19th 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 and once the form is completed please hand it to our clerk i'm barry pointeventura an attorney with pointeventura 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 have reviewed the cases and i am not aware of any conflicts 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 today's hearing 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 every applicant will be asked to come forward to the podium so when we get to the point of our initial remarks here where everyone is asked to stand if you're going to speak if you are an applicant please stand and be sworn in after the applicant has concluded your 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 that are raised during comments and we'll 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 come to the podium and state your name and address for the record into the microphone these proceedings are recorded and it is 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 the written decision please fill out the form on the back table and provide it to our 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 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 including all applicants if you're going to address the land use hearing officer on any case today please stand and raise your right hand and answer out loud to the following question do you swear or affirm that the testimony you provide today is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth thank you okay the first item on our agenda is approval of the draft meeting minutes from the april 24th 2025 land use hearing officer meeting and we can show those minutes as accepted and we will now move to new business with the first item being ldl se 2025-2 ldl se 2025-2 yoloa special exception christy yoloa requests a special exception to park a commercial vehicle a 2022 chevy express at their residence with in a residential low district on approximately 0.93 acres the subject property is located at 5760 floyd drive north of interstate 4 south of duff road east of kathleen road west of us highway 98 north north of the city of lakeland in section 23 township 27 range 23 on april 9th 29 mailers were sent to area property owners one board was posted on the property on april 23rd and a legal ad was published in the polk sun news on may 7th kyle rogas is the case planner good afternoon kyle rogas with land development presenting ldl se 2025-2 the aloha special exception the applicant is requesting a special exception to park a commercial vehicle at their residence on approximately 0.93 acres within a residential neighborhood the subject site is located at 5760 floyd drive north of interstate 4 south of duff road east of kathleen road west of us highway 98 north north of the city of lakeland in section 23 township 27 range 23 the subject site is located in the residential low land use residential low 2 land use district where the minimum lot size is 15 000 square feet or 0.34 acres this special exception will only allow for one commercial vehicle provided they conform to the standards in section 216 d in the polk county land development code the subject site is located off floyd drive passing approximately seven residential properties from daughtery road the site is approximately 0.81 miles from the intersection of daughtery road in us highway 98 the applicant provided two letters of support from the neighborhoods from the neighbors directly to the north who have the closest neighboring residential structure to the proposed commercial vehicle parking location and the neighbors to the south the property directly behind the subject property is approximately 10 acres of vacant land owned by polk county with a recreation open space ros land use designation while conducting our site visit no other commercial vehicles were seen per the ldc when the vehicle parking area will be less than 200 feet from a residentially designated or used property it shall be buffered from the adjacent residential property with a type b buffer yard or a fence with a minimum height of six feet the truck will be parked approximately 39 feet from the neighboring property to the north and 78 feet from the neighboring property to the south the applicant is proposing a six foot tall vinyl fence extending westward from the north and south ends of the detached three-car garage so that the fence shall exceed the length of the vehicle meeting the screening requirements of the land development code and then here is a closer look at the submitted site plan the site plan illustrates the truck will be parked behind the detached three-car garage screened from view from the surrounding residential properties by a six-foot fence that shall exceed the length of the vehicle and here is a photo of the commercial vehicle that will be proposed with the application this photo is taken from the detached three-car garage looking east towards floyd drive the weight of the proposed commercial vehicle is 3 400 pounds much less than you typically see with semi trucks and freight liners for special exceptions therefore not requiring a commercial driveway apron this photo is taken from the the driveway looking westwards towards the detached garage that the commercial vehicle will be parked behind the commercial vehicle will access the rear of the detached three-car garage along the structure on the right hand side this is a view looking south where the proposed commercial vehicle will be parked the trailer pictured is not part of the application the request is limited to parking one truck a 2022 chevy express as described in the application staff report and shown on the previous slide a view looking west at the vacant lot designated ros currently screening currently screen meeting the requirements of the land development code and then this is a view looking north from where the proposed commercial vehicle will be parked again illustrating that six-foot fence that they will be proposing and then staff recommends approval this request will be limited to parking one truck a 2022 chevy express as described in the application and staff report no other commercial vehicles may be parked on the site this special exception shall be for the operator christy yoloa only and shall not run with the land the commercial vehicle shall only be parked in the area designated on the site plan no commercial vehicle maintenance shall be performed on the site and no outside storage of any commercial vehicle parts or equipment is allowed and with that i will stand for questions what is the minimum lot size in the rl2 land use district the minimum lot size is 15 000 square feet or 0.34 acres there's a note in the staff report that the paved roadway on floyd drive is 19 feet wide which is not quite at the minimum of 20 feet wide for a paved roadway with that designation are there any safety concerns given the slight uh diminishment in the roadway width no with that one foot difference as i kind of stated in the um in the application it's very this isn't a normal commercial vehicle that you see with these special exceptions um it's not a typical semi-truck or freight liner so that's also why we're not requiring that commercial vehicle apron to protect that roadway so the 2022 chevy express shouldn't really be in concern of any safety concerns with that road not meeting the minimum requirement of 20 feet width and this is definitely a smaller vehicle than we typically see correct i think you mentioned in the report but i don't see it at the moment was it all three dimensions that put this over into commercial vehicle or was it just the height no it would be just the height just the height with the application it was 84 inches high and 20 224 inches in length were the dimensions that were given with the application with a weight of 3 400. and there are no weight restrictions on the uh the roads that are pertinent here correct no there's no weight restrictions on the surrounding roadways in addition to the two letters of support that were received in the the petition that was signed by a number of neighbors i see there was also one letter in opposition that was received i have not um i was not received that letter um i do have the printouts of the two in support for you if you not uh needed an extra copy of those i know i did not supply them within the legistar application but i do have those printed out they've been provided to me separately so i have those and i also received um the one letter in opposition um it was suggested that there are multiple veal vehicles that look like this one and that perhaps they were going to be cycled through so that it wouldn't just be one particular vehicle that would be allowed to park here but that there would actually be multiple vehicles i suppose only one at a time is that the intent do you know or is that the intent of the county's approval i should ask you i can ask the other question of the applicant but no it's not within the tent of the county's approval to allow for multiple cars whether it is still just being one at a time being interchanged on that property it's going to be for the vehicle that was registered and the registration that was provided with the application that is registered to christie uloa only okay very good and it would have to match the registration that was submitted with the application correct okay okay is the applicant present could you come forward please start to the podium here i'll start by just asking you to um state your name and address please uh christie uloa 5760 floyd drive lakeland florida 33810 okay um were you present in the room when we had everyone stand and get sworn in you were okay very good um so you've heard um the presentation from staff so far is there anything you would like to say um in support of your application uh yes so when i spoke with the land development people multiple times um based on the definition of what is a commercial vehicle because our car is a transferred um express vehicle which is a regular vehicle and it doesn't meet a lot of the commercial vehicle standards what they have told me is the only thing that actually disqualifies us from having both trucks there at the same time is that we have a logo that in no way can be covered because the entire car is the logo so it's the logo that is is what you know opposes us being able to not need this in any way okay you are correct when you had added that um we do have two vehicles so we have the pull behind and that's considered from what land development told me that that