Findings and Order for Capital Christian Church Address VarianceBEFORE THE MERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL
IN THE MATTER OF THE REQUEST )
TO GRANT A VARIANCE REGARDING )
A PROPOSED ADDRESS CHANGE )
FOR )
CAPITAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH 1
APPLICANT. )
C/C 11-05-14
FINDINGS OF FACT
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW,
DECISION AND ORDER
RE: VARIANCE OF MERIDIAN
CITY CODE §8-2-6
The above entitled Request to Grant a Variance by Capital Christian Church Regarding a
Proposed Change in Address having come on for public hearing on November 5, 2014, at the hour
of 6:00 o'clock p.m. at Meridian City Hall, 33 East Broadway Avenue, Meridian, Idaho. Terri
Ricks, Meridian Addressing Specialist, and representatives of the Meridian Police and Fire
Departments appeared and testified regarding the necessity of an address change for the Capital
Christian Church, presently addressed as 2760 E. Fairview Avenue, Meridian, Idaho. Ken Wilde,
Senior Pastor, appeared on behalf of Capital Christian Church, and the City Council having duly
considered the evidence and the record in this matter therefore make the following Findings of Fact
and Conclusions of Law, and Decision and Order:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The property is generally located on the north side of Fairview Avenue and east of
North Hickory Way, Meridian, Idaho.
2. Capital Christian Church has been in its current location, with its property extending
to Fairview Avenue, for over 20 years.
3. The size of the church building exceeds 50,000 square feet.
4. Capital Christian Church was originally assigned its 2760 East Fairview Avenue
address on the basis of its property extending to Fairview Avenue.
5. The church allows multiple tenants to operate from its building and utilize its street
address for their own purposes.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECISION AND ORDER REGARDING A REQUEST TO GRANT
A VARIANCE OF A PROPOSED ADDRESS CHANGE PAGE 1 OF 4
6. Signage for the church is located on Fairview Avenue at the corner of Fairview
Avenue and North Hickory Way.
7. The church initiated subdivision of church property along Fairview Avenue into
three (3) commercial building lots necessitating the assignment of addresses to the
three (3) building lots and review of the church's street address by the City.
8. The creation of the three (3) new commercial lots to the south of the church has
eliminated all Fairview Avenue street frontage of the church.
9. The street from which the church has had its sole point of vehicular ingress/egress is
North Hickory Way.
10. The street from which the three (3) building lots along Fairview Ave will have their
sole point of ingress/egress is North Hickory Way
11. Meridian City Code § 8-2-6, as well as current Ada County standard addressing
guidelines, require a structure be assigned an address from a street from which it
fronts or receives access from.
12. The City's street addressing specialist procured approval of the proposed assignment
of North Hickory Way street addresses to the three (3) building lots and a proposed
change to the church address from 2760 East Fairview Avenue to a North Hickory
Way address from the Ada County Street Naming Committee and the Meridian
Police and Fire Departments, as well as the owner of two of the building lots.
13. The church objected to the proposed change of street address on the grounds that it
would cause an extraordinary hardship and now requests a variance to deviate from
the proposed address change from 2760 East Fairview Avenue to a North Hickory
Way address.
14. City representatives from the Police and Fire Departments testified that despite
favoring the proposed addresses as set forth in the staff reports submitted, local
emergency response vehicles would know of the church location because of its
historical presence and the physically dominant presence in the area.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The applicable standard of review regarding this Request to Grant a Variance is set
forth in Meridian City Code § 8-2-7. A:
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECISION AND ORDER REGARDING A REQUEST TO GRANT
A VARIANCE OF A PROPOSED ADDRESS CHANGE PAGE 2 OF 4
Grant of Variance by Council: The standards and requirements of these regulations
may be modified or varied by the Council where the enforcement of the rules
hereunder will result in extraordinary hardship; provided, that substantial justice is
done and the public interest is secured hereunder. In granting any such variance or
modification, the Council may require conditions thereof as will, in its judgment,
secure substantial compliance with the general principles hereof.
2. In applying this standard to this matter due consideration has been given to the
comment(s) received from the governmental subdivisions providing services in the
City of Meridian planning jurisdiction, as well as all of the evidence and testimony
submitted.
3. In applying this standard to the circumstances present in this matter, the church has
met its burden to establish that an extraordinary hardship would be caused by the
proposed change of address as a matter of law.
4. In applying this standard to the circumstances present in this matter, a grant of the
requested variance would ensure substantial justice is done and the public interest is
secured as a matter of law.
DECISION AND ORDER
NOW, THEREFORE, BASED UPON THE ABOVE AND FOREGOING FINDINGS
OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, the City Council does hereby order and this does
order:
That the application for variance is approved for the following reasons:
1) Granting this variance would not grant a right or special privilege to the applicant
that is not otherwise allowed in that district. A variance is meant to be considered on
a case by case basis and the subject request is for a variance to allow the church to
continue with the 2750 Fairview Avenue address.
2) There is an extraordinary hardship in this matter since the property has been in
existence at this address for over 20 years. A minimum of 20 years in the same
location must be established as one of the bases for this variance.
3) Granting this variance would not be detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of
the public given the fact that the facility is visible from Fairview Avenue. The
building size exceeds 50,000 square feet. The size of the building was one of the
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECISION AND ORDER REGARDING A REQUEST TO GRANT
A VARIANCE OF A PROPOSED ADDRESS CHANGE PAGE 3 OF 4
2014.
bases for the variance. 50,000 square feet shall be considered a minimum size for a
variance of this type.
4) Granting this variance would relieve the extraordinary hardship to the multiple users
of the 2750 East Fairview Avenue address. Multiple tenants would be forced to
change their address along with the primary user. The impact upon multiple users
was used as bases for this variance.
5) Granting this variance would not be detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of
the public because the facility has a signage on Fairview Avenue directing the public
and safety services to the facility. A sign must remain indefinitely as a condition of
approval.
By action of the City Council at its regular meeting held on the lb day of December,
ROLL CALL:
COUNCILMAN KEITH BIRD
VOTED
COUNCILMAN JOE BORTON
VOTED
COUNCILMAN LUKE CAVENER
VOTED
1A
COUNCILWOMAN GENESIS MILAM
VOTED
0
COUNCILMAN CHARLIE ROUNTREE
VOTED
COUNCILMAN DAVID ZAREMBA
VOTED
MAYOR TAMMY de WEERD (TIE BREAKER) VOTED
DATED: 12.- 1(0 - (
MOTION: APPROVED: t./ DISAPPROVED:
0
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YOWT'AMMY de WEERD
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Copy served upon Applicant, the Communit�De elopment Department, Public Works Department,
and City Attorney.
By: Dated: /a- 7
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A VARIANCE OF A PROPOSED ADDRESS CHANGE PAGE 4 OF 4