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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZBA 1981-02-12 Minutes 1 . MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS, FEBRUARY 12, 1981, 7:00 P. M. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, H. B. Helton, at 7:03 P. M. ROLL CALL PRESENT: CHAIRMAN SECRETARY MEMBERS H. B. Helton Jack Roseberry Dr. E. K. Hahn Jesse Range Marie Hinkle CITY BLDG. OFFICIAL P & Z COORDINATOR Bill Rice Wanda Calvert CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 8, 1981 Mr. Range moved, seconded by Mrs. Hinkle, to approve the minutes as written. This motion carried 5-0 with the following vote recorded: Range, yea, Hinkle, yea, Hahn, yea, Roseberry, yea, and Helton, yea. NEW BUSINESS . BA 81-1 APPROVED Request of Mary Louise Hazlewood to vary from the Zoning Ordinance #179 on Tract lGl, Abstract 1365, to be allowed to build on said property with only 30 feet road frontage instead of the required 150 ft. in Agricultural Zoning. This property is located approximately 1170 feet east of the intersection of Rumfield Road and Eden Road. George W. Boring, Attorney, 1st Texas Savings Suite 3, 1904 Central Drive, Bedford, Texas, came forward to represent Mrs. Hazlewood. Mr. Boring stated they do have plans for a proposed home to be built on this property. He said this property fronted on a gravel road which is called Rumfield Extension. Mr. Boring said the County maps show this röad and they feel that in the future Rumfield Road will be extended. Mr. Boring said the Ordinance requires them to come before this Board since they do not have a dedicated street. . Page 2 Z B A Minutes Fèbruary 12, 1981 . . . ~ Mr. Roseberry asked if the road does go through, how much road frontage would Mrs. Hazlewood have. Mr. Boring said she would have approximately 500 feet. Mr. Boring said the gravel road had been there a long time. Mr. Boring said all this property was once owned by a Mr. Slate and when he started selling off tracts of land, he would reserve 15 feet on each side of the tracts for ingress-egress. Mr. Boring showed pictures of the property in question and the surrounding area to the Board. Mr. Helton asked how long Mrs. Hazlewood had used this road. Mr. Boring said she bought the property in 1969 and had used the road ever since. He said she bought the land from a Mr. Hames who had purchased it from Mr. Slate about 4 years prior to 1969. Mr. Range said that from looking at these pictures, he would say this looks like a legal road to him. Mr. Boring said he had talked to several people and they all say the road has been there for at least 30 years. Mr. Range read on one of the survey maps the year "1877". Mr. Boring said the road had been shown all this time at the County. Mr. Range asked how many people use this road. Mr. Boring said there had been problems with people thinking it was a through street, and also with teenagers parking. Dr. Hahn said this Board is not here to decide if this is a road or not, but the Board is here to decide on this variance request. ~ Page 3 Z B A Minutes February 12, 1981 . Mr. Roseberry asked if Mrs. Hazlewood would grant an easement for a proposed road across her property. Mr. Boring said he could not answer that. Mrs. Hazlewood came forward. She said she would like to keep it private, but would consider it if the city needed it. The Chairman called for anyone wishing to speak regarding this matter to please come forward. Mr. Royal W. Sherbet came forward. He said he bought the remaining 5 acres of land that Buster Slate owned. Mr. Sherbet said he would like to clear up the incorrect statements that had been made here. Mr. Sherbet said the problem is the Hazlewood property is landlocked. . Mr. Sherbet said he did not become aware of this until the closing sale of his property and he asked his attorney what he should do since people were coming down Mr. Slate's private driveway. Mr. Sherbet said every piece of land that Mr. Slate sold was not executed properly. Mr. Sherbet said his attorney drew up a paper for these people to sign that was using this private driveway allowing them ingress-egress. Mr. Sherbet said he wants to fence his property so he can have a horse and he didn't mind Mrs. Hazlewood using his drive until she could work something else out, but she refused to sign it because it had l2 months on it. Mr. Sherbet said he does not want a road through his property. . Mr. Roseberry asked what he was granting Mrs. Hazlewood. . . . Page 4 Z B A Minutes February 12, 1981 ~ Mr. Sherbet said she could use his private drive until she could find another way up to l2 months. Mr. Sherbet said he would not of known about this variance request~ but he saw them down there cutting down some bushes (not on her property) and some neighbor came over and asked him if he knew they were going to make a road there and they don't even own the land. Mr. Sherbet said he realizes the Hazlewoods have a problem, but they are going through his property and he doesn't like it anymore than you would if it was your property. He said Buster Slate built this as a private drive to his home. Mr. Helton asked if he knew that you cannot landlock a piece of property. Mr. Sherbet said he did. He showed the Board a survey of his property and said he would work anyway he could with them, but he does not want a road through his property. Mr. Roseberry asked if he got a title policy when he bought his property. Mr. Sherbet said he did. The Board and Mr. Boring looked over