doesn't apply to being a vehicle because it's not motorized um and then we do have two and i submitted specifically one registration one license plate okay and you understand that if this is approved it's just for that one vehicle it's not for any other vehicle that um is a commercial vehicle that you might currently have or might have in the future uh yes so we do not obviously because of this situation do not plan to have more in the future because that's not what we realized when we moved there because we just purchased our home in of in september to be able to have a vehicle um we do have the other one and there are obviously pictures that have came from the other one going in the back of the house and it's because we do attend schools about three to four times a week or on saturdays to um little league events so we obviously because the truck is not made to house things it's not storage the trucks do um bring the cups that we constantly need and they deliver them to our house and then replenish the cups into like cups and spoons and things like that flavors into the truck but those vehicles that are making the deliveries don't stay and park there they are simply there to drop off materials and move on right they once we get the permit only one the one that's registered um which we're aware of which one that is um that one would be the one that would be parking overnight and staying so no they wouldn't stay but to be in honesty they do come and go because we're constantly switching out so they do once a week once a day on those days we have events and only on days that we have events do they come and they we do try to have a you know come in reverse it out as soon as possible to basically unload because i can't when i'm not home every day i can't ship all those things just to my driveway just to sit there and be exposed and right now we have them parking at a parking storage lot but because of the nature of the vehicles and and to avoid any um further i guess you would say property damage to the trucks we have it in a gated storage unit so i can't provide shipments to the storage unit because it's gated is that a concern for the county that a diff you know another commercial vehicle is visiting the site to make a delivery and then leaving no our concern right now is just the for the trucks that's going to be real staying and remaining on the property is our main concern with this special exception okay um did you have um other things you wanted to present in support of your application for the comments um no but to also be totally transparent i also do have a 10 year old so obviously he is very in favor of the truck being able to come on days that are the last day of school or you know his own birthday party and our neighbors you know asked us if we were able to have the truck there they had a birthday party not something we're selling we've never took any kind of money money or any transaction in our house but obviously if you live next to your neighbors that are all under 10 you know there is something that we do if if the trucks are there we do let the kids get cups from our truck and our own son does obviously love that he has his parents having a business so we do serve him when the trucks come so there may be a time frame like they get there at three he gets home from school at 3 30 so they may be just waiting for him as they're unloading to get home to be able to serve him okay if this is not approved where would the vehicle be parked uh currently they're parked at a storage unit across the way of 98 i guess maybe that'd be two miles or maybe a mile it's the main intersection across from our house and that's where they're parked and i did turn that into the code enforcement um officer as soon as he asked me to provide that i provided him with everything basically the parking spot the rental space the application showing that we do have parking we also try to anytime that our you know staff is with the truck and they're going to use it again the next morning we try not to you know knowing that we do have a neighbor that is disgruntled by the fact we try not to let the truck stay when they don't have to i mean we do our best to be good neighbors and we the trucks do have a reversing noise that we're very aware of so we have made it if you saw the picture of our backyard we've made it where the truck could safely not get stuck but to be able to kind of go in a circular motion trying not to ever reverse as much as possible without hitting our house or a fence obviously but we try not to to be aware of you know both sides of our neighbors you know have said they can't really hear the noise because they have little people but just in general of our whole street trying not to reverse and be a nuisance to anyone okay um and just from my understanding since i don't know your business other than from seeing photos of the vehicle um how is the vehicle used the one that you're proposing to park in this location not the others that are doing the deliveries but the one that you're proposing to park here so my husband and i both have um personal jobs that we have outside of this so we use the vehicles as a community outreach so we serve schools little leagues and churches so the trucks fill up they go to schools and then they it's kind of kind of like a fundraiser like because the school allows us to come there we donate 20 back of our proceeds so we kind of that's what our business is all about so we do birthday parties and stuff but for the most part 90 of our business is in the the schools we're in almost all the schools in our territory i would say like 99 of them are schools that are connected and their principals could vouch for the dates that we come every month and and we sell hawaiian shaved ice if you didn't know exactly what kona is if the application is approved staff has recommended a number of conditions that i just wanted to make sure you are aware of the first being one we've already discussed which is that um if it is approved it is only for this particular vehicle the one that you have submitted the you know license plate registration etc for um it is only for um you and your husband so if you were to sell the property um this approval doesn't extend to the purchaser in any vehicle they might have no vehicle maintenance can be performed on site it is just for the parking of the commercial vehicle there can't be any storage of commercial vehicle parts or equipment related to the vehicle it's just the vehicle itself um the approval would be valid for one year um before the expiration of that year if you wanted it extended there's an administrative process you can do that but you would want to do that before the year expires and um it can only be parked in the location that is noted on the site plan correct yes where we read everything and where we're that that should not be a problem okay um is there anything else you would like to add not that i can think of okay thank you thank you we do have one individual who signed up um to speak in opposition to the application um benjamin harden there we go okay and it looks like you are an attorney speaking on behalf of um an individual we will um identify that up front yes ma'am as stated my name is benjamin harden the third and i represent joseph and maria mealy they are the property owners of 5805 floyd drive it is the property directly across floyd drive as the applicant in this case i wanted to hit on a few things i think that some things have already been hit on there has been multiple incidences through the past weeks where there have been multiple trucks um coming on the property and in fact my my client has cameras installed on his property and since one o'clock there have been two trucks already that have gone to the property to resupply re-up and do everything and part of my client's principal concern is the fact that this is turning a residential property into running a business out of it with these commercial vehicles um as you heard from the applicant they both have other primary occupations this is a side business for them and one of the things that i i think really comes to mind with that is as this is governed by section 216 d of the land development code uh specifically item number four requires that the applicant can demonstrate that the denial of said request would place an unnecessary hardship on the property prohibiting the use of land in a manner otherwise allowed under this code and i haven't heard any reasoning whatsoever as to why this applicant is facing a hardship why they cannot go and store these vehicles somewhere else store their supplies somewhere else and run their business somewhere else than a residential neighborhood and that is merely the principal item of my client's objection to this request is the nature of the business being run out of it they do own more than one truck as stated and there are two trucks that are almost exactly identical looking i know there's a trailer as well that have been accessing this property they're noisy they're distracting they're coming they're causing traffic they're coming multiple times a day to and from the property and so that that is number three on the land development code section 216 is the negative impact on the community the health safety and welfare of adjacent properties and it is uh it does negatively impact my client's property to have a business being run out of the home right across the street from them ultimately as well i would note that item number 10 of the land development code also indicates that no refrigerator units can be operated on site i don't know what the status of the refrigerator units of these vehicles are but um and i know that they have ice and so i don't know if they have refrigerated units but ultimately due to the fact that it does cause a disturbance to the whole area and the fact that there really isn't a need they can go park their vehicles and store their vehicles like anybody else at a storage facility with it with a ice locker or something to that effect for their secondary business neither one of these applicants are driving these vehicles they're having employees and other people come and drive these vehicles and so ultimately the traffic of their employees the trucks and everything causes a disturbance to my clients and we'd ultimately ask that it be denied okay anything else nothing further from me okay thank you okay i have two other um speakers who've indicated they'd like to speak regarding this application um um charles huel fuel howell sorry um