decision on any case on today's agenda. If you think you might want to speak during the hearing you will need to complete a speaker form. Once the form is completed let's hand it to our clerk. I'm Barry Buenaventura an attorney with Kahn and Buenaventura PA in Tampa. I have been appointed by the Board of County Commissioners to be a land use hearing officer to hear variants and special exception cases. If anyone has a pending case in which I or my firm is representing you please bring that to my attention now as we want to avoid any potential conflicts. I have reviewed all the cases and don't believe that to be the case but I just want to make sure we're clear. During this meeting please put all cell phones and other communication devices on vibrate. The cases will be called in the order listed on the agenda unless there is a request for a case to be taken out of turn. These hearings are quasi-judicial which means they require due process and the decisions are to be based on competent substantial evidence presented during the hearings today. County staff will present the county's review and recommendation on the case first and then the applicant will present any additional information they would like to provide. After the applicant has concluded their presentation I will open the hearing up for public comment. This is the public's opportunity to provide information and express their opinions on the application. If you have any questions that come up during the presentation you can ask them during your time to speak. Please do not ask questions or make comments from the audience while others are speaking at the podium. The county, the applicant, and I will note questions you raise during your comments and try to have them answered following the close of public comment. When it is your turn to speak either for your case or during public comment please state your name and address for the record into the microphone. These proceedings are recorded and it is very important that you speak into the microphone to ensure an accurate recording. After public comment closes the applicant and the county will be given the opportunity to answer any questions or reply to comments that may have come up during public comment. They will also be able to make concluding statements if they have any. The hearing will close for each case following the concluding statements of the parties. My decision will not be given today but will be provided in a written final order within 14 days of today. Again if you would like a copy of my decision please fill out the form on the back table and provide it to the clerk. For the record I want to note that I have received no ex parte communications. That means that nobody has contacted me about these cases outside of the hearings today. If anyone should need an interpreter please let the clerk know and county staff will try to arrange one for you. All testimony given today must be given under oath so I will now ask the clerk to swear in all speakers. If you're going to address the land use hearing officer on any case today please stand raise your right hand and answer out loud to the following question. Do you swear or affirm the testimony you provide today is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Thank you. Okay first item up on our agenda is the minutes of the September 28th 2023 meeting. We can show those as accepted and I see we are going to continue case LDL VAR 2023-54 to the December 14th meeting. That is correct. Okay and now we are ready to move into new business starting with LDL SE 2023-23. Our first case is LDL SE-2023-23 the Siddharth special exception. The applicant is requesting a special exception to park a commercial vehicle on residential property. For purposes of notification 18 mailers were sent October 27th 2023. One board was posted on October 27th 2023 and a legal ad was published in the Lakeland ledger on November 3rd 2023. Staff has received three responses in opposition and Aaliyah Nglema is the case planner. Good afternoon Aaliyah Nglema with land development presenting LDL SE 2023-23 the suited special exception. The applicant is requesting a special exception to park a commercial vehicle which is a 2018 Volvo truck at the residence on approximately 0.48 acres within a residential neighborhood. The subject site is located at 4215 Spring Lane north of Spring Lane south of Ridge Road west of Hatcher Road Lakeland and section 20 Township 29 and range 23. The property is located within a residential suburban feature lane use and in the suburban development area. The property has frontage on Spring Lane. Spring Lane is approximately 20 feet in width. The vehicle will be parked 27 feet from the western property line and be more than 100 feet from the right-of-way of Spring Lane. The applicant was cited by code enforcement in the past for parking a vehicle at this location. Code enforcement division staff investigated and discovered a semi-tractor trailer truck parked on the side rear of the property and photos taken showed it would be seen from off-site. The owner is seeking approval to park the commercial vehicle on their property. Access is proposed from the southwest side of the parcel on Spring Lane. Staff is recommending conditions that the most direct route to the collector road be taken avoiding other local roads and the residences along the way. A commercial driveway apron is required to protect Spring Lane from the stretching caused by such a heavy vehicle's turning movements on and off the property. This vehicle shall continuously meet the screening and buffering requirements listed in section 216D commercial vehicle parking storage of the Polk County Land Development Code. Staff is recommending approval based on the site plan provided by the applicant and recent visits to the site. The proposed placement of the vehicle will be on the side of the primary structure and shall meet the screening and buffering requirements. A commercial driveway apron is required to protect Spring Lane from the stretching caused by such a heavy vehicles turning movements on and off the property and the surrounding roads near the property have no weight restrictions. And I'll stand for questions. Did you say that you were recommending a condition that would limit the roads that the applicant could use? Yes ma'am. The condition is number eight. Which is not in my staff report. Conditions one through seven. Okay. Can you put up the map again that shows me Hatcher Road? Okay. Which is the road highlighted in yellow. So when they come out they have to go that direction as opposed to the other direction? Yes ma'am. Okay. And how does that help? What's how is that direction different from the other direction? Well Spring Lane is a local road and Hatcher is an urban collector and also it would pass less residences if it were to take Hatcher Road instead of on Spring Lane. And I assume the closest urban collector to the west is farther than Hatcher Road? Yes ma'am. So I see the lot size is just under half an acre. What is the minimum lot size in the RS land use district? Five acres. But this is a lot of record? Yes ma'am. Do you have the approximate dimensions of the truck? I didn't see that anywhere in the report. I may have missed it but we usually it's usually included. According to the application it is 13 feet 6 inches high and 28 feet long and it weighs 26,180 pounds. There's also a statement in the staff report that screening will be required along the entire property of where the truck is proposed. Does that mean along the entire property line or just along the property line in the general vicinity of where the truck is to be parked? The general vicinity of where the truck will be parked. I'm sorry did you put up a site plan that showed generally where it is in the aerial so not where the word's site location are but to the west of that? Just yes just slightly over there yes. I don't think I have any other questions um at this time and I take it you are Martha Hartman? I am. Okay um is there anything well first if you could give us your address um just enter the record your name and address. So my name is Martha Hartman and my address is 4219 Spring Lane. I am the west neighbor of the set of my house. Okay so you live the adjacent to the property on the west? Yes. Okay um and you are here speaking on behalf of the the applicant? If needed yes ma'am. Okay so you've heard um staff's presentation is there anything you would like to add at this point? I think significant um our bedroom is on the northwest corner so it's right up by where they pull the truck in. We don't hear it. We don't hear it when we're awake. We don't hear it when we're asleep. We hear other things going on with other neighbors before we ever hear that truck. Okay do you mean that your bedroom is on the northeast side? North east. Sorry did I say west? Okay. I'm sorry. Closest to the northeast? Yes ma'am. Is the truck used for the applicant's business? It is. Okay is that their applicant's main source of income? It is and they are gone most of the time they're gone a month to two months at a time. With the vehicle? Yes ma'am. The whole back of it isn't just a sleeper it's a whole entire camper. It has a stove a refrigerator a restroom. Do they use it to transport goods or do you know how it's used? I believe it's medical equipment. There are a number of conditions that staff has proposed to be included if the application is approved. Are you aware of those conditions or is the applicant aware of them? I am aware of what was sent to them. There was an email and it shows everything that's on the pages that she's been flipping through so that's all I am aware of. Okay so certainly you heard of the restriction on how they can enter and exit the property in the vehicle. Yes if they went the other way down spring lane it goes farther into that specific block and in order to reach a larger road they they would have to go down a road they probably wouldn't even be able to get down for the trees. Okay and then spring lane it dead ends after that road so they have no reason to go down there. And they would have to add a commercial uh driveway apron? Right and they are aware of all that. And adding the landscape buffer or fence and all that to provide? There is a fence up and they are prepared to do anything else they need to do like um I heard the word screening that they're willing to put up what they need to put up. Okay if the fence isn't uh significant enough. Okay how long have you lived um next door? On and off for 48 years. Okay my parents bought the house in 1975 when I was six months old. Good. And I live there full time now and have for the last 10 years, 11 years sorry. All right anything else you'd like to add? No ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. So this is a uh public hearing and I will now open this up for anyone from the public who is here today to provide input. Seeing none we'll close the public hearing. Anything else from staff? No ma'am. Thank you. And next up we will go to LDL VAR 2023-51. Our next case is LDL VAR-2023-51, the Swindell Road variants. The applicant is seeking a variance to reduce the right-of-way setback from 35 feet to eight feet for a carport. For the purposes of notification, 12 mailers were sent October 27th, 2023. Two boards were posted on October 27th, 2023 and a legal ad was published in the Lakeland Ledger on November 3rd, 2023. Staff has received no response and Aaliyah Ngalima is the case planner. Good afternoon, Aaliyah Ngalima with Land Development presenting LDL VAR-2023-51, the Swindell Road variants. The