April 7, 2009
Mrs. Pamela Newton
Planning Building and Zoning Committee
10th floor
Dear Pamela:
This letter is a variation request from the Unified
Development Ordinance section 10.15.3.1/Street Landscaping for subdivisions in
The new plan shows the installation of the street trees in various areas adjacent to the roadway in a more clustered presentation rather than what is required by section 10.15.3.1.d of the UDO. We are also enhancing the existing Oak Savannah on the property by extending its perimeter and expanding its natural growth pattern.
The section of the UDO pertaining to this variance request is as follows:
10.15.3.1/Street
Landscaping
a.
A minimum of 2 trees shall be required for
each 100 feet of street length.
d.
The trees shall generally be placed
between the sidewalk and right-of-way line for
streets with closed drainage
and at least 30 feet from the centerline of the
right-of-way
for streets with open
drainage. Tree locations shall be approved by the
Township
Highway Commissioner and the
After carefully considering the new plan, we feel we are in compliance with the approval criteria for the Major Modification Procedure in the Unified Development Ordinance as stated below:
10.8.3.3
Planning, Building and Zoning Committee Action; Approval
Criteria
The Director shall present the Major Modification
request to the Planning, Building and Zoning Committee. The Planning,
Building and Zoning Committee shall act to approve, approve with conditions or
deny the modification, based on the following
factors:
a.
the granting on the Major Modification shall not be
detrimental to the public safety, health or welfare, or injurious to other
property or improvements in the neighborhood in which the property is
located;
b.
absent unique conditions exist with the property to be
developed that require the modification, and that these conditions are not self
created, and that the applicant had no knowledge of the impact of the
regulations on the development of the property at the time of the property’s
purchase.
c.
the Major Modification is the least deviation from this
Ordinance that will mitigate the hardship or practical difficulty that exists on
the subject property;
d.
the requested modification, the applicant will be
deprived of the ability to develop the property to the full extent otherwise
allowed for in this Ordinance;
e.
the modification shall not in any manner vary any other
provisions of this Ordinance; and
f.
the standard sought to be modified serves no public or
private interest.
Our new landscape plan focuses on enhancing the existing native woodlands of Legacy, while maintaining a natural prairie openness more representative of a conservation development for this area. We have clustered the street trees in various locations adjacent to the roadway instead of row planting them as shown in the previously approved plan. We feel that clustering the trees is more representative of native growth patterns and it also transitions Legacy more naturally from the adjacent streets and subdivisions.
When entering Legacy the adjacent subdivisions are in a rural setting with an eleven foot right of way from the street and an adjacent utility easement of approximately ten feet. They do not have street trees planted in a uniform fashion and they do not have formal sidewalks, curbs or gutters installed as also represented in the Legacy subdivision.
Thank you for your
consideration of these requests and we look forward to your decision on this
matter.
Sincerely,
Scott
Nelms
President