The Sulphur Springs Zoning Board of Adjustments Tuesday conducted the regular June meeting in short order. The ZBA approved a special use permit and a variance request during the meeting. The meeting lasted less than 10 minutes.
Special Use Permit
Brandy Estes request for a special permit was granted. She will now be allowed to provide cosmetic tattooing at her new business, BackLash Salon, at 440 South Hillcrest Drive in Woodbridge Square.
The cosmetologist was previously approved to operate at Southern Roots Salon on South Broadway Street. She told the Planning & Zoning Commission Monday night that she’d been thinking of starting her own salon. The government ordered closure of all salons due to COVID-19 seemed the right time to do so. She attained state requirements and rented space in Woodbridge Square.
She plans to offer a variety of services including hair, nails, lash extensions, tanning, facials, microblading and waxing. Because cosmetic tattooing is licensed through the state the same as regular tattooing, a special permit is required from the city to provide those services due to zoning in that area and city ordinances.
Fourteen letters were sent to property owners within 200 feet of 440 South Hillcrest Drive. City staff receive three letters, one in support and two in opposition to the request.
City staff and the P&Z Commission recommended approval of the special use permit. The ZBA approved the permit request.
City staff reported another business person had also expressed interest in a special use permit for cosmetic tattooing, but had not completed the process to attain one as of Tuesday.
Variance Request
Brigido Valles requested a variance for property located at 234 Ardis St., to add a 600-square foot three-car garage.
It would potentially encroach the front and rear setbacks of the property. The home, built in 1982, appears to be approximately 25 feet from the front property line and about 6 feet from the rear property line. The property is zoned multifamily and has a 25-foot front yard setback and 10-foot rear yard setback, which would make it a non-conforming home, according to Sulphur Springs Community Development Director Tory Niewiadomski.
While the handdrawn diagram of the proposed garage appears to extend further than the house, the house has a roof that’s 32 feet wide. The proposal is for the garage to be 30 feet deep and 20 feet wide, and appears to be extending in line with the existing home, and not any closer to the property lines, Niewiadomski noted.
The purpose of setbacks, he explained, is to provide a barrier of delineation between properties so that activities on a site do not infringe on the rights of neighbors, provides greenspace for lawns and trees that serve as filtration for storm-water runoff, fire separation between structures, access to sunlight and air, establishes aesthetic character in districts and prevents the overcrowding of land, the community development director reports.
Eighteen letters were sent out by the city to property owners within 200 feet of Ardis Street property regarding the variance request but received no responses.
City staff recommended the variance request be approved, provided the garage addition maintains the same width and line of the existing home so as not to encroach any closer to the rear and front yard setbacks than the existing home.
The ZBA granted the variance request provided the recommended condition is met.
