Howell/Marcum VAR~"~fGfNAL
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS
The above entitled variance request having come on for
consideration on December 5, 1995, at approximately 7:30 o'clock
p.m. on said date, at the Meridian City Hall, 33 East Idaho Street,
Meridian, Idaho, the Applicant appearing through Tracey Persons,
and the City Council having heard and taken oral and written
testimony, the City Council of the City of Meridian makes the
following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. That notice of the public hearing on the variance was
published for two consecutive weeks prior to the scheduled hearing
for December 5, 1995, the first publication of which was fifteen
(15) days prior to said hearing; that the matter was duly
considered at the December 5, 1995, hearing; that copies of all
notices were available to newspaper, radio and television stations.
2. That notice of public hearing is required to be sent to
property owners within 300 feet of the external boundaries of the
land being considered pursuant to 11-2-416 E., 11-2-419 D., and 11-
9-612 B. l.b of the Revised and Compiled Ozdinances of the City of
Meridian; that this requirement has been miet.
3. That Ordinance 11-9-605 M., PIPING OF DITCHES, requires
all irrigation ditches, laterals or canal, exclusive of natural
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HOWELL/MARCUM - VARIANCE Page 1
waterways, intersecting, crossing or lying adjacent and contiguous,
or which canals, ditches or laterals touch either or both sides of
the area being subdivided, shall be covered and enclosed with
tiling or other covering equivalent in ability to restrain access
to said ditch, lateral or canal.
4. That the project site is approximately 4.21 acres and is
zoned I-L; that a conditional use application to allow for the
construction of an automobile/recreational vehicle repair shop on
approximately 1.49 acres has been submitted before the Planning and
Zoning Commission; that the Eight Mile Lateral crosses Franklin
Road through a 72" pipe arch, exceeding the 48" standard
established by Meridian City.
5. That the Applicant is requesting that it be granted a
variance from the above ditch piping requirements and be allowed
not to pipe the Eight Mile Lateral; that the Eight Mile Lateral
runs along the entire northerly boundary of this site; that
previous variance requests allowing canals, ditches, or laterala
not to be tiled that required more than a 48" pipe to the have
been granted.
6. That the Applicants propose, as a portion of the
Conditional Use Permit, to fence the perimeter of the entire site
so there will be no safety hazard posed by not tiling lateral.
7. Tracey Persons, the Applicant's representative,
testified, stating again what Bill Henson, of the Nampa & Meridian
Irrigation District, had made comment to, that the 48 inch existing
pipe would not support the water flow at this site; that a 72 inch
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HOWELL/MARCUM - VARIANCE Page 2
round pipe would support this flow.
8. That the comments received from the Nampa Meridian
Irrigation District stated that the Eight Mile Lateral at this
location has flows of about 5,000 miners inches of water and that
it is doubtful whether this amount of could or would flow through
a 48 inch pipe.
9. That Kevin Howell and Dirk Marcum are the owners of the
property. of the property.
10. That the Meridian Fire Department, Police Department and
Meridian City Water Department submitted comments regarding this
application and they are incorporated herein as if set forth herein
in full.
11. That no other testimony was heard at the hearing.
CONCLUSIONS
1. That all the procedural requirements of the Local
Planning Act and of the Ordinances of the City of Meridian have
been met including the mailing of notice to owners of property
within 300 feet of the external boundaries of the Applicant's
property.
2. That the City has authority to grant variances pursuant
to Section 11-2-419 of the Zoning Ordinance and pursuant to Section
11-9-612 of the Development Ordinance.
3. That the City Council has judged this application by the
guidelines, standards, criteria, and policies contained in the
Subdivision and Development Ordinance upon which it may take
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HOWELL/MARCUM - VARIANCE Page 3
judicial notice.
4. That the City Council may take judicial notice of its own
proceedings, those of the Commission, governmental statutes,
ordinances, and policies, and of actual conditions existing within
the City and the State.
5. That the following provisions of Section 11-9-605 M,
PIPING OF DITCHES, of the Subdivision and Development Ordinance are
noted which are pertinent to the Application:
"All irrigation ditches, laterals or canals, exclusive of
natural waterways, intersecting, crossing or lying adjacent
and contiguous, on both sides of the area being subdivided,
shall be covered and enclosed with tiling or other covering
equivalent in ability to detour access to said ditch, lateral
or canal. The City may waive this requirement for covering
such ditch, lateral or canal, if it finds that the public
purpose requiring such will not be served in the individual
case. Any covering program involving the distribution system
of .any irrigation district shall have the prior approval of
that affected district. ."
