00:00:05,370	And we will start the uh board of adjustments meeting. um first order of business is considered the minutes of the October 2nd meeting. I’d make a motion maybe be accepted. as written. And a motion to accept. Do you have a second Second. You have a second.

00:00:40,100	Any discussion? Any changes you know, you take a roll board member Wolf. Yes. Board member Jansen. Yes. Board member Wangler. Yes. Vice Chair Seifert, yes. Chair Clark. Next, I don’t know, this is new item for, um, if there’s any public comment from the previous supportive adjustments meeting. from anybody. I don’t see anybody, so we will move on.

00:01:07,370	Um, the next order of business is a variance for the Sattler’s 7th edition. Um, and I’ll have Daniel present. Good evening, Vice Chair Seaford, Sport of adjustment. So my name’s Daniel and Nairn. I’m in the planning department. I’m filling in for Jenny Holme today, uh, to present this variance to you.

00:01:29,270	Uh, so Jeremy and Amber Hazenageger are requesting an approval of a variance from, uh, the city code of Ordinances relating to the location of residential accessory buildings, uh, in particular the request would be to reduce the setback along the north side of the property from 25 ft to 15 ft for an existing accessory building.

00:01:47,170	Uh, so this location is in the northeast corner of Bismarck, uh, north of East Century Avenue, East of Centennial Road. Uh, it’s in the southeast quadrant of the intersection of Roosevelt Drive and 43rd Avenue Northeast. Uh, the address is 4225 Roosevelt Drive. Uh, so this success rebooting was recently constructed, um, on this property.

00:02:08,230	Uh, the owner and, and the um contractor did not get a building permit for this. Uh, it’s, um, the, they did reach out to the building inspections departments, uh, in March of 20 25, and they were informed about, uh, the corner lot setbacks and that it would be a 25 ft setback from both the

00:02:24,870	West side and, uh, the north side of the lot from both Roosevelt Drive and from 43rd Avenue Northeast. Um, so there is an email on that, um, is in your packet for your, for your review from Mark Kern from the inspections department to, to the, um, contractor in that case.

00:02:40,430	Uh, so then in July of 2025, uh, another inspector in our department, uh, noticed the building, um, being constructed, uh, in a neighborhood, uh, and inquired further and determined that the permit had not been issued for that building. So the contractor was notified and then a permit was submitted.

00:02:56,370	Um, at that point, um, and a lot survey with, with that, um, permit, uh was reviewed. Uh, I’ll put it up here for your review. It was included in your, in your packet.

00:03:25,170	OK, just for your reference on the survey, the accessory booting in question is on the northeast portion of the lot, uh, and you can see it is within the 25 ft setback built at 15.2 ft that’s at its closest point to 43rd Avenue Northeast, uh, so one relevant point of information for you.

00:03:46,230	Um, as you know, the, the city is in the process of updating the zoning, uh, for, for the community and we call it the Land Development code. The most recent draft of that code, uh, in module one which pertains to the setbacks within the zoning districts, uh, does show a change of the setback, um, for, uh, the accessory buildings within the zoning district, and that would be changed from 25 to 10, actually

00:04:06,370	10 for accessory buildings, 15 for principal buildings, uh, in this draft. Now this is a draft, uh, it has not been reviewed by the Planning Comm has not been approved by the city commission, um, but has been publicly released in, in the spring of 2025.

00:04:22,730	Um, there, there is the estimated timeline for the land development code would be the spring of 2026 approval of this, so it is not the law of the land as as of today, but it is, is a proposal being reviewed.

00:04:41,500	Um, the public has been notified of, of this request, uh, 4 letters were mailed to the owners of nearby properties on November 25 of 2025, uh, and to my knowledge, we haven’t received any, any feedback or any inquiries from any of the neighbors, um, regarding this request.

00:04:57,000	Uh, so I’ll just read kind of the standard findings that we do have for variances, uh, for your information and for that of the public and the applicant. Uh, so pursuant of Section 14-0602 of the city code of Ordinances, the Board of Adjustment may vary or adjust the strict application of any of the requirements of the zoning ordinance in case of any exceptionally irregular narrow, shallow, or steep lot or other exceptional physical or topographical conditions by

00:05:16,270	reason of which the strict application of the provisions of the zoning ordinance would result in an unnecessary hardship that would deprive the owner of the, of the reasonable use of their lands or building involved, but in no other case.

