The procedure. But now I think of. Oh wait, no that's right. Yeah. It says three affirmative votes are required for
basically appeals variances and sidewalk variances. Okay, here
we go. Are we. In the at the other chapter in the beginning? I don't know if it's in there now. It might be under we know
that's slow, but I guess we go by it. That's right. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Okay. I ain't got any
special Easter plans. Okay. I think that's happened. Like I said, I'm coming up. So we're celebrating. Is it on the 13th? But that's when we're
celebrating. Okay. That's cool. That makes sense as I work my way. Oh that's true. Yeah. Okay. Good evening everybody. Welcome
to the Board of Adjustment meeting on March 25th, 2026 for the City of Tarpon Springs. I'm going to call this meeting to
order. I'd like now to have roll call, please. Chairperson. Reach. I'm sorry. Chairperson
rich. Present vice vice chair. Grossman. Present here. Miss Turner, I'm sorry. Okay. Miss
Turner, Mr. wood, present. And Mr. Fuchs is absent. Thank you so much. And now we'll have our attorney explain the quasi
judicial process and read the quasi judicial announcement tonight. Yes, chair. This is a quasi judicial proceeding where the board acts in a quasi judicial rather than a
legislative capacity at a quasi judicial hearing. It is not the board's function to make law, but rather to apply law that has already been established in a quasi judicial hearing. The board is required by law to
make findings of fact based upon the evidence presented at the hearing, and apply those findings of fact to previously established criteria contained in the Code of Ordinances in
order to make a legal decision regarding the application before it. The board may only consider evidence at this hearing that the law considers competent, substantial and relevant to the issues. If the
competent, substantial and relevant evidence at the hearing demonstrates that the applicant has met the criteria established in the Code of ordinances, then the board is required by law to find in
favor of the applicant. By the same token, if the competent, substantial and relevant evidence at the hearing demonstrates that the applicant has failed to meet the criteria established in the Code of
Ordinances, then the board is required by law to find against the applicant. At this time, has there been any ex parte communication? Does anybody
have a conflict? Chair, do you want me to swear in. Yes, sir. If you're going to speak, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear or
affirm your testimony before the Board of adjustment shall be the truth, so help you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much. And tonight we have
four out of five members of our team here tonight. All of us are volunteers for the city. Is there anything attorney that needs to be addressed related
to all four out of the five. So there is a requirement for three votes to pass a minimum of three. To pass any application. You have the right
to request a full board if you so choose. Or you can just let it up to tonight. Obviously, any kind of denial of a variance, you have to wait a
year before you can reapply. So as long as you're okay with four members, we're good to go. That okay? Okay, great. Thank
you very much. As I mentioned, there are five total on that have been appointed by the City of Tarpon Springs to serve on the Board of Adjustments.
Tonight, we need to do an election of our chair and vice chair for the calendar year, because we did not meet in January or February. So we'll just take a moment. Thank you
for your patience. Do I hear any call for nominations of a chair from the floor? I will
nominate Mr. Grossman. Do we need a second attorney? Yes, please. Okay. Do I hear a second for Mr. Grossman? I'll
second. Okay. Thank you. So all those. Oh, Secretary, can we do a roll call for chair of Mr.
Grossman? Chairperson rich. Prove, vice vice chair Grossman, you don't want to be chair.
Okay. Approve. Miss Turner. Approve. Mr. Would approve. Thank you. Do I hear any call
for nominations of a vice chair? I will nominate our current
chair, miss Rich. I'll second that. Okay. I've heard a a
nomination and a second. Madam Secretary, can you do a roll call, chairperson rich. That's fine. Approve vice vice Chair
Grossman, approve. Miss Turner, approve. Mr. Would approve. Okay. Thank you so much. And Mr. Grossman will be leading
next month's meeting as his new role in chair. And I'll be out of town. So in in. If for some reason Mr. Grossman has to be absent and the vice chair is
absent, we're in big trouble. What does can any of the members we would normally go by the senior member. Okay. And I believe that would be Miss Turner. So Miss Turner would
chair. If for some reason Mr. Grossman became ill and couldn't make the meeting. Thank you very much. Okay. Tonight we're here before us.
Application number 20 6-06. A variance to allow a staircase to encroach further into the front. Setback for the purpose
of accessing an elevated home located at 233 Grand Boulevard, I now as Miss keen to make the presentation from the city.
Okay. Ali Keen, principal planner with Planning and zoning. Again. The property is located off of Grand Boulevard, outlined in yellow here on the screen. This property, as well as all the surrounding
properties to the west and south, are within the CRM conditional residential mix zoning district and the properties to the north and the East are within the residential
Multifamily zoning District. The applicants are here this evening requesting variance approval to allow an outside unenclosed staircase to encroach further into the front setback than is permitted. They
are in the process of elevating the historic home on the property to protect it from future flooding, and that results in the need to provide a staircase to get entry into
the front of their home. The CRM zoning district requires a minimum setback from the front of 25ft. However, the Land Development Code does provide special allowances for certain
yard encroachments. One of those is an outside unenclosed staircase can encroach up to four feet into any required setback. So again, 25 foot is the minimum setback here. The
blue line, the four foot encroachment would be represented by the pink line here on the screen. The proposed staircase would have an encroachment of a little over 15ft into the front.
Setback represented by the Orange line. However, it will still maintain about a 9.5ft setback from the front property line. One important consideration with this
application is the home is a contributing structure in our historic district. It already has a non-conforming front setback. The setback is 20.8ft and then once the home is
elevated, it's still going to be within the same footprint of the existing home and maintaining those historic setbacks. So due to that layout on the property, really anywhere that you would put a
front staircase would not really be able to meet the requirements of the code. This is a look at the elevation drawings. The proposed elevation of the home was
reviewed and approved by the Historic Preservation Board back in April last year. That approval did include a condition about the design of the front stairway. Those minor changes would be verified
during the permitting process. We just want to make the board aware that if for any reason, those minor changes would increase the stairway encroachment, they may have to amend their variance request. However, it's it's not
anticipated that will be the case. We just wanted to make everyone aware of that. And here are your decision criteria. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Does any
of our board members have questions for Miss Qin? I do, Mr. Grossman. So on the proposed elevation, you explain
the condition that an amendment to the variance may be necessary. I'm not sure I fully understand what could. Is that something that could happen in the future? Yeah. So really,
the condition from the Historic Preservation Board was had to do with the materials primarily that would be used on the staircase. And if for any reason those materials or
something resulted in a design change where the staircase would now encroach, say, you know, 18ft into the setback, that would be a larger request. They'd have to come back to the
board. But again, I don't anticipate that being the case. Okay. Thank you, thank you. Is there any other questions from our board members for Miss Qin?
No no, no. Okay. Thank you so much. If the applicant would like to come up and have any presentation, it's not
necessary. But if you'd like to speak on anything and just state your name and address and that you've been sworn in. For the record, my name is Nick
Gunther at 233 Grand Boulevard, and I have been sworn in. Thank you. I don't have anything particularly prepared. It's a necessity as part of the lifting the home. We did flood
during Halloween like a lot of people. So this is our kind of architectural preservation and the fact that we don't want to relocate again. So this is our this is kind of our proposed
and review the historic board. And we're all kind of on the same page there, but nothing in particular beyond its necessity. And that's for sure. And I'll
see if any of our board have any specific questions for you. But thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Anyone have any questions for the applicant?
No, no. Okay. Thank you so much. Okay. Anyone from the public like to speak for or against this proposal? No. Okay. I'll just point out that we did have
one letter in support of the request, and that was included in the backup materials. Thank you. I don't need to read that.
No, no. Okay. Thank you. All right. Would the board like any discussion or make a motion? What? I'll just do a short
discussion. So in reading through the material, the the five items that we have to look at look like they all have been
met. In addition, it's a historic structure. The relief is sought because of flooding, which, you know, obviously a good reason to do that. There's
still almost ten feet of property between the bottom of the staircase and the and the street. So it's not like it's right on it. And looks like
we've met everything that we need to meet to be met. Okay. Would you like to make a motion? I would anybody else have any? Okay, so I'd like to make a
motion on application number 2606. Gunther variance to allow staircase to encroach further into front. Setback for the purpose of accessing elevated
home a location. 233 Grand Boulevard. I would like a motion to approve as per application. Do I hear a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr.
Roll call, please, Mr. Wood, approved. Miss Turner, approve. Vice chair Grossman. Yes, chairperson. Yes. Okay. Thank
you so much. And you can work with the city staff to get what you need to move forward. Thank you. Okay. Miss Qin, anything
you have for the good of the group tonight. No, I don't have anything to add. I just wanted to let everyone know that we do have two applications currently on the agenda for next month,
in April. And as miss Rich has said, that she is not here. So attendance is imperative. I'll be here. Okay, we'll be here. Our new chair will be here. Yes,
the new chair will take over. I'll pass the gavel to him tonight. So thank you all for being here. Thank you. Okay. I
will adjourn the meeting at 6:43 p.m. Yeah. No, I love
setting up. Y'all know, and I knew.