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HEX Minutes 06/22/2023 DraftJune 22, 2023 Page 1 of 20 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE COLLIER COUNTY HEARING EXAMINER Naples, Florida JUNE 22, 2023 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Collier County Hearing Examiner, in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m., in REGULAR SESSION at 2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Room 609/610, Naples, Florida, with the following people present: HEARING EXAMINER ANDREW DICKMAN ALSO PRESENT: Michael Bosi, Planning and Zoning Director Raymond V. Bellows, Zoning Manager John Kelly, Senior Planner Ailyn Padron, Operations Analyst June 22, 2023 Page 2 of 20 P R O C E E D I N G S HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. Good morning, everyone. It's 9:00, June 22, 2023. This is the Hearing Examiner meeting for Collier County. Let's all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Thank you very much. My name is Andrew Dickman. I am the Hearing Examiner for Collier County. I am a Florida Bar attorney in good standing for over 20 years. I was retained by the Board of County Commissioners. I am not a County employee. I'm here as an independent hearing examiner to conduct a quasi-judicial hearing in order to hear the petitions that are under the jurisdiction per the County code. My job will be to hear from the Petitioner, hear from the County, what their recommendations and evaluations, take public testimony, if there is any, and then within 30 days render a written decision. I will not be making any decisions here today. Today's hearing is simply to hear the testimony and get the evidence and talk about the applicable criteria for the petition, and then get whatever information I need, so that within 30 days I can make that decision. I have not had any ex parte communication with anyone regarding the applicant. There's only one item on the agenda today. I've not had any outside communications with staff, the applicant, any representative of the applicant regarding this. June 22, 2023 Page 3 of 20 Again, I am here to be an impartial, neutral decision-maker. I have training in land use and zoning matters over -- well over 25 years, in that area. And, again, this is an informal proceeding, and anyone who is going to speak here today, I want them, number one, to relax, present whatever information you want to present, and, number two, you’re going to have to do it under oath. So anyone who is going to speak here today needs to stand, raise your right hand, and the court reporter will administer the oath. (The speakers were duly sworn and indicated in the affirmative.) HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Very good. All right. So let's just jump right into the agenda. We have 3(A). We have one item on the agenda. Good morning, John. MR. KELLY: Good morning, Mr. Dickman. John Kelly, Planner III, for the record. Before you is Agenda Item 3(A). It's a variance petition, PL20210001172. The applicant requests the hearing examiner approve a variance from the 20-foot minimum front yard setback for group housing as depicted within the Queens Park Master Site Plan, pursuant to Section 2.05.E of the Lago Verde Planned Unit Development, Ordinance Number 84-81, as amended, to reduce the minimum front yard to 10.42 feet, to allow for a garage addition that will project up to 10 feet, inclusive of a 1-foot roof overhang into the required front yard. The subject property is located at 3631 Kent Drive. It comprises two properties that have been combined for development and are legally described as Lots 165 and 166, June 22, 2023 Page 4 of 20 Queens Park at Lago Verde Phase Two, in Section 18, Township 50 South, Range 26 East, Collier County, Florida. Some clarification is in order as -- despite the existing single-family residence having been built over the dividing property line and both properties having been transferred to the Dayses via a single warranty deed, Warrant Book 2997, Page 43, using the aforementioned legal description, the Collier County Property Appraiser's Office has the properties recorded individually. All improvements appear on Lot 165, which comprises 0.16 acres, while Lot 166 comprises 0.15 acres, and appears to be unimproved. The total combined area is 0.31 acres. The properties are located within the Lago Verde Planned Unit Development, which is a residential PUD. Public notice requirements were as per LDC 10 -- Section 10.03.06 F.2. The agent letter was sent by the applicant on or about May 15, 2023, as per notarized affidavit. The property owner notification letter and newspaper ad were satisfied by the County on June 2nd, 2023. And a public hearing sign was posted by me on June 1st, 2023 to the front of the property. This petition was reviewed by staff based on the review criteria contained within LDC Section 9.04.03 and has been found to be consistent with the Growth Management Plan and the Land Development Code. With respect to public comment, I've received no calls or correspondence. The petitioner has provided approval of their proposed project by the HOA as well as four letters of no objection, which are included within Attachment C. Staff is constrained from recommending approval due to June 22, 2023 Page 5 of 20 safety concerns, however, opines that those concerns can be alleviated with the following condition of approval. Staff has no specific objections to reducing the required front yard to 10.42 feet to allow for a garage addition that will project up to 10 feet inclusive of a 1-foot roof overhang as previously described and depicted within Attachments A, B, and C. The recommended condition of approval is there shall be no outside parking or storage of automobiles, trucks, or other passenger-type motor vehicles within the driveway of the subject property. That concludes staff's presentation. And the applicant is here to speak. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Before you leave -- MR. KELLY: Sure. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: -- a couple of quick questions. I just want to understand a few things. I see that a single-family home is straddling two lots, and you indicated that. Are these -- I don't understand. Are these two separate folio numbers or partial IDs, and why -- MR. KELLY: Two separate folio numbers; however, they appear together on the same warranty deed. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So there is unity of title or joint ownership, so... MR. KELLY: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: And the house is literally straddling the property line, so... MR. KELLY: Yes. It's my understanding that when they come in for permitting, our addressing department is going to insist that the properties be under June 22, 2023 Page 6 of 20 one folio. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. And then the purpose of this is to extend -- literally just to take the garage out 10 feet inclusive of the 1-foot overhang almost to the property line, the front property line, right? MR. KELLY: Correct. Up to an easement that is there. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I gotcha. Okay. But it's still -- and then I notice -- so there will be a driveway there. I don't see on the aerial photographs any sidewalks, so, you know, it doesn't seem like there's going to be any blocking of sidewalks or anything like that? MR. KELLY: Correct. There are no sidewalks. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. But I think that alludes to -- partly alludes to the condition that you have for, you know, parking -- not parking in the driveway? MR. KELLY: Correct. It's my understanding that -- it's my understanding that the additional garage space is needed for handicap access. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Understood. Okay. All right. Is the applicant here? Thank you, John. MR. KELLY: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Is the applicant here? Can we -- MR. KELLY: You'll be at that one. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: You get the extra large space. Spread out, make yourself at home. Hello. MR. BULLARD: Hi. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Name and June 22, 2023 Page 7 of 20 address? MR. BULLARD: Well, I'm the actual contractor that's doing the work for the owner. He apologizes he couldn't be here today, because he had a medical procedure that he couldn't get out of. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I understand. MR. BULLARD: My name is Michael Bullard, and the address is 3631 Kent Drive. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: You're with ACGC Development Corp at 2300 Krape Drive, right? MR. BULLARD: I am, yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Or 2300 Krape Road. Okay. Great. MR. BULLARD: So what do you need? This is my first hearing, so... HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Well, take your time, tell us whatever you feel you need to tell us. MR. BULLARD: Well, pretty much John Kelly went over everything that -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I know. He does that. MR. BULLARD: -- needed to be said. Like I said, we're just building -- extending the garage out by the 10 foot with the 1-foot overhang, and it is for medical purposes as far as handicap. As they're getting older, they're having issues. And the part that we're going over on is just a utility easement, which is kind of uncommon for a utility easement to be that close. So we're really encroaching on the utility easement itself. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. And June 22, 2023 Page 8 of 20 then as far as -- so that -- once this is finished, it's going to look almost like the house just coming out, right? MR. BULLARD: It will look identical to the front now except it's 10 foot out. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: The facade will look identical. It's not going to look -- MR. BULLARD: Right. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: It will look -- to the average neighbor, because it's in a residential neighborhood, it will look exactly like just a house with a larger -- MR. BULLARD: Right. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: -- extended garage? MR. BULLARD: That's correct. Yeah. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. And your client is aware of the condition that John mentioned with regard to parking -- MR. BULLARD: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: -- in the driveway? MR. BULLARD: We just found out this week, but he was notified yesterday. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. Agrees that -- okay. Okay. Great. So do you have anything else you want to explain? MR. KELLY: John Kelly, for the record. If I can lead the applicant just a bit, we do have a file with some information to be shown on the screen for you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Oh, perfect. MR. KELLY: It includes the site plan. June 22, 2023 Page 9 of 20 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yeah, let's go through that. All right. Excellent. Thanks, John. Okay. So this -- so this is a -- these are materials that are being supplied, I guess, by the applicant, and so, essentially, what I'm getting from you, you're the expert, and you’re here as a contractor, and, essentially, this is some exhibits that are going to be provided into the record or are already into the record that further explain, you know, the nature of the petition. If there's anything -- why don't we just scroll through this, if there's anything that jumps out that you want to expound on, you know -- so you get and understand that, you know, there's criteria for issuing variances of this nature, zoning variances. So this is the -- I guess the -- what I'm looking at and have read is the explanation from you or from your client regarding the request; is that correct? MR. BULLARD: Yes. It's part of the application process that we had to go through, yeah. It's been going on for over two years now, so... HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Really? Okay. All right. Let's go on through here. All right. Okay. All right. Let's see what this is. Yep. I've seen this before. So in the front -- let's see. Hold on one second. Go up right -- so we're talking about, literally talking about this area right in here, correct? MR. BULLARD: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So 9 feet, plus a 1-foot overhang, correct, equals 10? And it will be the same width as this -- this is the existing garage, correct? MR. BULLARD: Yes. June 22, 2023 Page 10 of 20 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So it's going to be extending -- adding 9 feet to that, so it will be 9 -- under roof will be -- or under, I guess, the overhang, but let's say under roof will be 9 by 22.1. That's essentially the extension of the garage. That's all that's included in this, correct? MR. BULLARD: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. Do you know if there's been any discussion with the neighbors, anybody speak with the neighbors? MR. BULLARD: Yeah. I've had three of the neighbors call me when we first put out the letters and explained to them what was going on. They were just basically wondering what it was all about. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. BULLARD: And I think one that I spoke to was in opposition, just for whatever reasons, I don't remember at this point in time. And -- but other than that, everybody was fine with it. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. BULLARD: And Joe had talked to the neighbors himself, most of them, and said -- and got petitions from them that's signing says, We're okay with what you want to do, so... HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So this elevation is going to be -- this is -- we're looking at the side elevation? Is that what we're looking at? MR. BULLARD: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Matching shingles, garage addition, matching stucco. Again, that goes to -- it's going to match up straight up with the house, June 22, 2023 Page 11 of 20 so it's fitting in? MR. BULLARD: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Go ahead. What else do we have? Okay. Survey, up to date. All right. And, again, there are no sidewalks here, but we don't want any parking out here, so this is the existing driveway that will remain, but there's going to be a condition of no parking out here. It's just used to access the garage. That's the proposal? MR. BULLARD: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Anything else? Okay. Now, what is this? This is the existing situation right now? MR. BULLARD: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. So it's just going to come straightforward. All right. Is that it? All done. Okay. Great. Why don't we open it up to public comment. Anybody signed up to speak? MS. PADRON: Good morning, Mr. Dickman. We do have an in-person speaker. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Great. MS. PADRON: Steve Friedman. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Mr. Friedman, come on up. Use the middle mic in the middle of the stand here for a minute. MR. FRIEDMAN: Good morning. You probably June 22, 2023 Page 12 of 20 can hear me without this. Good morning, gentlemen, ladies. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Your name and address. MR. FRIEDMAN: I live -- Steve Friedman, 3615 Kent Drive. I'm about five houses down from the house in question today. As a matter of fact, it's the same floor plan, same house, just -- same builder. I'm very familiar with the property. I've been in that house when it was built. I've been in the neighborhood 32 years. You had a drawing up there showing the elevation of the front and the driveway, and this -- Kent Drive is a big circle. Every house on Kent Drive has the same driveway, which I think is 20 feet. That's the setback. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Yes. MR. FRIEDMAN: So every house will have the same driveway except this one, which is just going to stand out. It's going to look funny, even though you'll do a professional job, and the owners keep a nice house, but it's going to look funny, possibly look commercial, like there's a workshop in there or there's something -- and you'll have one house different than the others, which also sends a message about the neighborhood that people don't care. I don't know what the message is. But I've never seen a neighborhood where one house was so much different than the others, until you get somewhere maybe out in the Estates where you don't have deed restrictions. I don’t think this will do anything to help any property values. You know, what I do in my house affects my June 22, 2023 Page 13 of 20 neighbors down the street. What these folks will do, and they may have very good reason for doing it, is going to affect everybody else. And I think the biggest -- well, we are talking 10 feet here, right? HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: 9 feet with a 1-foot overhang. MR. FRIEDMAN: I mean, we're not talking 9 inches where you won’t notice. We're talking 10 feet. It's going to be like, Hello, what's going on here? I had a problem when they put up my pool cage that I was in between easement by inches, and you couldn't imagine what I went through to get -- I didn't get a variance. I had to have the pool cage moved. You know, there are rules. I don't know how this got this far, I just don't know. I mean, you said the association -- the gentleman here said the association approved it? MR. KELLY: Yes, the association approved it. Yes. MR. FRIEDMAN: Well, it did get this far. That's basically what I have to say, but I think the biggest number one issue on it is if this goes through and you get to do this, and I don't mean to do anything that would make it inconvenient for the owners or yourself putting work and time into this, that it just opens the door to other variances where you lose the look of a neighborhood, because everyone who is doing their own thing. Because once you put through this one, how do you say no to the next person? If you let somebody put 10 feet into their driveway, which already is not a long setback, the houses are kind of close to the street, you know, it's kind of a squished neighborhood. If you allow that, how do you say no to the next person June 22, 2023 Page 14 of 20 who wants to do something that's going to be a little eyesore-ish? You've got to -- you've just got to stop here. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. FRIEDMAN: Sorry. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Thank you very much. I have a question. So give me a little bit more explanation as to why -- what's the need for the additional 9 feet of garage space exactly? MR. BULLARD: Basically, handicapped vehicles and -- HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Sir, one second. You've had your time. Thank you very much. MR. BULLARD: I mean, that's what he's looking to do is for the accessibility of the garage to put the cars in there and have -- his medical condition may get worse, and a wheelchair may be involved and things like that, so... HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. So currently, we know that the garage is 22 feet wide, I guess. MR. BULLARD: Yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: And how deep is it? MR. BULLARD: Actually, I'm -- MR. KELLY: It should be 20 by 20. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: All right. So it goes -- so to the front door, it's 13 feet. So if it goes past the front door, you know, is it -- so I'm just trying to understand, are they getting a new vehicle, a different vehicle? MR. BULLARD: That's what they're planning on doing. June 22, 2023 Page 15 of 20 HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Say that again. MR. BULLARD: They are planning on getting a new vehicle, yes. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: They are getting a new vehicle that's -- MR. BULLARD: Larger vehicles. Right now they have compact vehicles today, and he just complains about not having enough room. If this happens and, you know, we're going to need a larger vehicle, and I'm going to need to have access to it, we can't fit two vehicles and get a wheelchair through there, so that's the reasoning. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So this is in order to have two vehicles in there at the same time, and then to have one with, I guess, the ability to have a wheelchair or something with regard to -- is your -- I mean -- all right. So I have to ask these questions. So the -- what is the -- is this a situation where there's like an aging in place, like the -- the Dayses want to stay in their home and they want to age in place? MR. BULLARD: That's -- it is their homestead, and they're not going anywhere. They've been there for quite a while, and they're year-round residents. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Right. Okay. And so -- but the idea here is -- I guess what I'm trying to get at is like the -- I'm trying to understand the exact nature of the need for the additional space. Because first of all, you know, it can't be closed in, it can't be turned into a workspace, it can't be turned into an extra bedroom, or it can't be turned into any of that whatsoever. It can't look commercial. It can't -- you know, it has to be for -- I June 22, 2023 Page 16 of 20 guess what you're saying is that it needs to -- it needs to be a fuller two-car garage, and one car at least be able to accommodate a wheelchair. Now is this a wheelchair that is on a ramp, that goes inside -- I mean, can you describe the vehicle? MR. BULLARD: He has no -- a wheelchair is not needed at this point in time. His medical condition could worsen. So it's just they're trying to plan ahead. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Do you want to tell me what the medical condition is? MR. BULLARD: You know, I wished he was here to actually do that. Like I said, he's doing something today for this part of the -- a procedure he's having today that's part of his -- what's going on. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: John, do we know anything about this? I mean, is this -- you know, variances are big deals. I mean, they're not -- they're not just simple things. MR. KELLY: Only what's contained within the narrative statement. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. MR. BULLARD: When I first came and when I first met him three years ago and we wanted to do this, he told me what he wanted it for, and that hasn't changed, even since we found out we had to have a variance. We didn't realize the -- I put in permits for this, because he had an old survey that was showing that he had more room, that the actual utility easement was not there. So we turned in permits for this three years ago with a survey that didn't have the utility easement on there. And that's when we were struck down to even do it. But even then, before we June 22, 2023 Page 17 of 20 knew we had to get a variance, it was the same reasoning for what he wanted to use it for. Nothing more, nothing less. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So, John, real quickly, I think that -- so the front yard setbacks are 20 feet, correct? MR. KELLY: Correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: So regardless of the easement, he'd still have to get a variance, because he would be moving -- it would be -- any closer towards the roadway would be encroaching into the front yard setbacks, correct? MR. KELLY: Correct. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. Okay. I'll just have to take whatever information you've provided, what the applicant's provided. I appreciate you coming out, Mr. Friedman, giving me your opinion. I’ll take that under advisement. MR. BULLARD: Would it help to have the owner send you something on his medical conditions or anything like that? HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: You can't do that. MR. BULLARD: It has to be here, right? HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: I explained that at the beginning of this hearing. This is the hearing. MR. BULLARD: I understand. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: After this, the record is closed, and that's why these hearings are set up the way they are, so that there's no -- you know, the public sees everything. June 22, 2023 Page 18 of 20 MR. BULLARD: I understand. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: There's no additional information that I get, no additional communications that I get that -- this is where I get all of the information. We do it out in the open, transparently, so that everybody sees everything. That's the nature of a quasi-judicial hearing, so -- all right. Well, I'm just going to have to look at this very carefully. I will say that under the general law of zoning variances, each one is taken on their own merits case by case. There is no -- I know there's a high tendency for individuals to want to use the word, you know, this is setting a precedent and things like that. That's not the case. So no one is bound by any decision -- any future decision is not a -- is not to be evaluated based on are there -- so the criteria doesn't include how many other variances are there in the area. So this is really a case-by-case situation. It sets no precedent whatsoever. And my job is to evaluate this variance on its own merits based on the criteria that's in the code and the testimony and the evidence that's been presented here today by the applicants' contractor, by the County, and I can put whatever weight I want onto public testimony. Because layperson testimony is admissible to the extent that it's factual based, and I want to put whatever weight on it I can. So I'm just going to go around the horn here. John, County, anything, last-minute comments before I shut this down? MR. KELLY: I just wanted to reaffirm what the applicant had stated that the property is homesteaded. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. June 22, 2023 Page 19 of 20 Gotcha. And, sir, any last -- MR. FRIEDMAN: Can I add something? HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: No, sir, you cannot. You've come, you've had your five minutes, three minutes. That's the way the public comment works. So anything else? MR. BULLARD: I have nothing further. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. I will get a decision out within 30 days. I appreciate you being here. You know, in the future, it would be helpful if your clients -- if you do this again, have your clients here or ask for a continuance. MR. BULLARD: Oh, okay. Well, he was planning on being here. It's just something -- you know how doctors -- once you get an appointment, you don’t want to break them for a certain reason. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Trust me. I understand that. MR. BULLARD: He was planning on being here though. All right. Thank you. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Thank you. All right. Anything else we need to talk about today? MR. BOSI: Mike Bosi, Planning and Zoning Director, no. MR. BELLOWS: No, Mr. Dickman. HEARING EXAMINER DICKMAN: Okay. Great. Thanks for being here, everybody, and have a wonderful day. Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend. June 22, 2023 Page 20 of 20 Take care. ******* There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Hearing Examiner at 9:31 a.m. COLLIER COUNTY HEARING EXAMINER _______________________________ ANDREW DICKMAN, HEARING EXAMINER These minutes approved by the Hearing Examiner on ____________, as presented ______________ or as corrected _____________. TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS COURT REPORTING, BY ANGELA L. KLEIN, REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY PUBLIC.