00:05:33,270	So no adjustment in the strict application of any provisional designing ordinance shall be granted by the Board of Adjustment unless it finds the following. And so there are 3 findings here that there are special circumstances or conditions that apply to the land or buildings that do not apply generally to land or buildings within the neighborhood and have not and have not resulted from an act of the applicant and secondly, that the strict

00:05:51,430	application of the provisions of the zoning ordinance would deprive the applicant of the reasonable use of said land or building, the granting of the variance is necessary for the reasonable use of the lander building and that the variance as um as granted by the board is the minimum variance that will accomplish the relief sought by the

00:06:08,500	applicant. And third, uh, that the grant of the variance will be in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the zoning ordinance and will not be injurious to the neighborhood or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare.

00:06:29,900	Uh, so in, in, um, in response to these findings, the applicant has submitted a written statement, um, that identifies an anticipated hardship, um, and an explanation for why they believe the variant should be granted. So that is in your packet and um they can always speak to that today is in this hearing as well.

00:06:43,730	Um, so the recommendation that we would have, if you choose to approve the variance as proposed, uh, we ask that you identify a hardship and modify the review standards or findings outlined in your staff report to support this decision. Um, so the applicant is here as I mentioned, and I can, uh, try to answer any questions you may have to.

00:07:04,000	Anybody have questions for Daniel Thank you, Daniel. Thanks Next we will, uh, open up the hearing if the applicant is here in which to speak. If you could state your name and write down Good evening. I’m Todd Freeag, owner of Sparling Construction. and uh important that I’m here today because first of all, I put this all on me.

00:07:32,270	And, nobody else. It’s not the city. It’s not my client, um mistake was made. I’m not trying to be incongruent or incompliant or a 48 year old company.

00:07:49,430	Last time I was here was probably 10 years ago to help somebody where we didn’t get into this situation as far as I’m aware of. Sparling’s never been in this situation before. So if I may, I’d like to explain how we got here and I also want to apologize to you all that I’m basically wasting your time um, that should never happen. So I’m trying to take ownership to it, um.

00:08:07,000	those emails that were sent was with one of my coworkers, and Eric, my chief estimator, which I commend that he did his part. I did not see those emails. I was not aware of those emails, um, nothing internally was discussed. So when I did my preconstruction meeting.

00:08:25,170	I’d like to introduce something, and I’m not trying to prove anything that I’m right or anything’s wrong, but this is my little world of what I deal with and I spoke to Jenny on this about a week or two ago, and the address is here a proposed client and it’s a corner lot and they’re looking at tearing down

00:08:44,500	the detached garage and attach it to the home, and Jane’s like, as long as you’re 6 ft away from that side property line. we’re good and stay 20 ft back away from the inside sidewalk. Can I approach? Yes.

00:09:15,370	So my perspective client on this particular one wants to tear down that detached, and so I called the city, which I try to do when I have a question mark. and just wanna makes certain percent a lot setbacks, and she said, yes, you can attach it, just gotta stay 6 ft away from that side property line.

00:09:33,600	When I looked at Hassenjaeger’s and their, um, property. I did know that there was no A 43rd road approach that’d be going into that property, which is some of the verbiage in the paperwork that the city has um I truly in good faith, not that may change anything, thought that at 15 ft, being away from

00:09:55,370	the fence and having harmony which I’d also like to introduce, if I may. uh, exhibit A through C. the fence on this one, which currently there is a fence. Um-hum. Um-hum. So that shows 43rd on the bottom of your page there and Roosevelt adjacent to it. So that’s exhibit A.

00:10:34,800	If you move on to exhibit B Uh, we just took a picture of that today. One of the reasons why, too, that we discussed early on. um, in January, February, I think uh probably end of February of this year.

00:10:57,630	in design is that on the north side of that living room and kitchen is the AC unit, but also an egress window that you can’t see because of the snow. If the shop were to have to move 10 ft to the south. this garage really creates a hardship that he would not be able to bring his vehicles in and out there to work on them, which he does as some supplemental income to work on.

