contained a pool and shuffleboard courts for the adjacent homeowners association. The “Boulevard Villas” homeowners association, now inactive, foreclosed on the property, filled in the pool, and the property was sold at auction to the applicant in 2016. The lot is irregularly shaped, approximately 70 x 100 feet, which meets the minimum lot size requirements for a house, but it is only 5,912 square feet in size; 88 square feet short of the minimum 6,000 square feet.
The property is in the R-2, Two-Family Residential zoning district. The adjacent uses to the east and west (also zoned R-2) are one-story multi-family residential buildings (3 to 7 units per building) contained on a street with dead-ends on both the east and west, which is all part of the former “Boulevard Villas” Association. To the south, the property faces NW 3rd Avenue which is used to access the Boulevard Villas units as well as commercial uses on Oakland Park Boulevard. The north of the property borders R-1, Single Family Residential property (the rear of Sleepy River Acres).
The property and adjacent right-of-way on NW 3rd Avenue is platted and the right-of-way is governed by the City.
APPLICABLE CODES:
City of Oakland Park, Land Development Code
§24-31 (C) (1) Building Site Area for a Single-Family Home
- One-family dwelling: Minimum 6,000 square feet and 60 feet in width.
§24-232 Board of Adjustment.
(C) Basis for a variance. The board of adjustment shall approve a variance only after the applicant has demonstrated justification for the granting of a variance in conformance with the following criteria:
(1) That special conditions and circumstances exist affect the land, structure or building involved preventing the reasonable use of said land, structure or building.
(2) That the circumstances which cause the hardship are peculiar to the property, or to such a small number of properties that they clearly constitute marked exceptions to other properties in the district.
(3) That the literal interpretation of the provisions of this chapter would deprive the applicant of a substantial property right that is enjoyed by other property owners in the district. (It is of no importance whatever that the denial of the variance might deny to the property owner some opportunity to use the property in a more profitable way, or to sell it at a greater profit than is possible under the terms of this chapter).
(4) That the hardship is not self-created or the result of mere disregard for, or ignorance of, the provisions of this chapter.
(5) That the variance is the minimum variance that will make possible the reasonable use of the property, and that the variance will be in harmony with the general purposes and intent of this chapter and will not be injurious to the neighborhood, or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare.
(6) That granting the variance requested will not be detrimental to adjacent property or adversely affect the public welfare. No nonconforming use of neighboring lands, structures or buildings in the same district, and no permitted use of land, structures or buildings in other districts shall be grounds for the issuance of a variance.
(7) Under no circumstances shall the board of adjustment recommend a variance to permit use not generally permitted in the district involved, or any use expressly or by implication prohibited by the terms of this chapter in said district.