if you could come forward please you could start um again with your name and address please my name is charles howell i live at 5717 floyd drive just uh just down the road from the subject property um what i would like to add as a as a supporter of of of this process is that uh most of the neighbors really don't mind the uh the vans with the wraps on them and and that's simply all they are they're they're regular sized vans and they have a wrap on them and it's really just not that big a deal the yulees are are outstanding neighbors so far and unfortunately we've only known them for a few months but but they seem great and and uh we really like having them uh having them around i mean they're very nice people and we've had the opportunity to to spend some time with them and uh we we hope they stay and and we can be neighbors for a very long time um something that hasn't been addressed yet but i would like to talk about is uh um if there are any questions about how this may affect uh property values in the neighborhood i uh i'm a an educated and highly experienced real estate appraiser and residential side over 25 years um my uh my co-workers uh that i work with daily probably have in excess of of uh 80 years of a real estate appraisal experience and we can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that this has zero effect zero negative effect on real estate values um i i haven't actually addressed this with the eulies yet but i'm sure that they were under the impression somehow that that uh this was not going to be a problem for them to have their vans in the uh in the driveway so i i think somebody probably told them that and and in that uh state of mind in that frame of mind this they considered this the perfect property and they paid what they paid for this property thinking that that uh they would be able to to do what they need to do with it and so if if demand if uh had any effect on the value of the property at all it probably increased it okay anything else you'd like to add that's all i have thank you thank you next up we have richard fox good afternoon my name is uh richard fox i live at 5811 floyd drive directly across from the homeowners i was here seven years ago for the same thing i was permitted to park my vehicles i got pictures of my vehicles that i was allowed to have there because i was running my company out of my house as well the person who's filed this complaint is uh joe mealy he also runs his business out of his house he's a roofing contractor he has a small dump truck that he also has parked on his property he pulls a trailer with a skid loader that comes and goes that he parks on his property he also has a ford pickup truck that his younger son who's here in the crowd now parks on his property as for the employees the vehicles i had i had employees come every day to pick these vehicles up and leave every day and then bring their vehicles my vehicles back and put their leaving their vehicles their employees that when they do leave they're very courteous they pull off to the side of the road and they allow the residents to go down so that it isn't a congestion or anything like that as for the backup alarm i think it's a plus it's just you know it's it allows people to know that they are backing up so that there are no accidents so in case there's kids or anybody like that walking in the road that they're aware that they are backing up my vehicle was much larger than the ones that there have but both my vehicles were allowed to park there mr mealy knows that he spoke to my employees every day when they came to the property the bigger one i had to do my driveway apron because of the size of it but the other one is basically the same vehicle they have so i didn't have to do anything extra for that and i was allowed to park both of them there like i said i was here seven years ago for the same exact thing and it was granted to me so i would ask could you please grant this to them they're doing nothing wrong they're an asset to our neighborhood they're very nice very polite they offer assistance when needed and we very much appreciate having them in our neighborhood and i do not think it is a downgrade to our neighborhood whatsoever do your vehicles still park no ma'am after four years i bought a new office um on laken hills boulevard now you might see my trucks all over town but mr mealy does park his there yes they're in the garage but they do come and go daily um so that's something that his lawyer neglected to say when he was standing up here talking about their business mr mealy also has a business in his property as well and drives vehicles back and forth as well okay anything else to add no ma'am that's it thank you have a great day and it looks like i have one other speaker who i think is also the property owner but so um caesar ulloa you can come forward please you you could have come up with your wife but that's okay we'll still we'll still hear from you yeah we'll start with your name and um address just because uh caesar ulloa living at 5760 floyd drive lakeland florida 33810 uh no yes yes to add a couple things um mr mealy's lawyer was up here saying that uh two trucks were at our properties one that that could be impossible because one of the truck is in separate hills at an event there um then their refrigerator unit there's no refrigerator unit in the trucks um we have coolers for ice um the main thing is that mr milley has been harassing us from the day we moved into the house this is just something else that he's trying to do there's not sure what the reason is and um we know if it if it doesn't stop here it's probably you know it's going to continue so it is it is for we need one truck at least to be able to come to the house to make sure that um nothing happens to the truck um damage has happened to to both trucks we don't know what happened uh even though they're in behind get it i get a place um so just to make sure that our business stays the way it is and like again you know to make sure that our our son and our our neighbor kids also can get a treat after school that's why we're asking uh for the permit and again just so i'm clear um your vehicles do not well in particular the one that you're requesting to park on site does not have a refrigerator unit you keep the ice cold you know cooler but it's not a running refrigerator unit in the vehicle okay so there's it doesn't emit a sound or okay anything else you'd like to add thank you is there anyone else who came here today to speak regarding this application either for or against seeing no one we will close public comment um is there anything else from staff anything you heard um sure yes okay um were you here at the outset of the hearing when we swore in everyone who wanted to speak you were okay then if you could start um with your name and address please certainly my name is brandon milley and i live at 5805 floyd drive did you say brandon brandon brandon yes like the city gotcha okay brandon milley m-e-l-e yes ma'am okay great so i would like to start i have things written down one second that's fine so under the pope county ldc section 216 d a special exemption for parking a commercial vehicle in a residential district may only be granted if if specified standards are met failure to comply with even one standard to sufficient grounds for denial the applicant's request fails to meet several of these standards particularly items number three number four and number 10. so for the first item impact on health safety or welfare the parking of said vehicle does not have a negative impact to the health and safety of welfare adjacent properties but the concerns commercial vehicle activity and residential zone the applicant operates a business kona ice from their residential property involving the parking and operation of multiple commercial vehicles noise and disturbance loading and unloading activities generate noise and disturb disturb the peace of the neighborhood traffic and safety risks increased movement of commercial vehicles possess safety risks to residents especially children visual blight the presence of large branded trucks distracts from the residential character of the area as well as lighting which we have videos of them doing lighting uh i guess changing or looking at the lighting at night so they're conducting changes to the vehicle with bright leds to the whole community which we do have videos of as well so these factors collectively indicate a negative impact on the health safety and welfare of the adjacent properties violating number three item number four the demonstration of unnecessary hardship the standard is the applicant can demonstrate the denial of said requests would place an unnecessary hardship on the property prohibiting the use of land in a matter otherwise allowed under this code the concerns are no unique hardship the applicant uses the property for business purposes is a choice not a necessity also she is not the only operator we have videos of them coming in and out right now when she was standing here going in and out with trucks the same trucks that were uh listed the large vehicles the commercial vehicles so she is not the sole operator of those vehicles those are her employees as well as the secondary income the business is not a primary source of income undermining the claims of hardship alternative solutions available the commercial vehicles can be parked in appropriately zoned areas eliminating the need for residential parking to conclude the applicant has not demonstrated a legitimate hardship that justifies a special exemption failing to meet item number four as well item number 10 operation of refrigerator units the standard is the refrigerator units on vehicles shall not be operated on site the concerns are the nature of the business kona ice are equipped with via with operation of said units to essential of the operation the likelihood of non-compliance is it's improbable that the refrigeration units are not being operated while the vehicles are on site especially during the loading unloading phase the enforcement difficulties monitoring compliance with this standard is challenging increasing the risk of ongoing violations to conclude with this the operation of the refrigeration units on site is likely violating item number 10 additional considerations there's multiple vehicles the applicant owns and parks more than one commercial vehicle on the property we also have proof of that as well photos and videos exceeding the allowance of a single vehicle under the code ongoing violations continue non-compliance with the zoning and regulations just demonstrates a disregard for the code code undermines the integrity of a residential zoning to conclude in total the applicant's request for a special exemption under polk county ldc section 2160 fails to meet the critical standards designed to protect residential neighborhoods the operation of the commercial business from a residential property associated disturbances lack of demonstrated hardship and probable operation of refrigerated units on site collectively justified the denial of this request that is all okay thank you so much thank you is there anybody else who would like to speak regarding this application seeing no one will close public comment question for staff though given the comments that have been made from multiple speakers are there any concerns of staff regarding the nature of the business um anything that you heard beyond the parking of the particular vehicle or the um refrigeration issue no ma'am we actually the first site plan that was provided the commercial vehicle was proposed to be parked in the parking lot in front of the three car detached garage and then they henceforth changed that site plan to be parked behind the three uh car detached garage so we actually believe that they improved their site plan with the proper screening that's required based off of our code and that's required based off of our code to help mitigate for those concerns with residential residential property for long-term stays and is the standard regarding um the refrigerator unit is that that they're it's not that they can't have one it's that it can't be operated on site is that am i right the keyword would be operated operated yes yes okay okay um anything else then from staff from staff no okay thank you thank you okay um this was this would be an exhibit moving on we will go next to um ldl se 2025-3 ldl se 2025-3 ldl se 2025-3 lnda bernice perez is requesting a special exception to park a commercial vehicle a 2014 pro star at their residence on approximately 2.42 acres in a residential suburban district subject property is located at fort 4119 sims road north of timberlake road west of harrelson road south of caudill drive northwest of lakeland in section 32 township 27 range 23 on april 17th 25 mailers were sent to area property owners one board was posted on the property on april 23rd and a legal ad was published in the polk sun news on may 7th we received no letters in opposition andrew gochowski is the case planner great and before you get started i just um want to make sure i'm clear so on the agenda this case is identified as 2025-3 but my staff report identifies it as 2025-1 so i just want to make sure we've got the right number that's an error yeah okay so it should be dash three correct okay i'm sure you'll make that correction on the final version of the report that gets submitted as an exhibit to the um order yeah okay great now you can go uh good afternoon uh andrew grahowski with land development presenting ldl se 2025-3 the perez special exception the applicant is requesting to park a commercial vehicle at their residence on approximately 2.42 acres um staff recommends approval with certain conditions the subject property is located at 4119 sims road north of timberlake road west of harrelson road south of caudale drive northwest of lakeland and section 32 township 27 range 23 the property is located within the agriculture residential rural land use district where the minimum lot size is five acres this special exception will only allow for one commercial vehicle provided they conform to section 216 d of the polk county land development code as well as the outlined route plan provided in the staff report according to the property appraisers website the property was first recorded through a plat in 2006 where the parent track was subdivided into three lots including the subject site also known as the avery's acres subdivision a single family residence was built shortly thereafter the property was purchased eight years later through a warranty deed on february 3rd 2014 by the applicant the proposed truck parking area will be located behind the applicant's residence and lanai the subject sites driveway passes six residential driveways before reaching harrelson road and urban collector roadway the proposed commercial vehicle will not be able to turn left off harrelson road due to roadway restrictions which i will cover in the next few slides just looking closer at the subject site where the proposed commercial vehicle parking will be located the site plan illustrates the truck will be parked to the north side of the property behind the existing single family residence um per the polk county land development code when the vehicle parking area is less than 200 feet from a residentially designated property it shall be buffered from the adjacent residential property with a type b buffer yard or six foot high minimum opaque fence the truck in the plan outlined in the photo is approximately 35 feet from the neighboring property to the north and 75 feet from the neighboring property to the east east on the site plan a six foot fence illustrated in green on the right will enclose the backyard and serve as a buffer for the proposed parking location effects fence construction was underway and evident by staff's site visit last month there are certain roadway restrictions in the general vicinity of the subject site that poses limits on where the commercial vehicle can travel so in order to understand road signage and truck classifications the polk county roads and drainage division has confirmed with staff that the applicant's commercial vehicle is classified as a standard semi truck so this class of commercial vehicle is circled in red on the slideshow when glancing at a typical roadway weight limit sign you find throughout the entire county so with that in mind the roadways the roadway restrictions are outlined in this exhibit which are also provided in exhibit six of the staff report there are three bridges in the vicinity to the subject site two of the three have county weight limit restrictions one along rushing road and the other along harrelson road in addition there is a no through truck sign along chart prime road given the applicant's vehicle classification the commercial truck is not allowed along rushing road and there is a weight restriction of 29 tons on harrelson road this shouldn't pose an issue on harrelson road as the gross weight restrict the truck can carry is about 20.8 tons nonetheless vehicle parking on the subject site shall only be empty weight only as outlined in the staff report meanwhile the bridge on sims road also known as bridge number 164 111 on this map does not have weight limit signage so correspondence with the roads and drainage division stated that state legal roads apply quote unquote to bridge number 164 111 since the vehicle has a valid registration issued by the florida highway safety and motor vehicles in march 2025 the applicant's pro star truck adheres to state issued commercial vehicle weight limits so given these roadway conditions and restrictions staff has provided the legally permissible route the applicant's vehicle may access to and from their property discussions with the applicant have been made and they understand that they can only access the site from the south with their commercial vehicle this southern route is shown in green outbound and inbound travel is restricted for this commercial vehicle on chart pine road and rushing road this routing plan is included as the as part of the conditions of approval in the staff report here's just some street view images of the nearby roads with the signs previously mentioned roads and drainage has confirmed that these roadway signs remain valid and current while conducting just site visit photos no other commercial vehicles were seen on the property the applicant is seeking approval for parking the commercial vehicle behind their learn nigh with the approximate parking location shown in yellow so access is from the southern portion of the property along sims road a new fence surrounding the backyard as shown from the site plan was under construction during staff site visit and then a commercial driveway driveway apron in accordance with section 705i of the ldc is required to protect sims road from the stretching caused by such heavy vehicles turning movements on and off the property this vehicle will continuously meet the screening and buffering requirements listed in section 216d of polk county's land development code so as previously mentioned the fence was under construction staff recommends approval with conditions based on the site plan provided and truck routing plan provided as well based on the truck routing plan the request will not pose a negative impact on the health and safety of surrounding residents the routing plan is considered binding should the special exception for this case be approved the request will be limited to parking one truck and trailer a 2014 international pro star as described in the application and staff report and with that i thank you and i stand for questions so if the fence is completed that would satisfy the buffering requirements correct okay so no additional vegetation would be needed if they put the fence up it's a fence and or a buffering so um they could also do a type e buffer in addition to the fence as well okay but that's not required uh no okay uh i don't think i have any other questions for you at the moment but um is the applicant present if you could start by giving us your name and address please yes my name is linda perez uh the address is 419 sims road lakeland florida 33810 okay um is there anything you would like to add in support of the application well the trucking business business is our own only income the fence we build the fence already the only thing that is missing is one front gate i got pictures of the fence that is already done uh we do use the truck we go in and out but we usually stay out on the road most of the week we're not that much time in the house we're just a working family trying to make ends meet uh i made a fence from my back porch for my pulleys all the way to the back of the house the one in the back of the house is done the one on the left hand side i got a chicken coop and it's this block and the front i've got the pictures here the only thing that we're waiting is to put in the actual gate and i got the pictures of everything done okay um so you say the the