applicant is requesting a variance to reduce the right-of-way setback from 35 feet to eight feet for a carport. The subject site is located at 4201 Swindell Road, south of Viola Road, west of Walker Road, north of Swindell Road, west of Lakeland and section 17 Township 28 and range 23. The property is located within agricultural residential rural land use in the rural development area. This lot was created in January in 1953 prior to the Land Development Code and Comprehensive Plan. This property is located within the ARR Land Use District and is approximately 0.93 acres. According to Table 2.2 of the LDC, the density in ARR land use is one dwelling unit per five acres. This lot is smaller than the ARR minimum and can be compared to an RL1 which is a residential low one land use. RL1 minimum lot sizes are 40,000 square feet. The applicant wants to build a new carport to accommodate storage of vehicles. The parcel being smaller than the ARR land use significantly limits the amount of buildable space without some relief from the setbacks. The carport will be built within the front yard of the property off Swindell Road and Urban Collector. Staff finds that the variance if approved will not be interest to surrounding homeowners or otherwise be detrimental to the public welfare of the neighborhood because the structure will not be enclosed. The edge of the carport will be over 22 feet from the edge of pavement. The carport is proposed to be located nearly 60 feet from the right-of-way walker road and 77 feet from the edge of pavement. This is well outside the intersection clear visibility requirements of section 711 and meets the clear recovery requirements of section 811. Special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land structure or building involved is the small lot size affects the use of the lot without relief from setbacks. And I'll stand for questions. Could you give the distances again from right-of-way and paved area? It will be 60 feet from the right-of-way walker road and 77 feet from the edge of pavement and then the edge of the carport will be over 22 feet from the edge of pavement. And from Swindell the distances you gave me are to walker road along the side correct? Just the 60 feet from walker road um it will be 22 feet from the edge of pavement to uh Swindell road. So the 60 and the 77 are for walker? Yes ma'am. It's 22 feet from Swindell on the to the south okay. So you compared the size of this property to the minimum lot size of an RL1 lot that's compliant with the minimum lot size and RL1 um what is the setback for an RL1? I assume the purpose in comparing it to RL1 was to show how the setbacks would be comparable. Well this the setback it depends on the roadway and since this is an urban collector road um it would for RL1 still be 35 feet. Okay so in RL1 with a minimum lot size of 40,000 it would still have a 35 foot setback just like this lot? Yes ma'am. And um so the lot was created in in 1953 which predates the code but there's a statement in on page three that the property was recorded in December 1988. How is that different from the lot being created in January 1953 under number two on uh page three? I it was an error it's always for previous. Okay so it's supposed to be 1953. Yes ma'am. That's fine. Is there a garage or other carport um currently on site? There is no carport but it looks like there's a screened in patio. Thank you. I take it you are the applicant. Yes ma'am. Okay could you start off with your name and address please. Richard Burnett 4201 Swindell Road. Okay um so you've heard the presentation from staff so far is there anything you would like to add in general in support of the application? No I'd like to thank Lisa for getting me here to start with. My wife and I proposed to attach the carport to the existing roof line of the walk-in patio. We're both middle age 74 uh getting into hot cars and in climate weather. We'd like for to take that into consideration when you're making your decision on approval or disapproval but other than I have nothing else to add. How long have you owned the property? Since 2016 and then we had some major up approved upgrades to the property. 2019 we had a tornado that tore the house up in 2019. So there's been some upgrades to that property. We've lived there since 2016. And is there a septic system on site? There's two septic systems on site. One would be south of the carport and the other one would be on the north side of the property. The reason being there was a addition the house was built in 1950. So the original septic tank was put in then and then when they added on a two compartment Florida room kitchen and bathroom on the north side they put in another septic tank on the north side. Okay what is the structure on the north? On the north side there's a wash house on the north side that little building you see out lying. That's a wash house and a little station to clean vegetables and fish and stuff. The structure with the gray or white roof that? Oh that is a recreation barn. It's got a camper and a pontoon boat in it. That was put in in I think 2017 2018 prior to the tornado hitting. All right anything else you'd like to add? No ma'am. Okay thank you. Thank you. Thanks again Lisa. We'll now open up this application for public comment. Is there anyone who came today to speak regarding this application either for or against? Seeing no one we will close the public hearing and that concludes our discussion of this one. So thank you. Next up we will go to LDLVAR 2023-52. Good afternoon Amy Little with land development. Our next case is LDLVAR-2023-52. The fossil road variance. You're welcome to take a seat until we get started or stand at your preference but you don't have to stand just because others have. Staff is recommending approval of this request