00:11:14,370	for th that’s why we did the detach because the garage just wasn’t working for him, um. it impedes up Paul, of course, his backyard living too to have to go 10 ft to the south, where he currently has a very nice deck patio area, but more importantly, trying to get in vehicles and out of vehicles.

00:11:30,970	We did stay away 10 ft from structure to structure. Uh, we made certain of that, um, but I assumed and was not informed, which is not anybody’s problem but mine. Um, I made it clear to the Hasseigegers that if we forever reason had to move this.

00:11:51,730	thousands of dollars on us, not on them, that we’d have to move the structure. Um, we did stop construction uh, as soon as we found out and did get a uh a uh survey, um. it’s actually very embarrassing for Spirland Construction because we built this within less than 2 weeks.

00:12:12,530	Had it up and going with the concrete, and then it came to a screeching halt with a job sign sitting out in front So if it does wait until even March. This structure will have sat there for basically almost a year, um, not what I wanted to intend to have ever happen, um.

00:12:30,230	my hope is that I never have to be in front of you guys again, um, because that’s not how we roll, but uh, basically, um, I do think that we’re meeting some of the criteria though with harmony, um, good news that we didn’t hear feedback negatively from any of the, the neighbors,

00:12:50,430	which that’s a great sign, um so Jeremy, if there’s anything that I guess you’re wanting to add, uh, I think I pretty much, I’ll confirm my notes here.

00:13:14,530	Good news is, is if we’re proposing, and if it doesn’t pass in March, or go further, but if it did, we’re within that 15, but I don’t think that it’s going to cause any kind of issue with the neighborhood when they drive by, they won’t even think about why how did that ever pass, um. it does have harmony to it still, so. is there anything, Jeremy, that Good evening. Good evening, gentlemen. I’m Jeremy Hassenger.

00:13:39,630	I’m a homeowner. Um, my wife wasn’t able to make it tonight. She had to work, but, uh, um, kind of what Todd was explaining, um, none of this was really kind of how we expected it to go by any means, and I appreciate Todd and his support to back me being here tonight and

00:13:58,270	um, part of kind of what um Todd is talking about. There are actually two egress windows on that north side of the home that acts as a bedroom and a downstairs living room. Um.

00:14:15,330	which was kind of where we in my hopes and dreams, I would have loved to have put it just north of the house, kind of like Todd and I had talked and and lined everything up and it would have been, would have kind of fit what I was looking for, but we slid it back because we knew we had offsets and things like that that we were working around um

00:14:29,230	moving it another 10 ft, um, I’m sure as many of you probably have a a wife at home and she wanted me to make this very clear so that you would be blocking her, uh, bird bird feeder.

00:14:42,230	Um, not that you have to take that into consideration by any means, but that was her one point that she wanted me to make, make note of tonight. Um, but yeah, other than that, I mean, we are talking a little bit about just being able to access it and ease, um, that 10 ft, um, makes a pretty big difference in that door, uh, to the

00:14:59,100	actual garage itself, um, basically kind of cuts it right in half, and then tucks it behind the house just enough that it makes it really difficult to even, I mean, other than a small vehicle to access it. So, um, I really don’t have anything else other than that, gentleman, but I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.

00:15:19,430	Does anybody have any questions for the applicant or mister? For Todd I, I do have one question. Go ahead. If they had to move it south, that 10 ft, but they have to also move it back.

00:15:40,270	Where does it have to sit in relation to the to the um residential structure as an accessory building So if the if I’m understanding you correctly, if the detached accessory structure is within 10 ft of the principal building, um.

00:16:04,230	you know, our, our zoning would say it had to stay the same setback as required for, for that principal building, so it’d be um, today still 25 ft, um in the future, likely 15 ft. OK, but, but you’re asking about the building itself, the right, they have a, they have a, a, uh, dimension in there of 10 ft between the accessory structure and the house.

00:16:24,530	If they moved it south, would they have to also move it east? They, they wouldn’t have to, no, I believe it’s, it meets the rear yard set back as as it stands today. Right. But is there a distance that it has to, that the accessory structure has to be from the residential structure. You’re back here from basically from. Yeah. This corner.

