I'm ready to call to order the February 25th, 2025 Land Use Hearing Officer meeting. There are agendas for everyone on the back table. Also, on the back table are forms you can fill out if you would like to speak or receive a copy of the final 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, please hand it to our clerk. I am Barry Buenaventura, an attorney with Buenaventura Law in Tampa. I have been appointed by the Board of County Commissioners to hear variants and special exception cases as a Land Use Hearing Officer. 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 don't believe that to be the case, so please let me know if you think so. 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. 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 an opportunity to answer any questions or reply to comments that may have come up during public comment. They will also have the opportunity to make concluding statements. 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 the 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 hearing today. If anyone should need an interpreter, please let the clerk know, and the county staff will try to arrange one for you. All testimony today must be given under oath, so I will now ask our clerk to swear in all speakers. If you're going to address the land use hearing officer today on any case, 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, the first item on today's agenda is the minutes from the January 23rd, 2025 land use hearing officer meeting. We can show those as accepted. Now we will take up new business, starting with LDL VAR 2024-66. All right, good afternoon. The first case is LDL VAR 2024-66, the Road Pro ISR variance. The applicant is requesting an increase in the impervious surface ratio from 55% to 59% on approximately 5.6 acres. The subject site is located at 100 South Airport Road, north of Lake Wales Airport, south of Highway 60, and west of the city of Lake Wales in Section 4, Township 30, Range 27. For the record, 21 mailers were sent to area property owners on February 4th. One board was posted on site on February 7th, and a legal ad was published in Polk Sun News on February 12th. Staff has logged no responses, and Aaliyah Inglema is your planner. Good afternoon. Aaliyah Inglema with Land Development presenting LDL VAR 2024-66, the Road Pro ISR variance. The applicant is requesting an increase in the impervious surface ratio from 55% to 59% on approximately 5.6 acres. The subject site is located at 100 Airport Road, south, north of Lake Wales Airport, south of Highway 60, west of the city of Lake Wales in Section 4, Township 30, Range 27. The site is located within a business park center to future lane use district and in the rural development area. There are other industrial users in the area, and this site backs up to a rail line and is surrounded by the state of Lake Wales Airport. The owner added additional payment of the original parcel for students to stay in their rigs when receiving multi-day training sessions. A total of 26,398 square feet of impervious area has been added to the site since originally permitted, which brings the total ISR for both parcels to 59%, which exceeds the allowable 55% for the BPC-2 lane use. As you can see that the business needs room to expand, and this site specializes in CDL training. The request will not be interest to the area involved or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare because there are no physical limitations to greater impervious surface area on the property, and the moderate increase requested will not cause a disruption in the rural aesthetic of the area. Special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land, structure, or building involved. It's because of the property location amongst more intensive uses, it's limited size, and market demands on site. And I'll stand for questions. So the additional impervious surface has already been added. Correct. Are we here by a code enforcement path, or how is it that we are here after the fact? I don't believe that there's a code enforcement case, but I'll defer to the applicant on that information. Is it common for you to have cases come before you with an after-the-fact situation without code enforcement being involved? In answer for the record, I don't see any code cases for the subject parcels, and I wouldn't say it's typical. Okay. It comes in this way. So I do see that there's a note somewhere in the staff report that a permit for this was already issued. There was a level two that was approved previously, but did not include this new area that they have added, which they were originally approved for the 55% ISR, but the new concrete that they put down after the permit was approved now increased that ISR to 59%, which caused the variance for them to have the variance. Okay, so the building permit that's referenced in an exhibit to the staff report is not for the square footage that puts them over the threshold? Correct. Okay. And staff believes that the existing stormwater management system on site can handle the additional runoff? Yes, ma'am. Without any impacts to adjacent properties? Yes, ma'am. Correct. Okay. I think that's all for the moment. The applicant present. I'll have you come to the podium over here, sir. We'll start with your name and address, please. Good afternoon. Allen Rail with Rail Engineering and Surveying, 810 East Main Street, Bartow. I was used to going over to that one to present on these things when I was the county engineer. So, as staff has said, this project, we were the original engineer of record for the project that came through county permitting in 2021-2022. And it was for the original development of the site, which, as staff has said, is a CDL training facility. After that project was completed, my client obtained the triangular piece of property that's to the southwest that's bordered by the airport and the railroad and his original site. And expanded their uses to provide for those overnight