commercial vehicle is frequently out on the road for days at a time we come home i mean but most of the time he's working we're working so it's it's on the road we could we go out of state to work so he goes like monday it's there on tuesday wednesday he drives back home then thursday he delivers and goes back out again so it's not 100 of the time in the house it's not every night that is in the house either okay but it's our only source of income too understood county staff has recommended approval with a number of conditions so if the application is approved there would be conditions there will be conditions attached to it and i just want to make sure you understand them that the approval would be just for this one vehicle and its trailer yes i'm not for any other vehicle not for multiple vehicles at the same time or multiple vehicles you know in sequence i agree um the approval would be just for the current owners of the property so for you if you were to sell the property the right to park a vehicle in this location would not transfer with the sale of the property it does not go to the next owner of the property no maintenance of the commercial vehicle can be performed on site so any maintenance that needs to be done needs to be done somewhere else not on your residential lot and there can be no outside storage of any um parts of the vehicle or other equipment associated with the vehicle okay um when the vehicle is parked on your property it can only be um empty you can't have cargo in the vehicle when it's parked on the property and it can only be parked in the location that's been designated on the site plan within the the fence and in the particular um location and i also want to note um and i assume that this has already been discussed with you but i want to note the restrictions on um the access to and from access to an egress from your site and throw to harrison just to the house not to the south side coming in no excuse me not to the north side coming in yes to the south side okay just in the in on the roads that have been designated um due to the weight restrictions and then the um approval again if granted would be for one year it can be renewed without another hearing as long as you submit your application to do that before the year expires yes ma'am okay um is there anything else you would like to add in support of your application uh if approved when can i start parking the truck back there that would be a question for staff and you can talk to them um after the hearing after after your hearing is done you don't have to wait until the end of our discussion today assuming um mr grahowski is available to talk to you okay i don't know who's handling the next case up okay thank you um i will now open up the 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 i'm going to interrupt the conversation over there just for a moment to ask if there's anything else from staff or if eric is going to speak on his behalf we have nothing nothing down okay thank you and then that will conclude our discussion of this application next up we will move to ldl var 2025-17 ldl var 2025-17 wyatt tanner mclean is requesting a variance to construct a pole barn larger than the primary residence in a residential low district on 1.89 acres the subject property is located at 1703 marker road north of pace road west of derosa road south of mount olive road east of polk of the polk parkway west of auburndale in section 8 township 27 range 25 on april 17 27 mailers were sent to area property owners one board was posted on the property on april 23rd a legal ad was published in the polk sun news on may 7th we staff has received no letters in opposition andrew grahowski is the case planner uh good afternoon again andrew grahowski with land development presenting ldl var 2025-17 the mclean variance this is a variance to request by the applicant to allow a 3 300 square foot existing pole barn to be greater than the primary structure on their property staff recommends approval the subject property is located at 1703 marker road north of pace road west of derosa road south of mount olive road east of the polk parkway and west of auburndale in section 8 township 27 and range 25. the property is about 1.89 acres located in the residential low 2 land use district in the transit supportive development area and i4 sap the subject site backs up to a large vacant pasture comprised of 144 acres within the city of lakeland's municipal boundary florida polytechnic university and the polk parkway are further to the west of the site the previous variance request outlined in red here received approval in january of 2024 for an existing storage shed that had a square footage greater than 150 percent than the primary structure for reference this prior case is about a half mile north from the subject site the pole barn is situated to the rear yard of the property off of marker road backing up to the vacant pasture per the applicant site plan the pole barn will be 3 300 square feet and meet all setbacks in the rs excuse me rl2 land use district there is significant vegetation to the north of the property also an existing opaque wooden fence flanks the northern and southern portions of the site screening the barn from adjacent residences with the nearest home being over 300 feet to the southeast here are some preliminary elevations of the pole barn based on these drawings of the pole barn is approximately 22 feet high at its highest point here are a few photos from staff site visit the first one is at the entrance of the property taken from marker road after going down the long gravel drive the pole barn is now visible to the rear fencing and vegetation can be seen on the right here's just a the pole barn shown in greater detail um staff recommends approval the barn will not be injurious to the area involved or otherwise detrimental to the public where welfare as the building is now located to the rear of the property while meeting all accessory setbacks requirements this request is the result of a codes case where the structure was built without the necessary permits the applicant is now taking steps to fix the problem they would like to keep and bring the existing structure up to appropriate building code and safety standards staff finds no issues with this request and with that i thank you and stand for questions apart from obtaining approval for this variance does the structure not meet building code standards it hasn't been confirmed with building just they didn't obtain the necessary permits so staff is unsure whether or not it's up to code okay so they have to get a building code a building permit it's not that you're pointing out that it doesn't meet standards you don't know if it meets standards but they have to get the building permit correct okay okay is the applicant present if you could start by giving us your name and address please my name is wyatt mclean 1703 marker road okay and were you here at the beginning of the hearing when everyone stood and was sworn in okay wonderful um do you have anything you would like to add in support of the application anything that perhaps mr grahowski didn't say that you um think is important no ma'am okay um can you explain to me what you will use um or currently use the structure for it's currently used to store our vehicles in and boats and side by side and things of that nature to keep them out of the weather i think i saw a boat in one of those photos yeah it was out we had just brought it back we was cleaning it didn't have a chance to put it up but that's what it's used for okay um it also looked like the boat was um a little on the tall side is that the reason yes having the structure is yeah it's tall county staff has recommended approval with a certain uh list of conditions and i want to make sure you're aware of the conditions and in the event this is approved um that you would have to get a building permit for the structure and if it doesn't currently meet the building code you'd have to do whatever is necessary in order to make it meet the building code in order for this approval to be viable um and you would have to do that within one year of the approval here and um that you wouldn't be able to store anything in the structure that is um associated with a home-based business or a commercial use it's just for the storage of your personal items associated with your residential structure yes okay anything else you want to add no ma'am okay thank you now open up this application for public comment is there anyone who came here today to speak regarding this application uh and i do see that i have got one speaker card from karen wilson is that you okay wonderful my name is karen wilson i'm at 1694 marker road polk city i'm directly across the street okay um i just wanted to come to say i support his open pole barn i have pictures if you'd like to see what it looks like from my house i don't know if you want to see them or not sure i brought them i'd be happy to look at them i have two copies they can each have their own copy all you can see from my house is the roof line i took pictures from my front door in front of my car and at the end of my driveway just so you could see what it looks like he does store a golf cart a boat a trailer for personal use there's no commercial vehicles there's no commercial traffic going in and out it's all his big boy toys is what my husband likes to call them and they're all nice and tidy and neat in that pole barn behind a fence which i would much rather look at it behind a fence and not have to see it all in his yard so i just want to say that i'm in support of it and um i believe a bunch of neighbors sent in letters to support i wanted to make sure that you got those i don't believe we have them okay i have copies of them they were emailed on um friday uh here is a list of the 10 neighbors and the 10 letters all in support of the variants i did look at your photos and um i don't think it's necessary to include them as an exhibit i do want you to note for you that i did look at them all and um appreciate you bringing them in and i know that one of the problems is that it's larger than his residents but you can't even see it from the street barely okay let me just um take a moment and um look at the letters that you provided i appreciate you bringing them in okay it does look like they are a form letter so it's the same letter um i'm just going to read it the one time but i do note that it is um uh signed by a number of um different individuals yes it looks like uh the