to build a detached accessory structure that exceeds the height and square footage of the primary structure on a property located northeast of Polk City in an agricultural residential rural x land use district and in the green swamp area for critical state concern. For the purposes of notification 12 mailers were sent on October 27th 2023. One board was posted on October 27th 2023 and a legal ad was published in the Lakeland ledger on November 3rd 2023. Staff has received no response. Subject property is a lot of record created prior to the land development code in the comprehensive plan. It is approximately 9.06 acres. Within the ARR land use district accessory structures can be permitted up to 150 percent of the size of the principal structure. The primary structure is 1,104 square feet so they could permit up to 1656 square feet without this variance. The applicant has indicated that they require the structure to be 60 by 52 feet in order to accommodate the equipment necessary to maintain the almost 10 acre property. The proposed structure would be 282 percent larger than the primary structure. Here you can see the location of the proposed structure. The placement meets all the setback requirements for the ARR land use district. It is well buffered by dense vegetation. It will probably only be able to be seen from the roadway based off of those trees that surround it on all sides. And the structure type is very common in this area. It's very rural in nature. Here you can see an aerial in the provided justification. The request meets all the variance criteria in section 931. It will not be injurious to the public welfare. And again it is well buffered. You can see the tree lines and this was I think 2021 so it's it's grown even more since then from my site visit. This is a reasonable use of the land. There are similar structures found in the area and staff is recommending approval. And with that I thank you and I'll stand for questions. Is there a concern that it would be that the proposed structure would be visible from the road? I mean there's dense vegetation on all the other sides but not? No I would say this just driving through this area there are many structures and even in this aerial you can see the up here to the northwest there are structures that look very similar from the roadway. There's a lot of agriculture in this area too so we would expect to see those types of buildings that could even if it were ag-exempt be built without a variance if they were using it for an ag-exempt purpose. Okay so the only reason that this one can't be built without a variance is because the property is not actively being used. Correct, yes. There's a note in the staff report that there is a 50-foot easement running through the property. Correct and I could not get a good picture of the the survey that I had was a picture of a picture but it does run kind of diagonally if you can see here along here it's I believe it's a TECO or but it is it will stay outside of that. Okay thank you and now the applicant can come present or come forward and if you'll start by giving us your name and address please. Yes ma'am my name is Christopher Clark I live at 5231 Fussell Road in Polk City Florida. Okay so you've heard the presentation from staff is there anything you would like to add at this time? They did a wonderful job uh no they've it's pretty cut and dry I didn't realize what it was going to take to live on nine acres and uh it requires equipment and I need to store that equipment. Okay um what kind of equipment does it take to me? Uh side by sides, lawn mowers, tractors, so uh we've got quite a few vehicles as well. I'd like to preserve what we do have so it'll last a long time. There will be no animals in there it's it's just for equipment. So what is a side by side? A side by side side is uh a small little all-terrain vehicle you can use to pull trailers and uh do yard work and stuff that needs to be done around the property. I wish I could say it was for pleasure and fun but no it's it's used for for work. Okay so staff has included a number of conditions um that they would want placed on the approval if the application is approved and one of those is that there can be no home-based business or commercial uses um within the structure just making sure you're aware of that. Yes ma'am that's no problem. I would also like to take this time to thank Lisa. She's been instrumental in this process. Lisa is a treasure. Anything else you'd like to add? No ma'am that's about it. Thank you. Open up this application for um for its public hearing. Is there anyone who came today to uh speak regarding this application either for or against? Seeing no one we'll close the public hearing. Anything else? No ma'am. Thank you. That takes us to our last application for the day which is LDLVAR 2023-55. Last variance is LDLVAR-2023-55 the harbor ridge drive variance. The applicant is seeking a variance to reduce the rear primary structure setback from 10 feet to 5 feet for the construction of a screen room with a solid roof. For purposes of notification 24 mailers were sent on October 27th 2023. One board was posted on October 25th 2023 and a legal ad was published in the Lakeland ledger on November 3rd 2023. Staff has received no response and Melissa Celestine is the case planner. Good afternoon for the record. Melissa Celestine presenting LDLVAR 2023-55. Staff is recommending approval of the applicant's request to reduce the rear primary setback from 10 feet to 5 feet for the construction of an additional screen room to the rear of the home with a solid roof on a new slab with pavers. The subject site is located south of Cypress Parkway and west of San Clement Avenue. The subject property is identified as lot 157, located within phase 7-D of the Silovita subdivision. The