00:16:43,370	No, it has to be 10 ft, but so if they move the accessory structure south, we should be looking. It’s probably going to have to go east. It, it doesn’t, it doesn’t have to be 10 ft. It’s just if it is 10 ft. If it’s not 10 ft, then it has to maintain the same setbacks as the principal structure.

00:16:59,270	That’s how our current ordinance reads, um, there’s building code requirements regarding separation between buildings, but if they wanted to let’s say do an attached garage, they could do that as well. and that wouldn’t take it, uh. a variance at all because they could attach to the house and, and then get within 6 ft of the side yard.

00:17:20,100	Um, not, not this side yard, um, because this is on a corner so they would still have the front yard setback that we’re talking about today. OK. Anybody else? Any questions? Yeah, just a couple of questions, Todd. I unders I appreciate you saying, you know, what took place.

00:17:42,530	I did construction my whole career. I, I, we had to move a building that was 3 inches off, 2-story building. surveyed room, so I’ve, I’ve been there. Um I’m, I’m a little puzzled how I’m, I understand the communication, but you know, the 25 ft pretty standard here.

00:18:03,900	Uh, I know you’ve dealt with corner loss before and so forth. I understand how communication happens in an office or doesn’t happen and stuff. uh I looked at this and I think our rare setback on the success rebuilding, it can go to the east further. if I’m not mistaken, correct.

00:18:24,170	I we’re at 19 ft right now, rough roughly. Right, if it is, if the building is greater than 10 ft away from from the principal structure, then it doesn’t need to meet the rear yard setback. On if it’s closer than 10 ft, then it needs to be the 20 ft setback. So yes, it does have some room that it can go.

00:18:42,870	I believe the, the setback at that would be essentially the utility easement would be the determining factor of what that rear setback would be. So we can go back quite a ways. Um. I understand the axis around there.

00:19:03,630	I’ve seen several buildings where the garage has shifted and yours would be lined up about the same Uh, they don’t have egress windows, they have steps. concrete steps sticking out on the north side in your, in this case. So they had no choice and they you know, two-car garage and drove in and so forth. They didn’t uh if they had 10 ft, it’d be really close. It was done many, many decades ago. But, uh, tighter constraints here.

00:19:25,500	What I’m struggling with is I, I look at where the hardship is because we, you know, we typically deal with a lot of different lots that are just crazy.

00:19:44,800	We got a lot of things and this one is pretty clean cut in that fashion, so from my perspective, I’m struggling with a hardship Uh, I don’t, it doesn’t matter to me whether the building’s up or not and it’s also, if we’re looking at the future maybe changing this is kind of like the interstate.

00:20:02,900	How long did it take the legislation to change it to 80 miles an hour, you know, it might happen, might not, you know, the state troopers still going to give me a ticket at 80 because I’m going, it’s not 75, you know, type thing. So I, I’m, I’m struggling with that Uh, I understand it.

00:20:18,370	I, I would agree with you that as far as harmony it harmony with the rest of it out there, you know, that’s not an issue but um that’s, that’s my challenge is just we have others we had in this area just a little ways away from there that we’re not in compliance with setbacks. on a house on two houses actually, and they had to change them.

00:20:40,800	and they could modify them and so forth and meet the setbacks and so forth. So, uh, but I do appreciate you, what you said about how it happens and uh went through, I understand it. I can see how it happens. and so forth, uh it just gets through the cracks once in a while, and it’s not atypical what you do. No. So, which I’m thankful for, you know.

00:21:00,530	but OK. Anybody else Any questions Staff, any other comments or anything? No. Thank you guys. Yep. Thank you. I see nobody else in here, so I don’t think we have to open up a public hearing unless someone’s on Zoom or anything No.

00:21:45,370	So we will close the public hearing and what are the wishes of the board? I know it’s going to be a tough decision, but I have a question for staff Go ahead. So I know you have the proposal after the draft, the change of setbacks. So, you know, before us we have to determine yes or no. based on what the ordinances are now.

00:22:31,800	Now would they have the ability I’m just asking uh, to not do anything more on it and wait and see if that ordinance changed, got approved, and then continued construction.

