Dairy Queen seeks variance: Two votes on request end in ties
MARTINSVILLE — After two votes ended in ties during Tuesday’s meeting of the Martinsville Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), the developers of the city’s future Dairy Queen site left with no clear answers for its future.
During the meeting, Ross Drapalik from Drapalik Surveying and Engineering represented Schwab Family Associates — the restaurant’s developer.
The request made at the meeting was to allow the restaurant’s lowest finished floor to be constructed one foot above the base flood elevation, as opposed to two feet above the base flood elevation.
The former Martinsville Dairy Queen closed in May 2019 because it needed to be relocated due to the I-69 project.
The new Dairy Queen is expected to be constructed at 1810 S. Ohio Street, which is directly north of the Martinsville Burger King.
According to Drapalik, when the developers started looking at the site about six months ago, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said the restaurant could not be moved to that the parcel of land since it was designated as a floodway — as opposed to a flood plain.
“A floodway is where the water goes to a flood elevation, and then moves like a river,” Drapalik said.
A flood plain, though, is where water backs up and stands.
The variance request presented Tuesday night is based on a future flood elevation, which is expected to be lowered because of the updates to Ind. 37 as it becomes I-69.
On that parcel of land, once the construction on I-69 is complete, the base flood elevation will be at 603.5 feet above sea level.
In order to obtain a federally-backed mortgage, the developers would have to follow city ordinance, which currently requires any new construction to have its lowest finished floor elevation be two feet above the base flood level, in this case 605.5 feet above sea level.
“The owners are not intending to get a mortgage, they will be paying for this with cash,” Drapalik said. “And so, we are looking at some relief from the city to lower this by a foot.”
He later noted that if the city were to approve a building to be constructed below the base-flood elevation, the city would be jeopardizing the participation with the national flood insurance program.
“We don’t feel that (the zoning request) jeopardizes the city’s participation in the national flood insurance program,” Drapalik said.
Drapalik said the Burger King’s finished floor elevation is at 601.01 feet above sea level, and the Dairy Queen would be built at a higher elevation.
Drapalik noted that the developers believe that lowering the Dairy Queen’s floor elevation closer to that of the Burger King’s would be a better aesthetics “transition.”
Martinsville’s Interim Planning and Engineering Director Gary Oakes pointed to the fact that the floor elevation for the Dairy Queen is based on the future base floor elevation of 603.5 feet above sea level.
“We have over 70 residents in the city that take part in the national flood insurance program,” Oakes said, adding that he does not want the city to endanger the city’s participation in the program.
The city’s contracted engineer Troy Swan, from HWC Engineering, said that typically when someone is requesting a variance, a hardship has to be presented.
“The question I have is what hardship is that, based on the request as it stands today?” Swan asked.
Drapalik responded that one hardship is that when the developers purchased the property, it was not part of a flood plain.
BZA attorney Dakota VanLeeuwen said that she had an issue with that hardship.
“That is not anything based on a statutory hardship that this board can grant,” VanLeeuwen said.
VanLeeuwen later said that even without the variance, the lot would not be uninhabitable.
Drapalik agreed with VanLeeuwen that the property would still be developable.
“In this case, like I said, we would like it,” Drapalik said. “Is it going to stop us it from happening, I seriously doubt it. But, we would just like to get some relief to help with the development cost.”
BZA member Tom Hacker made a motion to deny the request, with member Katy Barnard seconding.
That vote ended with a tied vote, 2-2.
Members Marilyn Siderewicz and Anna Elliott voted against Hacker’s motion.
BZA member Ann Marvel was not present at the meeting.
Siderewicz asked if there was a potential compromise, and offered the idea of constructing the lowest floor base elevation at one and a half feet above the flood level, as opposed to one foot.
Oakes responded that setting a floor elevation below what the city has set would establish a precedent.
Siderewicz made a motion to issue the variance for one and a half feet above the base flood elevation, which was seconded by Elliott.
That motion, like the previous motion, ended with a tied vote 2-2 with Hacker and Barnard voting against.
After the second tied vote, Martinsville Mayor Kenny Costin said that he agreed with Oakes, that the BZA could be setting a precedent by voting to approve the variance.
“If I was going to vote, I would vote no,” Costin said.
After the meeting, VanLeeuwen sent an email, which noted that she had spoken to one of her “advisors” to discuss the tie.
“What I have learned is that we must offer Mr. Drapalik and (Schwab) Family Assoc. the option to come back next month first,” VanLeeuwen wrote in the email. “This is an opportunity to have the full board present.”
The variance request has been added to the board’s March meeting.
That meeting is currently scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.
Plan Commission
The Martinsville Plan Commission would normally have also met Tuesday night, but that meeting was cancelled due to a lack of agenda items.
The next scheduled meeting of the Martinsville Plan Commission is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.
~ Staff Report | Published February 26, 2020 in The Reporter Times