folks who have submitted these um are in fact residents of everybody's on that street just surrounding neighbors correct okay so kenneth lane must be nearby that's my private road on my property directly across the street we have two rental properties behind our house very good okay and you said there are 10 of these i believe so yes is there anything else you'd like that's all i just wanted to say i support it thank you for your time okay thank you is there anyone else who um came here today to speak regarding this application either for or against seeing no one we'll close public comment um anything else from staff none to add thank you okay um we're ready to move to ldl var 2025-19 i do want to ask if and that's the um hudson harbor lane variance is there someone here is the applicant present for that okay i just wanted to make sure i don't think you were here when we got started um okay ldl var 2025-19 luis or a or a lot you know lana is requesting a reduction in the rear setback from 20 feet to 10 feet for a single family home the property is on 0.16 acres in the point santa regional development of in development of regional impact pud 71-10 the property is located at 1205 hudson harbor lane east of hudson valley drive east of the city of dundee in section 15 township 28 range 28 on april 17th 21 mailers were sent to area property owners one board was posted on the property on april 23rd a legal ad was published in the polk sun news on a 7th staff has received no letters in opposition alia and gleema is the case planner good afternoon alia and gleema with land development presenting ldl var 2025-19 the hudson harbor lane variance the applicant is requesting a reduction in the rear setback from 20 feet to 10 feet for a single family home the subject site is located at 1205 hudson harbor lane east of hudson valley drive east of the city of dundee in section 15 township 28 range 28 this parcel is within the poinciana development of regional impact so this is a bit of a unique situation um the applicant owns a lot where a good portion of the parcel has the roadway within it which is making it hard to meet the current setbacks the reason the cul-de-sac was not paved in the right location is due to some environmental limitations so the road actually takes up 25 of the lot the plat was approved sometime in the 1970s prior to the road being paved and the road was not paved until either the 1980s or 1990s so in order to fit a home within the lot the applicant actually went from a 2,224 foot home down to a 2,102 square foot home if the lot did not have part of the roadway within their parcel the home would be able to meet the setbacks so the home will also stay outside of the rear and side utility drainage easements and this lot has always been vacant the small small lot size relative to the requirements of the pud along with the roadway taking up 25 percent of the parcel places a greater burden on the reasonable use of the land so as you can see here the cul-de-sac ends around where the applicant's lot is due to wetlands these wetlands caused the roadway to not continue all the way as it as it was intended to by the plat there are many other lots throughout point sienna that are affected by this same situation and so the unbuildable lots you see are now owned by the association of point sienna villages so here is a ground view of the roadway and another ground view looking towards the property so the variance will not be interest to the area involved or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare as the home will stay outside of the cul-de-sac in the rear inside utility drainage easements uh special conditions and circumstances present in the request that do not result from the actions of the applicant is a portion of the paved cul-de-sac was placed within the lot affecting development and this pavement takes up about 25 of the parcel and this is the minimum variance request that will make possible the reasonable use of the land building or structure as the applicant has reduced the size of the home and without the variance a home will not be able to meet the strict setbacks within the pud and i'll stand for questions is the roadway dedicated yes it is it is dedicated the they're all public roads in point sienna so the paved area is not part of the lot or is part of the lot it's if it's dedicated it's paved area is but the rest of the lot isn't it's just the maintenance to the edge of the pavement at this point the public right-of-way that was dedicated as you can see in the aerial photos is not so the the right-of-ways were dedicated but we maintain the road so essentially the the public property is is the pavement only in this situation so the county is maintaining the cul-de-sac even though it is on privately owned property that is correct that is probably outside the purview of today's hearing but that may be there's a about another half dozen of these cul-de-sac situations in point sienna that will be coming eventually okay all right i don't think i have other questions for you at the moment um is the applicant present you could come forward please to the podium in the middle and um i don't think you were here at the outside of the hearing you were you stood and got sworn ah okay um if you could start then by giving us your name and address annette belasquez uh 1309 bambridge kissimi 34758 okay on the property i'm sorry on the property uh at first we didn't know how the the property was that way we bought it and that was a mistake uh the thing there's still an issue with the front uh it wasn't a it wasn't a scene i guess by the staff that the property since the way the road is when the front one side it's uh 10 feet the other one's uh seven feet 71 and i don't know if that's gonna be an issue for building but it wasn't addressed when the semi the paperwork back i have a photo here if you're a fear so sure and if you could say again what it is uh the issue is i guess give it to um we'll need you to have that conversation over the microphone so that it's part of the hearing um he was talking about how the side setback for the house is 10 feet um but for in the poinciana you just have to be at a minimum seven half feet so you're you are meeting the side setbacks and the front step back is is um not that's not a problem everything's good it's just the rear yes it's just the rear that would need to be addressed okay great that was my only question about it then everything else is pretty good and i appreciate their time for taking for doing it sure um so is there anything else you wanted to say to support your application anything that might not have been covered yet or any no i'm sorry no everything's there and uh like i said when we bought the property we didn't realize that's how it was and if we can't build uh with that setback that property want to own it maybe for 20 years and we won't be able to do anything with it and we try to see any smaller homes but if we do it we do our smaller home we won't be able to sell it the market that's the size on the mark of every home if you see on the market so it's 2 000 2 200 square feet so if we go in smaller we won't be able to sell the home is going to take a while and if we do we're going to have to sell lower than what the market is so we're going to you know lower the the neighborhood market around the whole village what backs up to the property what is the property behind this uh it's there's another property really long property but besides that there's anything else and the right side property the right side property as far as i know they can't build in it because it's a lot of wetland and the other property that's there's pretty big so behind your property is an undeveloped lot is that yes ma'am uh yeah and it's pretty big so that wouldn't be an issue and if there if there's somebody threats to build that it wouldn't be an issue because it's a really long property and it has enough space for either if they want a garage on the right or garage on the left it wouldn't be an issue thank you thank you so much and i will now open up this application for public comment is there anyone who came here today to speak regarding this application either for or against seeing no one we will close public comment anything else from staff no ma'am okay thank you next we will move to ldl var 2025-20 and i do want to make sure we have an applicant present for this item as well is anyone here um is the applicant present for 2025-20 coppertop construction okay great we'll call you up in just a few moments um okay our next case ldl var 2025-20 brandy nagel is requesting a reduction in the side yard setback from 20 feet to 5 feet for storage addition to an existing office and showroom on a uh 0.51 acre uh site in the business park center 2 district uh the property is located at 2718 combi road east side of of the of combi road north of main avenue south of mine and mill road east of us highway 98 west of reynolds road southeast of the city of lakeland in section 27 township 28 range 24. 