6. That the City Council is considering changing the
Ordinance regarding the piping of large ditches if the piping would
require a pipe larger than 48 inches; that the Ordinance may be
changed.
7. That the specific requirements regarding a variance that
must be evidenced and found by the City Council are as follows:
No variance shall be favorably acted upon by the Council
unless there is a finding, as a result of a public hearing,
that all of the following exist:
a. That there are such special circumstances or conditions
affecting the property that the strict application of the
provisions of this Ordinance would be clearly
impracticable or unreasonable; in such cases, the
subdivider shall first state his reasons in writing as
to the specific provision or requirement involved;
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b. That strict compliance with the requirements of this
Ordinance would result in extraordinary hardship to the
subdivider because of unusual topography, the nature or
condition of adjacent development, other physical
conditions or other conditions that make strict
compliance with this Ordinance unreasonable under the
circumstances, or that the conditions and requirements of
this Ordinance will result in inhibiting the achievement
or objectives of this Ordinance.
c. That the granting of the specified variance will be
detrimental to the public welfare or injurious to other
property in the area in which the property is situated;
d. That such variance will not violate the provisions of the
Idaho code; and
e. That such variance will not have the effect of nullifying
the interest and purpose of this Ordinance and the
Comprehensive Development Plan.
8. That there does appear to be a specific benefit, profit,
economic gain or convenience to the Applicant if this variance is
granted; however, to require tiling of the ditch would cause
extreme hardship to the Applicant, and the Council is considering
amending the ditch tiling ordinance so that ditches of this size
would not be required to be tiled; the City has previously granted
variances where the size of the the would be greater than 48
inches and for the Eight Mile Lateral.
9. That the requirement of tiling ditches is a health and
safety requirement; that in a prior variance application it was
stated that it may be more hazardous to have the ditch tiled than
it would be not to have it tiled and it appears that to require
tiling of this ditch would not achieve the safety purpose for which
tiling is required in the Ordinance.
10. That the irrigation district affected has not demanded
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HOWELL/MARCUM - VARIANCE Page 5
that this ditch be tiled.
11. That regarding Section 11-9-612 A. 2., regarding the
tiling of ditches, it is specifically concluded as follows:
a. That there are special circumstances or conditions
affecting the property that the strict application of
the provisions of the ditch tiling Ordinance would
clearly be unreasonable.
b. That strict compliance with the requirements of this
ditch tiling Ordinance would result in extraordinary
hardship to the Applicant.
c. That the granting of a variance would not be detrimental
to the public's welfare or possibly injurious to the
public.
d. That the granting of this variance would not violate the
Idaho Code.
e. That the variance would not have the effect of altering
the interests and purposes of the ditch tiling Ordinance
which is included in the Subdivision and Development
Ordinance for safety purposes.
12. That it is concluded that the Application for a variance
from 11-9-605 M, PIPING OF DITCHES, should be granted.
13. That as a condition of granting the variance, the
Applicant shall place, and maintain, landscaping along the Eight
Mile Lateral to improve the aesthetics of the property.
APPROVAL OF FINDINd3 OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS
The City Council of the City of Meridian does hereby adopts
and approves these Findings of Fact and Conclusions.
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ROLL CALL:
COUNCILMAN MORROW
COUNCILMAN YERRINGTON
COUNCILMAN CORRIE
COUNCILMAN TOLSMA
MAYOR KINGSFORD (TIE BREAKER)
~ ~'.
VOTED `/'~
/.~
VOTED ~ /`
VOTED `~ r~'~
VOTED
VOTED
DECISION
That it is decided the Application for a variance from
11-9-605 M is granted; that the Applicant shall not ~/~ the Eight
Mile Lateral; that the Applicant shall place and construct
landscaping along the Eight Mile Lateral as a condition of being
granted the xvari~nce.
APPROVED: /` ?~ 'r DISAPPROVED:
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HOWELL/MARCUM - VARIANCE Page 7