stay clients that are there for multi-day training and those type of things. What brought this back to the county was they permitted and constructed both a well and a septic system through the health department on that piece to accommodate those overnight stays for those users and those rigs. They were then applying for the electrical permit to run the well, and it's a mounted septic system, so it requires a pump. When they were applying for that electrical permit, that's what brought all this to the level it's at now. So, they reached out to me and explained what was going on, and I said, well, we'll take a look at it, see what we need to do to get permitted through the county. And the first thing we saw was that we were over that ISR now. So, I spoke to Eric Peterson, and Eric's always been good to work with, and we figured out that in this area that it was at, the request for the increase in the ISR wouldn't be that big of a deal. There's not really anybody immediately adjacent that would have any adverse impact on it, et cetera. So, that was going to be the thing to resolve first, then submit a plan for this upstairs for a level two modification to include this new impervious area and show that it otherwise meets all the other code requirements for a level two. Once they had that approval, then they should be able to receive their electrical permit for those well and septic facilities. And that should put everything in order with county code requirements and with what they were trying to accomplish with their expansion of their site. So, it hadn't gotten to – it wasn't out of action of a code enforcement issue. They weren't cited or anything. They had unknowingly, you know, not gone through the level two process but had done everything through health department and were trying to get that electrical permit through the building division and then ran into this obstacle that they got in touch with me and this was the way we worked with staff to decide how to address it all. Was a permit needed for the additional impervious area that was put down by your client? It would have been, yes. If they would have known to start with land development division, they would have told them to submit a site plan to show the expansion. But they didn't know, so – and they were permitting, as I said, the well and the septic systems through the health department and that doesn't always – I don't think the health department calls up a land development division when there's an application submitted there. So, there was a – there's a disconnect there that didn't raise it to any level of attention. When did your client purchase the property? It's been a couple years, I believe, the second piece. It was after the completion of the first part of the project. So, we were done with our services and then they purchased it after that. So, sometime in 2022 after the initial project was complete. So, the additional parcel that you're referencing, it's the tip of the triangle on the southwest tip? Tip, okay. In the aerial, it appears to be all unimproved, but I'm guessing from looking at the site plan that that's now part of what's been paved? There's gravel there now. So, the overnight stay area, there are – are there buildings constructed there or the participants – No buildings. They sleep in their vehicles there. Anything else you would like to add in support of the application? No, we'll just – if we received a favorable determination here, our next step is going to be submitting the level 2 upstairs to make sure we can demonstrate we're in compliance with all the land development code requirements. So, one of the criteria that has to be considered in a variance application is hardship, some hardship that the applicant or, in this case, the owner, will endure should the request not be granted. Can you address that criterion? Yes. The expansion was due to some mandated geometric requirements on the site for some state certifications for testing and training and testing. And so, that was what was the impetus behind the expansion was to be able to conduct these levels of tests and provide that certification that – the geometry of what area was needed to accommodate that. So, you would lose that ability to provide that level of training and also the expense of removing the – the inadvertent expansion that was in excess of what was allowed by the original code requirements. There's asphalt, there's gravel, and then the well and septic systems that I mentioned. Are there many other entities that can provide this training in the area? None that I'm aware of. That was part of the – I think the decision to locate in this area was that there was a need for this training. Anything else you'd like to add? No. Thank you. Thank you. We'll open up this application for public comment. Is there anyone who came here today to speak about this application, either for or against? Seeing no one, we'll close public comment. Anything else from staff? No, ma'am. Thank you. And next, we will move to LDL VAR 2024-67. All right. Number two is LDL VAR 2024-67, the St. Pierre variants. Applicant Gary St. Pierre requests a 3,000-square-foot accessory structure to be 121% larger than the primary structure in a residential suburban land use district on approximately 1.82 acres. The subject property is located at 1967 East Fox Hollow Drive, North of Kayville Avenue, south of Highway US 92, east of the Polk Parkway, south of the City of Auburndale in Section 16, Township 28, Range 25. On February 4th, 13 mailers were sent to area property owners. One board was posted on February 7th. An illegal ad was published in Polk Sun News on February 12th. Staff has received no responses, and Kyle Rogus is your planner. Good afternoon. Kyle Rogus with land development, presenting LDL VAR 2024-67, the St. Pierre variants. The applicant is requesting a 3,000-square-foot accessory structure to be 121% larger than the primary structure in the residential suburban land use district on approximately 1.82 acres. The subject property is located at 1967 East Fox Hollow Drive, north of Kayville Avenue, south of Highway 92, east of Polk County Parkway, west of Rucker Highway, south of the City of Auburndale in Section 16, Township 28, Range 25. The property is located in the residential suburban land use district in the suburban development area, and it's approximately 1.82 acres. The property was recorded in October 1985 prior to the adoption of the land development code. The owner purchased the property in September of 2024 according to the Polk County Property Appraiser's website. The house was built in 1973 at 2,484 square feet. The proposed accessory carport garage structure will be 3,000 square feet, which is 121% larger than the primary structure. The property appraiser's website does not identify the home was constructed with the garage, and no additions have been made. The subject site is below the 5-acre minimum lot size in the residential suburban land use district, and is slightly below the minimum 2-acre lot size per Chapter 2, Section 209G. If the subject site was 0.18 acres larger, it would have been meeting the minimum lot size per Section 209G. Therefore, no variance would have been required, and the applicant would be allowed to construct an accessory structure up to 3,726 square feet, which is 726 feet more than what is currently being proposed. The accessory structure will be located at the northwest corner of the subject property, where Fox Hollow Drive turns north away from the site. This turn creates a non-uniform distance from the edge of pavement to the property's right-of-way. The accessory structure will be approximately 50 feet from the edge of pavement at its nearest point, and will be 5 feet from the neighboring property to the west property line. The nearest home is 65 feet on the neighboring property to the west. And then here is the site plan submitted. Note the accessory structure will meet setbacks for the RS land use district. The accessory structure will be 20 feet from Fox Hollow Drive, a county-maintained local roadway, and 5 feet from the west property line. The accessory structure will be 40 by 75 feet, oriented perpendicular to the roadway, allowing minimal visibility from Fox Hollow Drive. Now, this is the photo taken from the edge of pavement looking south. In this picture, you can see the approximation of where that accessory structure would be located and not block the view of traffic. And staff recommends approval. The request will not block or limit the view of traffic off Fox Hollow Drive. The accessory structure will meet the setbacks in the RS land use district. If the property was 2 acres, Section 209G allows accessory structure administratively to be permitted up to 150% of the principal structure square footage, which is more than what is being requested today. Garages, unlike other accessory structures, are permitted in front yards. And with that, I will stand for questions. You said the home has no other garage? Yes, from property appraiser's website, the information provided does not show any square footage for a garage or carport. And there were no expansions noted in property appraiser's website. And no other accessory structures on the property? Correct. Okay. Is the applicant present? Good afternoon. You could start by giving us your name and address, please. Gary St. Pierre, 1967 Fox Hollow Drive, Overendale. Can you tell me how you proposed to use the structure? We're going to take and have it. We need storage and parking on the property to be able to, as we all know in Florida, it's a shortage of. I'm sorry, a shortage of? Placing stuff and, you know, putting stuff in rooms and everything else. So we're going to just, we need a place to be able to store our goods. So personal belongings? Personal belongings, yes, ma'am. Okay. I'm just trying to get a sense here. So, I mean, do you have a number of vehicles? Do you have recreational vehicles? What do you have? Well, we have a camper. And then, of course, we have a boat. And currently at the home we have now, the garage is completely full. I can't put my car in. So we need a place to put our stuff for when we move into this home to be able to place all our personal properties and belongings. Okay. So there is a garage on site already? At my other home. I'm sorry? Not at this house, but at my other home. Okay. So you're not currently living at this house? Correct. Okay. But you plan to? Yes, ma'am. Okay. If this application is approved, staff has recommended a number of conditions of approval. One being that the storage in the new structure would be limited to items associated with the residential use of the property and that it could not be used for a home-based business or commercial use. Are you aware that that condition has been proposed? I am aware of it and I have no problem with that at all. When do you plan to move to the parcel? Hopefully within the next month. Is there anything else you would like to add in support of the application? No, it's pretty much just simply we need storage and parking on the property. And we'd like to, and I just wanted for the record to say that, you know, I don't know if this is the proper time to say it, but Ms. Lisa has been very helpful. Mr. Kyle has been very helpful. And, you know, everybody is easy to complain and never often said when things are good. So I just want to thank everybody that's helped me in the process of doing this since it's my first time. Well, it's always nice to hear good things about staff. Okay. Is that it? Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. We'll now open up this application for public comment. Is there anyone who came here today to speak about this application, either for or against? Seeing no one, we will close public comment. Anything else from staff? No, ma'am. Okay. That is our last application for today. And our next meeting is March 27th. Okay. Thank you. We are done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.