property is located in the pre-DRI of Point Sienna and the development is also associated with PUD 98-12. By expanding the screen roof with a solid roof, the structure is considered a part of the primary residence and is required to meet the principal structure rear yard setback of 10 feet. Here is a context view of the site's location to show how the lot backs up to vacant land. Here is a close-up. Each lot within the Silovita subdivision has a 5-foot side and rear utility easement along with a 10-foot utility easement along the front lot lines. The proposed structure will stay outside of any noted easements. There is also a landscaping and signage track to the rear of the property boundaries for additional buffering. Here is a submitted site plan. According to staff's research and past building permits, the primary residence was constructed with a 10 percent setback reduction to allow a 9.7 feet setback via an administrative approval in lieu of the required rear yard setback of 10 feet. The request also included the existing screen room shown on the right, over here, as the permit was under existing roof lines so the same 10 percent reduction applied. The proposed request will expand the footprint by 4.7 feet in depth and 32 feet in length according to according to the applicant's site plan. However, the request will avoid all easements. This is just an example of what that's going to look like. Here are some site visit photos. To the left is a subject site and to the right are examples of what the applicant intends to achieve, except the applicant's rooftop will be solid. So that was just a graphic depiction that's not... Yes, that's not it. So this is his property, this is the neighbor's, but then this is what the actual roof is going to look like, just showing that it's going to be solid instead. Staff recommends approval. It is not uncommon for property owners to realize the need to request a variance to build additions on lots throughout Silavita. The five-foot utility easement landscaping and signage track to the rear of the property boundaries will maintain additional buffering. Additionally, the rear setback reduction for the intended structure will still allow for maintenance between the rear of said structure and the rear property line. With that, I thank you and I'll stand for questions. Can you put the aerial up that's more zoomed in than that? This one? Yes. So the property between the lot and the orange line is the landscaping and signage track? Exactly. And then beyond that on the other side of the orange line? Preservation. But it's still part of the same community? No, it's just preservation. It's outside of Silavita, I believe. So it's this right here. It's all of this. Oh, okay. He's saying it's the water management district for it. Who owns it? The preservation portion of it back there. Really? Owned by Southwest Florida? And could you put up the photo where I interrupted you earlier and you were showing? Oh, okay. The one on the left. So is it the house next door or that's got one very much like it? Yes, it's this one right here. Is that right next door or is there a house in between that I just can't see? I think this is the next door. I just zoomed into it over here. I don't recall. We can defer to the applicant for that one. And do you know when the home was built? Did I write it down? 2018. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. And is the applicant's representative present? If you could start by giving us your name and address, please. My name is David Powell and the address is 1147 Harbor Ridge Drive in Point Siena. Okay. So you've heard staff's presentation so far. Yes. Is there anything you would like to add before I ask a few questions? I believe when you asked the question about is that immediately next door? I think there is one home between it. It's just a smaller home so you can't see it. And that home has a solid roof similar to what we're proposing. Yes, you can see the white roof of it. Okay. But no variance was needed for that. I take it because it's because the home was already that closer to the street. Okay. But the one that we can see in the photo that does not have a hard roof so it wouldn't have needed a variance. Right. Okay. It's a roof overhang that's getting this. Anything else you wanted to add before I ask some questions? Uh, no ma'am. Okay. Um, has the HOA approved? Yes. Yes, they have. I see a letter in the file but it's not signed by the HOA. It's just signed by the applicant. Probably the one that I submitted the same day. I submit all this and since then. It's a similar process to this without the hearing. But yes, it's been approved. Okay. And one of the criteria that staff and I have to consider when evaluating a variance application is hardship. Something that is unique to the property, the circumstances that justifies deviating from the code. So could you address that? Yes. With respect to this property and the application? The homeowners enjoy the outdoors but they don't like all the insects that come with it and they have no other place on the property really to be able to enjoy that. This extension is less than five foot so they're just anxious to get any little bit of additional room they can. Do you know how long the applicants have lived there? No, they're not the original owner. A few years but I can't answer that. They acquired the property in 2022. Thank you. Anything else you'd like to add? No, thanks. Okay, thank you. I will now open up this application for for its public hearing. Is there anyone who came today to provide comment on this application? Seeing no one, we'll close public comment, close public hearing. Thank you. Anything else? No, ma'am. Thank you. I think we're done for today. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you.