20 mailers were sent to area property owners on april 10th one board was posted on the property on may 1st a legal ad was published in the polk sun news on may 7th so far no response this is the subject location as mentioned it's just near the city of uh lakeland just off the us highway 98 on combi road it is predominantly a uh industrial area the land use designation is business park center 2 but there's a lot of industrial activity so business park center 2 is a light industrial uh designation that allows for outside storage so most of the development is in compliance this is one of the smallest sites in the neighborhood uh the that is one of the things that is holding back this property from developing to its fullest another issue is that there is a mounted septic tank system in the rear of the property that consumes a good portion of the lot due to the poor soil conditions and the need for uh septic disposal the other limitation is the the rest of the lot is taken up by a parking lot and they are meeting the minimum parking standards for the size of their building this addition will not increase their parking standards because it is for storage this is a little closer view as you can see the dimensions are will take the the storage structure just to the uh five foot mark from the property line this is you can see is the the mounted septic tank really prevents anything from being in the rear of the property uh cannot cover it within the impervious surface and it's also about as you can see in the by the contours they're about two or three feet off the ground this is the proposed expansion it'll be in line with the roof uh coming off the south side of the structure it'll have one open doorway and then the rear just a door going out this is the approximate uh amount of space it'll take up looking from the front this is the neighboring uses as you can see it's mostly occupied by power lines this is the city of lakeland uh property that connects to this power substation lakeland electric is the they have their own power company this is looking at it from the city's uh property this is about the amount of space it'll take up staff sees no reason why it would cause any harm to the neighboring power lines and open area one of the uh unique things about this area is it's developed at a time when the the setbacks in the former zoning ordinance gave business or light industrial or industrial uses some flexibility on their side setbacks the total was 15 but they could use use the spacing any way they they preferred they could go seven and a half and seven and a half or they could go all the way uh zero on one side and 15 on the other so what you have is their their neighbor here uh is within one foot of the property line because that was the standard at the time they developed which prevents any usage of this side because of building code if they were to expand on that side so there's no room for expansion on the north side that was their only option and just to show you some of the neighboring properties a lot of them have been built into setbacks this was a recent setback request for a right-of-way setback for the entrance to the warehousing distribution facility on the west side of the property this is looking south you can see the the types of uses uh industrial and light industrial in nature so with that staff believes it will not be injurious on the area it's uh it's not going to jeopardize the the city's function of the the power lines it's not going to be out of character with the area most of these properties are are very large compared to this the applicant site the this the applicant has a half acre when when most of the surrounding industrial properties are are two to ten acres in size so this is uh not going to really stand out uh from an aesthetic point of view there's a lot of things they've had to overcome they've most of the property is taken up by the mounted septic tank in the parking lot there's not much anywhere to expand and once again it you know the neighboring properties all developed at a time when the setbacks were different today the setbacks are 20 feet on both sides so it's a lot more stringent than it was in the past when this area uh had its initial growth with that i'll stand for questions and the only structures on the adjacent property to the south i think it is it's just the fencing and the power lines there's no yes solid structure that's correct and certainly no habitable structures it's their access to the the substation for the most part and lots of big power lines it's they all kind of converge in that corridor does the expand proposed expansion um run afoul of the isr limitation no no fortunately the mounted septic tank system keeps that in check that it consumes almost half of the lot there they won't be able to even come close to the 0.75 isr that is is the standard in that district 0.75 is allowed yes okay um if the applicant could come forward please i'll have you start by giving us your name and address please and you can adjust the microphone as needed short people problems you want my business or my personal address um whichever you'd like to give you're welcome to give your business address if you prefer 2718 south cumby road lakeland florida and your name brandy nagel okay so you've heard the presentation so far um is there anything you would like to add in support of your application i would just say that we tried to get past the septic system and we couldn't because we're not allowed to happen to the sewage other than that i don't have anything to add and i need you to give your name and address as well if you're robert nagel 2718 south cumby road lakeland florida um yeah we we did and we appreciate y'all hearing us out today um i tried very hard i met with the city of lakeland um i would have loved to have done away with the septic in the rear of the building and tied into their sewage which is across the street um i even offered to pay for that work to be done and they told me it was an inactive line now and that it wasn't you know up for consideration um i did personally meet with the city of lakeland um you know i i they're actually the ones that kind of gave me the advice to to add a warehouse space on on the side versus the back i i wasn't even thinking along those lines um those were supervisors down there but you know long story short is we bought this building about five years ago and fortunately we've been blessed in a sense that business really took off and um we've definitely outgrown our space and we just really need the storage room it will improve the building we are the builder so i can assure you it's going to be beautiful it's not going to be ugly um yeah it's already paved um i did submit plans to the building department which brought us here today i i in my research thought it was the five foot and then i thought the old rule went into place so i kind of put the cart before the horse and did the engineering and everything to to build this um it will be a block structure to match the building um everything will be uniform and uh i just ask you and thank you for the consideration i appreciate the uh guys upstairs not having a problem with it oh she just said same so um but yeah anything and all y'all could do for us we appreciate it um we want to stay where we're at we really don't want to sell um but we we need the additional room just to store stuff so we don't have it outside so that's really the main reason for it thank you what year did you buy the property yeah i believe we closed in 20 well we we did a rent to own thing or remember we leased the first year but it all went toward her i know i'm sorry i'm trying to remember i want to say we closed in 2021. yeah i think we moved into the building in 2019 and actually closed on it in 21 and um what is going to be stored in the new area um just yeah like roofing material building supplies um we we have an opportunity in our line of work to buy and purchase some items in bulk um a good example and one of the photos that was showed was pallets of blue roof where fema approved contractors we we were we assist during our you know after hurricanes and i ended up we we put cameras up but i ended up last year yeah probably lost i don't i don't want to put a number on it but being on combi road it's better to secure your items than it is to have them in a in a fenced yard where they're visible so and then also to address the parking it would be a great scenario for us because on the left side of the building where we're currently storing everything there is a covered area carport and we could actually add you know two people could park in there which would get us from eight to ten which would make an incredible difference in my office in our parking lot for sure okay thank you thank you and i'll now open up this application for public comment is there anyone who came here today to speak regarding this application either for or against seeing no one we will close public comment and anything else from staff no ma'am then we will move on to ldl var 2025-22 ldl var 2025-22 jennifer schultes is requesting a variance to allow an accessory structure to be larger than the primary structure on a property that's 1.09 acres in the agricultural residential rural district the property is located at 28 blue jordan road south of highway 6 630 east north of blue jack trail east of the city of frostbrook in section 30 township 31 range 29 on april 17th uh 21 mailers were sent to area property owners one board was posted on the property on april 23rd a legal ad was published in the polk sun news on may 7th so far staff has received no no letters in response alia and glema is the case planner good afternoon alia and glema with land development presenting ldl var 2025-22 the blue jordan road variants the applicant is requesting a variance to allow an accessory structure to be larger than the primary structure the subject site is located at 28 blue jordan road south of highway 630 east north of blue jack trail east of the city of frost proof in section 30 township 31 range 29 the site is approximately about an acre located within agriculture residential rule and in the rural development area so the subject parcel is in an area with a cluster of lots ranging in size from an acre to five acres and in some cases larger so the applicant was cited by code enforcement for having accessory structure larger than the primary structure the code enforcement division investigated and discovered the metal building to the rear of the property the code's case is pending as the owner is seeking approval to allow the building on their property the accessory structure has been on the property since 2023 and the owner did not secure a building permit for the structure but are now taking steps to fix the problem the current owners use the metal building for storage and for their vehicles so the request will not be interest to the area involved or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare as the building is at the rear near the primary home within a fenced boundary and will meet all setbacks special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to land structure or building involved is that the property is smaller than the agriculture residential rural minimal lot size of five acres and the single-family residence does not have an attached garage and i'll stand for questions are there any other storage structures on site looks like there's one maybe attached or adjacent to the house if not attached there yes there is one right here okay is the applicant present jennifer schultes i'm at 28 blue jordan road frost proof 33843 okay um so you've heard the presentation so far is there anything you would like to add in support of your application yeah actually we did send in a letter of um one of my neighbors did send in a letter of support so i have whoever i have a copy of it oh do you have it okay so um and yeah like she said we didn't realize from we were from wyoming so we didn't know anyway it's covering our um we have a tractor and a boat and some jet skis and a couple other vehicles that it's in the shed that's there it's just a little shed you can't put any vehicles in it so it's pretty unobtrusive i don't know if you can tell from the pictures but okay so that structure that i'm seeing between the fence and the carport that's the one that's shown on the site plan that i guess you would park a vehicle under yeah that's just a carport on the side of the house and we put the the main vehicle that we drive we park it there okay so you're looking for some place to store the tractor boat jet skis etc okay yes and we've put fruit trees and gardens everywhere else so really moving it or making it smaller than we'd have to put two on there and i don't know if we have another space to put two and we just like to cover our vehicles and how large is the um residence i'm sure it's in here but i yeah it's a is it 1100 something square feet okay uh oh i see it okay 1172 square feet and the structure the carport structure is uh 1500 square feet 30 by 50. so as you're aware staff is recommending approval um with several conditions one of those conditions being um that the structure could not be used for um a home-based business or commercial use or storing anything associated with a business or so it's only for residential or personal belongings yes okay anything else you'd like to add i don't believe so thank you for your time and consideration though appreciate it okay thank you and i will now open a public comment for this application is there anyone who came here today to speak regarding the application i do note that we have the letter from a neighbor but anyone who came to speak seeing no one will close public comment anything else from staff no ma'am thank you and that takes us now to our last item for the day which is ldl var 2025-23 ldl var 2025-23 polk county is requesting a right-of-way delay slash rear yard setback reduction from 10 feet to zero for a storage structure at the willow oak former willow oak volunteer fire department the property is located at 4210 willis road north of bobby street west of state road 60 east of willow oak road west of the city of mulberry in section 20 township 26 range 27 it is on a 0.31 acre property in the residential suburban land use district 14 mailers were sent to area property owners on april 10th two boards were posted on may 1st a legal ad was published in the polk sun news on may 7th it's very significant to note that this area is ever changing in fire protection needs polk county provides the city of mulberry with their fire protection but we're continuing to work with them to have a joint shared facility in the future we also have stations up on yule road possibility of expanding there there is one on its way in in the off of 540a in this corner of the county there's a growing need for different types of fire protection there's lots of residential development there's been lots of multi-family residential development and also along the county line road there's been a historic amount of warehouse and distribution so the dynamics of of this area and their fire needs are ever changing and for that reason we've been been utilizing the former willow oak volunteer fire station for a good amount of time and it's reached a point that we've we've outrun the the facility because of all the different various fire department needs that are that are associated with uh today's fire rescue operations we have a lot of equipment and and vehicles the vehicles take up the uh the entire bays of the fire station as well as portions of uh the property uh there's very little room for our fire personnel uh there we are currently in the process of remodeling uh this is a a shed that the fire department needed to store that excess equipment uh first it began as a temporary uh shed there uh because of the ongoing renovation of the existing space but uh once this renovation is complete they will still need that shed for storage of various equipment and replenishing of supplies for the vehicles uh it's right on the right-of-way line so is is most of the fire station but it's a a local road it has very little traffic the main road the collector road is willis on the north which is where the the trucks leave the site uh this this uh road is only a minor use and it's where the trucks return to come into the building they had a had a shed and they have a a few things like um this water connection service here and uh so they couldn't move this shed any closer to the other shed or they wouldn't be able to get in and out of it so this was the only uh logical place on the site and as you can see there's other uh vehicles that are stored elsewhere we don't intend for this to be a permanent situation eventually the county will acquire a much larger piece of property to move this operation and then you know either turn it into some other government facility or surplus the property and at that time the shed will be removed that is a condition of approval that we recommend immediately across the street is a very large institutional area as the south side uh this is on the south side is a um the willow baptist church so uh it won't be in conflict with the church operations as well going back to one of the aerial photos you can see that the church uh they actually own the properties to the east and west of the fire station and uh as you can see on a sunday they they use much of it for parking and uh so it will not uh in any way uh interfere with the church operations it's an unusual case uh this you know we we feel that it's a special exception uh because of uh the the special conditions or we're the only fire rescue station in the neighborhood so we really can't compare ourselves to other residential properties uh we feel the fire service needs at this time uh it it gives the the firemen the flexibility to have uh the uh state-of-the-art equipment when they fight uh either fires or most of their calls are for emergency responses so there's a lot of medical supplies that have to be stored on site um lastly we're putting a condition on it that the shed be be removed when it's no longer used for emergency uh personnel or or fire rescue purposes so we are just asking for a time in which we can buy a little bit more time to accurately locate the the the new facility in that'll serve this region in the future with that i'll stand for questions is there any way to quantify the duration of the variance rather than you know until such time as the fire department finds another location which is very open-ended we is there a county plan that documents the number of years it might take or any anything yes this the new station uh is in the five-year cip the acquisition but the site has not been identified and then you know if it's in the five-year cip that means well we'll we'll purchase the property somewhere in there and then we'll construction will be another two years and then we don't believe it'll go beyond five uh that the uh there the county has been moving uh closer to uh identifying the joint use station and and that uh they'll serve uh both mulberry and the other areas uh in the future uh so we feel we're pretty confident it'll be resolved in the next five years and i think i mentioned that in the staff report but but i didn't want to make any promises we couldn't keep well and that's why i asked yes i i noted in the staff report the two five years but that wasn't put in the proposed condition of all the fire stations that we have today this is probably the the most limited site it's one of the smallest i've ever seen most of our fire stations today we purchase over five acres and uh there's a lot of new equipment there's a lot of cleaning that has to be done with equipment these days that goes into any type of fire uh emergency so uh we're we've we've built we built two three stations in the past five years we're on under the process of building two new ones it all over the county there's a lot of uh fire service needs that are ever growing since we a growing population this one is a little harder to figure out because there's so many different growth dynamics going on residential both single family multi-family and warehouse and distribution and there's been a lot of shifting around of of first response areas to accommodate that uh we should identify a site within the next five years confidently and then at that time the uh once this property is no longer used for that purpose the variance would be void yes it would not transfer to a new purchaser that is correct what is the speed limit on bobby street 20 miles per hour 20 are there any concerns at all with um impacts on visibility of drivers or users of the right of way no it's there's a lot of space on the road uh as as you can see here it's the even the the the vehicles of the fire um service people have to be parked uh on the street or in the right of in the right of way there because there's such limited room um into a broader area much much of the area is utilized the street is utilized for parking during church events as you can see there's spills over into the right of way as well so bobby street is a very minor street it goes between willow oak road and state road 60. there's not a lot of of room for any any vehicle to get up to any high speed whereas willis road is the main collector road and that's where the the fire vehicles exit the property they go out willis road they return on bobby street to go to park and drive front end thank you we'll now open up public comment for this application is there anyone who came here today to speak regarding the application either for or against i'm the applicant from facilities management division our address there at the office is 2160 marshall edwards drive bartow florida and i think the narrative just given is very sufficient i will add the interior remodel they're doing there is adding two additional bunk spaces for two additional personnel so they are busting at the seams and as he identified we are um we are building the cip for fire stations is going to include up to 15 new fire stations and we've completed seven of those in the last about six or seven years okay and can i get your name please rob williams williams and were you here at the beginning of i was you were sworn in wonderful anything else to add that's it okay thank you i don't see any other speakers coming forward um so we'll close public comment anything else from staff no ma'am okay thank you and then uh that concludes our meeting for the day thank you see you next month