02-24-2000 Regular Meeing and Public Hearing

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. . CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW NCSOO-001 JANUARY 27,2000 Upon conclusion of the public hearing of the above-referenced cause, held on January 27, 2000, at 7:00 p.m. at La Porte City Hall, 604 West Fairmont Parkway, during which witnesses were called and testified, subsequent to being placed under oath, the Zoning Board of Adjustment of the City of La Porte, Texas, meeting in duly called open session at La Porte City Hall, makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law: FINDINGS OF FACT: 1. The applicant, Lakeside Center, Inc. ("Lakeside") was proposing to reopen the Flamingo Bay Apartments, 200 Garfield ("Flamingo Bay"), located within the City of La Porte, Harris County, Texas. 2. Notices of the public hearing held before the Zoning Board of Adjustment of the City of La Porte, Texas ("the Board") were properly mailed and published, according to law. 3. Flamingo Bay was built in the mid-1960's, and was occupied until July, 1997. 4. Flamingo Bay ceased to be occupied from July, 1997 until the date of the hearing, a period close to 2 % years. 5. Lakeside established no evidence of intent in connection with the abandonment of the property, including establishing no evidence of intent of abandonment prior to Lakeside's acquisition of Flamingo Bay. 6. Flamingo Bay is Zoned R-3, Multi-family Residential, which is a zoning classification apropos for apartments. 7. Flamingo Bay has 19 off-street parking spaces. The Zoning Ordinance requires 135. Flamingo Bay proposed to construct an additional 16 off-street parking spaces, providing a total of 35 proposed off-street parking spaces, or 100 short of Zoning Ordinance requirements. 8. Flamingo Bay consists of 9 separate buildings. 5 of these existing buildings significantly encroach on front and/or side and/or rear yard setbacks required by the Zoning Ordinance, to varying degree. Lakeside made no proposal to alleviate these encroachments. 9. Flamingo Bay resides on 1.83 acres of land, and has 57 dwelling units, a ratio of 31 dwelling units per acre. The Zoning Ordinance requires a maximum ratio of 27 dwelling units per acre. Lakeside made no proposal to alleviate this excessive (per Zoning Ordinance) density. 10. The Lakeside proposal, relative' to landscaping, would have satisfied Zoning Ordinance requirements. 11. Lakeside was, prior to purchasing Flamingo Bay in December, 1999, notified of the non-conforming aspects of this project.