Commisson Meeting Agenda Item

On Monday, December 12, 2022, a variance application was filed with the Town of Lady Lake, by Steven Bickford, on behalf of Pine Brook Management, LLC, for the Pine Brook Village MHP located along Griffin View Drive approximately three-fourths of a mile east of the intersection of Highway 27/441 and Griffin View Drive.

The variance application involves the entire Pine Brook Village Community (40 lots) in a 7.58-acre parcel zoned MH-9, within the Town limits of the Town of Lady Lake.

The variance request is pursuant to Chapter 5, Section 5-4. h).7).D).3)., of the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) which requires the rear yard setback within the MH-9 zoning district to be a minimum of 10 feet. The variance request is to allow a minimum of 5-foot rear yard setback for all lots located within the Pine Brook Village Mobile Home Park.

BACKGROUND

The parcel is approximately 7.58 acres of land located in Section 21, Township 18 South and Range 24 East. The property is zoned Lady Lake Manufactured Homes High Density (MH-9) and the future land use is Manufactured Home High Density (MH-HD).

On Thursday, March 21, 2019, the Town of Lady Lake received a Master Mobile Home Park Plan and application submitted by Wick Engineering Services, Inc., on behalf of property owner Pine Brook Management LLC for the construction of a 40-unit mobile home park along Griffin View Drive.

On August 5, 2019, the applicant received approval by the Lady Lake Town Commission to move forward with the Pine Brook Mobile Home Park Plan, and on October 28, 2019, the applicant received a Development Order to proceed with the improvements. The Pine Brook Mobile Home Park has access via a Private Road that has direct access to Griffin View Drive through Private Drive; an existing private road connecting the Lady Lake Mobile Home Park to the Pine Brook Village.

The owner/developer has steadily been building houses and in the process has recently identified a market preference that requires adjusting the sizes of modular homes to larger floor plans to accommodate certain segment of the retired population relocating to this area.

JUSTIFICATION STATEMENT

In reviewing the Land Development Regulations, the reason for this variance is to make provisions for a larger floor plan modular home as well as provide a larger and safer area for parking along the front yard.

The applicant’s justification statement expresses that the need for the variance is due to the availability of sizes of modular homes and being able to move the mobile home unit five extra feet to the rear to allow more distance from the street to avoid parking in the street.

The applicant elaborates that the Pine Brook Village lots are 50 feet wide by 100 feet deep and the largest modular home is a 30-foot wide by a 64-foot long. There are also 44-foot long, 59-foot long and 60-foot-long modular homes; however, the larger model is becoming very popular and desired within this community.

Lastly, the applicant feels that after placing the larger homes with a 30-foot front yard setback, there would still be a six-foot rear yard setback that backs up to open space. In the case of the 22 lots within the Section A-A, the lots will back up to a 10-foot landscaping buffer and the 18 lots within Section B-B back up to a retention open area. The applicant has expressed that the entire community is owned and operated by Pine Brook Management, LLC, so they will not encounter any maintenance and aesthetic issues and the proposal would not be out of order with surrounding structures.

The proposal will achieve allowing a bigger and very attractive model which will meet all other requirements of impervious surface and other setbacks while also meeting the current Florida Building Code.

When reviewing an application for a variance, the Planning and Zoning Board and the Town Commission shall consider the following requirements and criteria according to Chapter 3, Section 14 f) – Review criteria for variances in the Land Development Regulations:

No diminution in value of surrounding properties would be suffered.

Granting the permit would be of benefit to the public interest.

Denial of the permit would result in unnecessary hardship to the owner seeking it.

The use must not be contrary to the spirit of this Code.

Financial disadvantages and/or inconveniences to the applicant shall not of themselves constitute conclusive evidence of unnecessary and undue hardship and be grounds to justify granting of a variance. Physical hardships such as disabilities of any applicant may be considered grounds to justify granting of a variance at the discretion of the Town Commission.

Notices to inform the surrounding 16 property owners within 150’ of the subject property of the proposed variance were mailed on Thursday, December 22, 2022. The property was also posted on Thursday, December 22, 2022.