00:22:57,000	or would they have to do something right now if it wasn’t you know, in compliance Hm So, uh, uh, thank you for the question and and we actually proposed this to the, to the property owner already is, is there are a couple different options we could do here. This is certainly a fast track to getting their project done if, if they came here and gotten approval through through the variance process, but certainly, um, you know, we don’t wanna make them move this building if in the very, uh, I guess.

00:23:17,170	if we’re gonna be proposing a change and that it would be essentially righting this wrong, um, not for this purpose, but this is a plan that we had in place prior to this, uh, particular issue coming to our attention.

00:23:35,600	So yeah, leaving it as is, keeping it you know, keeping it under construction, if you will, um, and waiting to see what happens with our zoning ordinance, uh, proposal is certainly an option, um, but if it isn’t changed if, if we go through the process and it doesn’t get resolved through that process, then, uh, we’ll certainly have to take enforcement action and, and have them relocate the building.

00:23:55,700	So would there be a, a time limit on something like that from, I mean, that’s not part of our, our decision, but would it be a time limit on your end? Um, I mean, at, at the moment, we, we don’t have a time frame, like a, like a definitive date of when we’re,

00:24:10,100	we’re taking this to our commissions to get approvals. So I said I’d be you know, I, I wouldn’t want to set a time frame today, um, but certainly be working with the property owners as we move forward with that land Development Code and going through that public hearing process to, to get that adopted

00:24:30,370	Well, I’m just thinking, let’s just say it comes up for adoption and it gets turned down. then we’re not going to prolong this longer or uh that’s what I’m kind of getting at because are we talking if it’s going to come up within so many months and so forth. uh.

00:24:49,000	and it gets declined. Yeah. And so forth, and it’s not going to happen, then where do you go from there? I guess it would be us working with the property owner to try to come up with a reasonable, you know, time frame.

00:25:03,500	I mean, they’re well aware of the work that that staff is doing to get to the, um, land development code update and I mean we, we would just work with them on that. I’ll make the motion to not approve the variants based on the uh, ordinances we have in place right now and not having uh anything to base it on to accept it, OK.

00:25:55,730	We have a motion to deny is there a second Oh, call a second meaning for the sake of discussion. OK. discussion. Hm. I’m, I’m honestly pretty annoyed by the fact that the question was asked and we still end up with a building built in a setback.

00:26:25,730	but would anybody agree that this bot does have a unique situation, which is the unusually large setback from the major street next to it. I agree. which you know, maybe doesn’t change anything.

00:26:50,330	in, in regards to you know, if you, if you had a, if this was a regular in in city street corner you wouldn’t be able to do this either, but it, it makes it less of a problem, I think for the neighbors. with, with such a large setback for large distance to the street. um, doesn’t really look out of place or anything like that, so my, my thought is we could probably use that as a as a peculiar situation with the land.

00:27:08,970	Yeah, and I don’t think it I really think that, like you say, the location of it, I don’t think it’s, no one’s really gonna even notice it there, the neighbors and Yeah, at its location, and that’s a unique, unique corner, so and you know, there was mistakes made I think, I mean, the building’s there, I mean

00:27:33,530	so even if the, uh it’d be a bad thing if, if the variants are the ordinance was not changed. I mean and the city would still have to work with them and I, I can’t imagine I can tear that down. I mean. That’s what I’m looking at it is.

00:27:55,000	It, it’d be tough to do. Regardless of what may happen with the ordinance. Right. I think I could get, I think I could get there on this. even without that looming on the horizon potentially. Yeah.

00:28:16,230	Anybody else I lived on a corner lot 42 years, and I had 25 ft on the east side of my house that I wish somebody would have taken over ownership for it. I molded and watered it, I shoveled the snow. I paid the taxes on it. I replaced the sidewalk. never used it. Never used it because it wasn’t my front door. My front door was on the north side of the house.

00:28:34,330	the east side of my house I’ve given it to anybody who wanted to own it. He had two front yards. I had two front yards. And I had a. That’s good. I had a big yard and it, it, that was a total waste of space. It was 80 ft long and 25 ft wide.

