Orange County — Board of Zoning Adjustment

SE-23-02-173 — Eliezer Filipov, Sidnei Faria for Christian Congregation in the United States

Request: Special Exception and Variance in the R-1AA zoning district as follows: 1) Special Exception to allow for the construction of an 8,121 sq. ft. religious institution with 270 seats. 2) Variance to allow a maximum building height of 46.8 ft. in lieu of 35 ft.

Decision: Denied

Hearing: SYNOPSIS: Staff described the proposal, including the location of the property, the site plan, and photos of the site. Staff provided an analysis of the six (6) criteria and the reasons for a recommendation for approval for the Special Exception, and denial for the Variance. Staff noted that no comments were received in favor of request, and three (3) comments were received in opposition to the request. The applicant discussed the staff recommendation of denial for the Variance and noted the height is for the functionality of the offices on the second floor. Also, the hours of operation of the church are only two times a week, which traffic at the traffic will be minimal at those times. Furthermore, can redesign the second floor to lessen the height. Ther was no one in attendance to speak in favor of the request. There were seven (7) in attendance to speak in opposition to the request, raising concerns about traffic and the project is not compatible with the surrounding area. Transportation Division staff discussed trips generated by the project being requested and how it is determined. The BZA discussed the intrusiveness of the project into the neighborhood and the minimal size of the parcel, determining that the request is intrusive to the surrounding area. The BZA recommended denial of the Special Exception and the Variance by a 5 ¿ 1 vote, with one absent.