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07-27-1977 ~ ~ u BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT PUBLIC HEARING (ROBERT J. DE FLIPPO) JULY 27, 1977 Chairman Millard called the Board of Adjustments Public Hearing~to order at 7:05 P.M. in the Board room at City Hall. Chairman Millard asked Mrs. Wadsworth if she had notified all necessary owners of adjacent lots? She stated yes. The advertisments was run? She stated yes. The land was posted? She stated yes. Chairman Millard asked if the members had checked the property. The answer being yes. The applicant is present. He will represent himself. Chairman Millard asked if it would be good to just ask the members to ask what they would like to ask the applicant. ROLL CALL Mr. Millard Mr. Poland Mr. Asting Mr. Fenske Mr. Lupinek Present Present Absent (Excused) Present Present Mr. Lupinek began the questioning. He stated that he had just stopped by the property. As he quickly scanned this. Mr. DeFlippo gave a reason to. set back to nine feet to prevent the destroying trees. Mr. DeFlippo stated yes. Mr. Lupinek went on to ask if this was his home or is this a home for someone else. Mr. DeFlippo stated that it was for him. He asked if Mr. DeFlippo builds other homes. He stated that he does not. He is not a contractor. He is a plumber by trade. Mr. Lupinek stated that as he understands that Mr. DeFlippo is constructing houses around this City, am I not right. Mr. DeFlippo stated that he has an uncle that is a Contractor and he is building in this area. Chairman Millard asked Mr. DeFlippo that if he understands that he is under oath. Mr. DeFlippo stated he understands that he is under oath. Mr. Lupinek stated that it is not so great that we cannot grant this variance. He went on to say that he did not see any trees that were in detriment because of that. Mr. DeFlippo stated that he had the slab contracted out by a man named Walter Guinn, he went on to say that he was trying to save the trees on the North side so that the lot would not be bare. He also said that he set the house back 10 feet from the min. set back of 30 feet so that he could save the trees in the front. He said that this was not done on purpose. It was an honest mistake that he made and Mr. DeFlippo's mistake for not checking these measurements. Mr. Lupinek stated that he had information that Mr. DeFlippo had built some houses that people were not very happy with. Mr. DeFlippo stated that this is his first house. He went on to say that he helped his uncle build one house on Yule Tree Drive and that was his uncle's house. Mr. Fenske asked Mr. DeFlippo who put in the slab. Mr. DeFlippo stated that it was a Mr. Walter Guinn. Mr. Fenske asked also if the building inspector was out there? Mr. DeFlippo stated that it was inspected and approved. Mr. Fenske went on to ask how come this was not noticed. Mr. DeFlippo stated that this he did not know..He went on to say that this' was so close, that when the inspector paced it off he did not catch it. ~ ~ u Mr. Fenske stated that when one foot is concerned it should have been measured out not paced. Mr. DeFlippo stated that this was his fault as well as the concrete man for not going back and checking this. Chairman Millard stated that he believed that the Building Inspector stopped all work on this. Mr. Deflippo stated that this was after it-was_poured. He went on to say that he was the one that came in to the building inspector and told him this, he also stated that he could have probably gone right ahead and built the house and no one would have ever known. He came down right away knowing that there was an error. If he was going to go ahead and do this intentionally he would have gone ahead and built the house. Chairman Millard stated that he is glad that Mr. DeFlippo told him this because no one has told him that. Mr. Poland stated that it appears to him that we have a case here that he has asked a man to pour a slab as far on the North side as he could. The subcontractor made an error of one foot which the building inspector did not catch. Mr. DeFlippo caught it on his own and brought it to the City's attention and they said you have to stop construction and go and get a variance. It sounds to him like he is trying to do what is right. Mr. DeFlippo stated that he wanted to save all the trees that he could. Mr. Poland stated that it appears to him that this gentleman is a innocent victim of an error made by the contractor and compounded by the building inspector. Mr. Lupinek asked if there was anything that we could do to keep the Building Inspector a little more aware of these things. He went on to say that down near him there was a builder that built his own home 15 feet on someone elses land and he could not buy the other. He still does not know what became of that. Something should be done and brought up about this. Mr. Fenske asked Mr. DeFlippo who inspected this for him. Mr. DeFlippo stated that it was Paul Loeffler. He also asked Mr. DeFlippo if he suggested to him that he would like to have the property set over an extra foot, Mr. DeFlippo stated that at the time he did not know it. He had the land resurveyed for the bank and that is when he discovered the 1 foot. Chairman Millard asked if the people from Daniel Cory's office pointed out this 1 foot. Mr. DeFlippo stated that he 5a~ it himself. Mr. Poland asked if Mr. DeFlippo made any attempt to buy any portion of the land adjoining him. Mr. DeFlippo stated that when he found this mistake he came into City Hall and looked up in the tax roll who was the owner of the adjoining property and found it was Magunson Corp. and first of all he knew that they would want a lot for their land and the second reason is that any lot on Indian River Blvd. you have to have a 160 feet on Indian River Blvd. and then this would make that a non-conforming lot. And from there he never went any further because he knew that they would not sell. He went on to say that he did try. Mr. Poland stated that what we are faced with here is one of two options we can give you the variance on the one foot or we can make you tear it down. Chairman Millard stated that what Mr. Poland points out is true and it is due to a part o~ the regulations o~ the laws in which we operate which says that a hardship an undue hardship cannot be o~ your own making. It could be held that you created your own problem so there is no unnecessary hardship Boards of Adjustment can change this on one case. Chairman Millard stated that since this property has been posted and the abudding property owners were notified and the ad was in the paper and not one person from the public is here tonight. That would indicate to him that there is no great interest on this problem. In Chairman Millard's opinion he has made a honest error, but this would excuse it however,it is 12 inches which is a very little bit to be over. Mr. Poland stated that he could not see where this would cause any problem for anyone. u u Chairman Millard stated that as one member of the board it is his opinion it would be unreasonable to require him to take the footer out and start over. He asked Mr. Lupinek if he thought otherwise. Mr. Lupinek stated that he would go along with that. The only thing that he would like to know, is the reason why he asked him if he was the one who was building these homes if he were the builder he should know the law. Chairman Millard stated that as he understands it this builder is a relative of his. Mr. DeFlippo stated that it was an uncle and he does not usually work for him. Mr. Poland stated that he felt that we should send a memo to the Building Inspector Dept. to request that they exercise a little more care. Because if this would have been found by the Building Inspector it could have been stopped when all he had invested was the time of digging the footer and laying the steel. Chairman Millard stated that we should just give them a copy of the minutes. Mr. Poland went on to say that this is why we pay the building inspector. If the Building Inspector is remiss in his duties this creates some extenuating circumstances. Chairman Millard stated that we should talk this over with Judson Woods. Mr. Fenske stated that he felt that we should question the Building Inspector on checking before the slab is poured. Chairman Millard had a question on the plot drawing. He asked if there was an earlier one. Mr. DeFlippo explained that there was an earlier plot drawing. Chairman Millard asked for the roll call. Mr. Fenske voted yes Mr. Lupinek voted yes. Mr. Poland voted in favor of the variance. Mr. Millard voted yes. Chairman Millard stated that there will be a letter sent to the Council briefing them on this hearing. Then they will vote on it. Public Hearing was adjourned.