Mr. Sherbet's policy. Mr. Boring showed the Board the deed record of the road easement. Mr. Sherbet said an employee of the City of North Richland Hills, Gary Caldwell, Building Inspector, a representative of the city, told him when he was purchasing this property that there had been several people wanting to buy this property, but said he would not issue a building permit because there was not a road. Mr. Sherbet said Mr. Caldwell said the exist- ing house fell under the Grandfather Clause and he could live there and could enlarge the house up to 50% since it was frame. ~ Page 5 Z B A Minutes February 12, 1981 . Mr. Sherbet said Mr. Slate was a junk collector. He said he had worked since he bought the property to clean up the junk and rocks and has just now got it to looking good and now this; they come up my driveway and cut across my property and someone else's, also. Dr. Hahn asked Mr. Sherbet what he wanted to work out. Mr. Sherbet said there was another way into her property, but she needs to sign the paper he gave her. Dr. Hahn said it would not be legal for her to sign it. Mr. Boring said it would be illegal and he had instructed Mrs. Hazlewood not to sign it. Mr. Sherbet showed the Board what he tried to get Mrs. Hazlewood to sign. . Mr. Range asked Mr. Sherbet if his property abutted a paved road. Mr. Sherbet said it did not. Mr. Range said there are others between Mr. Sherbet and the paved road and any of these property owners could refuse Mr. Sherbet ingress-egress to his property, also. Mr. Roseberry said that was true and the only difference is Mr. Sherbet owns property on both sides of this road. Mr. Sherbet said he didn't bring a Philadelphia lawyer with him as they did because he was told he would not need one. He said he would like to show the Board another ingress-egress to the Hazlewood property. . He showed another easement further south, off Eden Road, that people are using for a road. He said they could travel it till they come to a 30 ft. strip of land owned by the Hames; then she could get permission from the Hames to use their property and travel north to the 30 ft. easement on the White property. Page 6 Z B A Minutes February 12, 1981 . . . ~ Mr. Sherbet said this easement off Eden Road use to be used to get to a dome house that was built on the White property. Several of the Board members said they remembered the dome house. Mr. Roseberry said what Mr. Sherbet is asking the Board is not a matter that they have the right to intrude. He said Mrs. Hazlewood has a right to ingress-egress to her property. Mr. Range said the map shows this road to be an easement for a road the same as the one off Eden Road. Marcie Sherbet came forward. She said she spent a lot of time at the Court House with her mother who is a Realtor, and there was no easement, but it does show a proposed easement off Eden Road. Mr. Sherbet said his drive, which has been there since 1949, had deteriorated so that it was just a one lane drive and he had re- juvenated it and fixed up the place. He said he does not want his property split, he does not want a road through his property. Mr. Helton said he felt the Board was getting involved into something they have no jurisdiction over. Bill Rice came forward. He said he had a statement from the City Attorney, Rex McEntire, which he would like to read: "2-ll-8l-To Zoning Board of Adjustment, The City's position is that there is a "right of user" over a street that has been used for more than 7 years. You may issue the variance and we will leave it up to the parties to work out their ingress and egress problems. Rex McEntire, City Attorney." Mr. Range asked Mr. Boring about the Texas law which does not allow a piece of land to be landlocked. Mr. Boring said you had to provide ingress- egress to the property. He said when buying a piece of property, you want to buy a ~ Page 7 Z B A Minutes February 12, 1981 . warranty deed to insure ingress-egress. Mr. Boring looked at the Sherbet's deed and said the deed does show this easement. He said that Mr. Slate did leave a little gap, but the 30 ft. easement is on the record. Mr. Boring said when Mrs. Hazlewood sold the 6 acres, she reserved 30 ft. and he would also have 30 ft. Mr. Boring said the deed record shows a road and it does not call it a private drive. Mrs. Calvert said she set up a meeting on February 11th with the City Attorney to get a legal opinion regarding this matter. She said Mr. Sherbet requested he be allowed to come and discuss this with the City Attorney, also. . Mrs. Calvert said Mr. McEntire explained to her and Mr. Sherbet that the law states if someone has used a piece of property for ingress-egress for seven years, it becomes a road. He also stated the Board has the right to grant this variance, but if Mr. Sherbet blocks off the road, this would be between him and Mrs. Hazlewood, they would have to take it to court for settlement. Mr. Sherbet asked if this is a road, is the city responsible to maintain it. Mr. Range said it is not a dedicated street; maybe he and the Hazlewoods could jointly maintain it. The Chairman called for a motion. Mr. Roseberry said he believes Mr. Sherbet and Mrs. Hazlewood can cooperate so he made the motion to approve BA 81-1 as requested. The motion was seconded by Mr. Range and the motion carried 5-0 with the following vote recorded: Roseberry, yea, Range, yea, Hinkle, yea, Hahn, yea, and Helton, yea. . ADJOURNMENT The m~eetino/~~y 8:10 ~. M. .~, CHAI N ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT