MINUTES OF THE WHITEFISH BAY BOARD OF APPEALS Wednesday, August 9, 2006 A meeting of the Whitefish Bay Board of Appeals was held in the Village Hall, 5300 North Marlborough Drive, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin on August 9, 2006. Pursuant to law, written notice of this meeting was published as a Class 2 public notice in the official Village newspaper and posted on the public bulletin boards. Present were: Chairman Mark Johnson, Thomas Williams, Tim Bentley & Deborah Roberts-Semones The Chairman called the meeting to order at 6:20 P.M. CASE NO. 1 5107 N. Diversey Daniel & Laura Jankins Request for special exception for placement of a fence over 6 ft. tall in the back yard. The homeowner and a representative from Stano Landscape were present to explain the exception. The section of fence with the trellis structure on top would be built along the Lancaster side of their house for privacy along the patio. The lot is on a corner and there is a lot of foot traffic along the side of their house. The request is for an 8 x 8 ft. structure only that will be up lit and have plants growing on it. A letter was given to the Board that was signed by the surrounding neighbors giving their approval. Tim Bentley made a motion to grant special exception for the screening based on Stano Landscape s design that the screen will be 8 ft. by a 4 ft. leg, located 4 ft. south of the stoop and the 4 ft. leg will be 2 ft. east of the patio at 8 ft. tall per the submitted drawing. Tom Williams seconded. A vote was taken and passed unanimously in favor of. CASE NO. 2 240 E. Hampton CVS Pharmacy/Osco Request for special exception for extra signage on a business. Sean Harris, from ICON and John Allen, a representative from CVS were present to explain the request for special exception while the Board reviewed the submitted pictures. The intent is to change out like for like signs with the same size from Osco to CVS. The vinyl face would be replaced instead of removing the entire sign because of the cost. The second sign (Osco) had 36 high letters on it and the new one would have 30 high letters. CVS has a concern that if they follow the code for signage (20 sq. ft. smaller), people wouldn t see one of the signs and realize the business is there.
There was a concern about Osco being granted a variance for the existing signage and it was not determined if there was one. The file was reviewed and nothing was found regarding a variance. No one was present in the audience to speak to this case. Tom Williams made a motion to approve the special exception for CVS to replace sign #1 not to exceed the code by 20 sq. ft. Deborah Roberts-Semones seconded. A vote was then taken and passed unanimously in favor of the motion. Tim Bentley made a motion to grant special exception for sign #2 not to exceed 33 sq. ft. as indicated in the drawings. Deborah Roberts-Semones seconded. A vote was taken and passed unanimously in favor of the motion. CASE NO. 3 707 E. Fleetwood Dan & Maribeth McNally Request for special exception for placement of a 4 ft. fence in the front yard. Joe Olla from Suburban Fence was present to explain the request for special exception. The permit was originally pulled in the 1980 s and part of the area on the lot was filled in by hedgerow. The new owners are replacing that area with matching picket fence in the front yard, that has a scalloped center, which is 3½ ft. high, and the sides go up to 4 ft. Tom Williams made a motion to grant the special exception to replace the existing fence at its current height extending 70 ft. along the north lot line (front yard) tying into the existing fence on the east and west sides of the lot. Tim Bentley seconded. A vote was taken and passed unanimously in favor of the motion. CASE NO. 4 5221 N. Berkeley Bill & Francine John Request for special exception for a 6 ft. fence in the side yard. The homeowner was present to explain the special request and brought pictures to show the Board of his property that is on the alley that faces Henry Clay, where all the apartments are. He also brought a letter from his neighbor stating that they have no problem with the replacement of the fence. There is also a privacy issue involved with being right on the alley Deborah Roberts-Semones made a motion to grant the special exception for building a 6 ft. fence for the side yard at the above address. Tom Williams seconded the motion. An amendment was added to the motion to include 7 ft.- south, 2 ft.- north and 4 ft. on the side. A vote was taken and passed unanimously in favor of the motion. CASE NO. 5 6116 N. Berkeley Blvd. Chad & Alyson Stepke Request for a special exception for placement of two air conditioners in the side yard. Mr. Stepke was present to explain the request for special request. There has been some work done in the house and in the kitchen ceiling there was water damage from the air conditioning units on the roof. An HVAC contractor
determined they were installed incorrectly and the wrong material was used. With the back yard being small and with two small children, the homeowner s are requesting placement on the side yard. A letter from the neighbors has not been submitted at the time of this meeting, but they had given a verbal approval for the placement on the side yard. There is a 6 ft. fence already in place that would screen them from the street, along with landscaping. The Board reviewed the survey to determine if the new placement would be in the side yard setback. The Board was also concerned that the neighbors hadn t written a letter. After further discussion, Tom Williams made a motion to grant the special exception for placement of the air conditioning units in the side yard at the southeast corner of the house, no further west than 8 ft. from the rear of the house, based upon receipt of an approval letter from the neighbors on the south side of this property. In an amendment to the motion, a two-week time frame was given for the letter to be submitted. Tim Bentley seconded. A vote was taken and passed unanimously in favor of the motion. CASE NO. 6 523 E. Lake View - Keith Alling Request for special exception for placement of an air conditioner in the side yard. Keith Alling, the landscape designer, was present to explain the special exception. There is a stone patio that wraps around the back and with the new underground electrical service installed; there is no room in the back of the house for the unit to be placed. The Board reviewed the survey and pictures and discussed the history of the house. Behr Mechanical installed the air conditioning unit in 2005 without a special exception. Mr. Alling spoke to the next-door neighbor about the electrical service and mentioned the placement of the air conditioning unit, to which the neighbor seemed fine with. New owners had just recently moved into the house and didn t have any idea about the special exception. The Board then reviewed pictures that the designer had on his computer. They showed the large backyard and places the unit could have been placed. Discussion to have the new homeowners and Behr Mechanical attend the meeting and address the situation came up, but it was decided that would not be the best answer. The unit is screened from Lake View. Tom Williams then made a motion to approve the current placement of the air conditioning unit contingent upon receipt of a letter from the neighbor to the west, giving their approval. Deborah Roberts-Semones seconded. In further discussion, the Chairman suggests talking to the Village Inspector about issuing fines to work being done incorrectly. An amendment to the motion was made
to the motion to leave the decision whether to fine Behr Mechanical up to the Inspector along with the amount. A vote was taken and passed unanimously in favor of the motion. With no other matters to discuss, the June 6, 2006 meeting minutes were reviewed with a couple of minor changes made. Tom Williams made a motion to approve the minutes. Tim Bentley seconded. A vote was taken and passed unanimously. Tom Williams then made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Tim Bentley seconded. With no further matters to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:35 P.M. Mark Johnson, Chairman Cynthia Wallner, Secretary