00:28:54,800	Anybody could have had it for free. I’d, I’d to pay them to take it because I had to replace it sidewalk. Shovel it, mow it, weed it. you know, water it um I think, I think the hardship that a person could come to here is the fact that if you shift this accessory building 10 more feet south.

00:29:19,630	you’re depriving them of full use of of the latte here. that is to me. Let’s, yeah. You know It, it doesn’t make a bit of difference if that building is 15 ft from the property line or 25. As far as 99.9% of the people in the city of Bismarck would ever even recognize.

00:29:43,170	It, it doesn’t, it doesn’t have the appearance of a corner lot even though it is. No, I, I agree it’s kind of. Because, because that, that *** is gonna be huge. you know. Well, and, and I look at it, that’s, you know, there’s plenty of room on the lot.

00:30:03,500	You can shift it more to the east. I’m surprised it wasn’t. Instead of staying to the minimum distance you have a 10 ft. Uh, we have numerous locations where houses and garages are like this. shifted back, um. I understand the the egress windows and so forth, but uh anybody who builds and knows property, corner lots always have those setbacks.

00:30:31,800	and that’s a pretty main road that’s coming there on 43rd. It’s not your average city block, you know. in a residential area so I, I understand. I look at it, I don’t even consider the building being there.

00:30:56,870	This plan was had been put together and submitted right you know, right And that’s and and if the proposed uh ordinance goes through. to moved points, it stays where it’s at and so forth. And it’s just some time there. but I we’ve had other spots that the lots are much tighter have way more restrictions than this one and uh.

00:31:23,100	I’m just trying to stay consistent with what we’ve done and how we’ve handled these in the past. and we understand the steaks are made, we understand, right, and I don’t think it was intentional. No. Mistake. No. At this point. Nope. Um, anything else So, the motion is to deny, and we can take a roll Former Wengler board members Jason. I’m saying I’m still thinking. No OK.

00:32:04,100	Uh, board member Jansen. Yes. Or remember Wolf? No. Vice Chair Seifert. No. Motion does not pass We need another motion E, you have some pretty good ideas before. and I used my personal experience. Having 25 ft of non-usable yard. um I would make a motion that we approve the variants, um special circumstances.

00:32:53,800	are in, in my opinion is it’s um it it deprives use of the property. I, I agree 100% that it shouldn’t have happened. I hope they change that.

00:33:25,170	but, but my, my, um my, my reason for that is, is it’s taken away some of the, some of his property that he has to pay for it ends up creating in my opinion, unusable space on the north side of that property. Um. and, and I think the 15 ft setback is probably the um minimum. you know, that, that the board can use to accomplish relief sought by the applicant.

00:33:54,100	I don’t believe that this is going to be um non-harmonious with the general purpose and intent of the article. um and for that reason, I’d say we, we grant the under the variants and and won’t be indigenous to the pardon me, wouldn’t bejus to the neighborhood either? No, I, I don’t see how that could happen. No. OK.

00:34:24,000	Any discussion Seeing none Kro? Uh, I need a second one. No, second? I’m sorry. You’re right. Give me a second. Oh, I’ll second that. I’m getting confused here. Jumped in, getting jumped ahead. You have a second. Any discussion now? Seeing none, will take roll. Board member Jason No Board member Wangler Yes Board member W Wohl? Yes And vice er Seier. Yes.

00:34:57,630	The variance passes, um, C work with you, um, yeah. I understand mistakes were made and um good luck. OK. Mist, yes. Merry Christmas. OK. Any, and next thing is any other business, anybody have any other business? staff? Yeah, if I may. Avier Seifer.

00:35:25,100	So, the, uh, uh, just so you are aware, uh, this is the season when there are new board appointments, uh, for all of the, the boards. Uh, the application deadline for that was November 30th. However, uh, I just heard today that the city administration has reopened the, uh, window, so we are still accepting applications, uh, including for for this board.

00:35:45,870	So I think there is still a need for 11 more seat. So obviously you’re already on it, but however, if there’s somebody listening from the public who really enjoyed watching this meeting and would like to be a part of it that there is an application process, uh, open right now for the Board of Adjustment. OK, thank you, Daniel. There’s no other business from