HomeMy WebLinkAbout674-BA
DATE: June 5, 2014
TO: Board of Adjustment
FROM: Chris Boone, Director of Planning and Community Development
SUBJECT: To consider an appeal of the Planning staff’s interpretation of Section
28.04.005(b)2 as allowed in Section 28.02.005 of the City of Beaumont Zoning
Ordinance.
FILE: 674-BA
STAFF REPORT
Thinh Cong Nguyen has asked that the Board hear an appeal to a decision made by the Planning
Division staff.
Section 28.02.005(c) of the Beaumont, Texas Code of Ordinance allows for such an appeal and
states:
Appeal process. Appeals to the board can be taken by any person aggrieved or by an officer,
department, or board or bureau of the municipality affected by any decision of the administrative
officer. Such appeal shall be taken within a reasonable time after the decision has been rendered
by the administrative officer, by filing with the officer from whom the appeal is taken and with
the board, a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof. The officer from whom the appeal is
taken shall forthwith transmit to the board all the papers constituting the record upon which the
action appealed was taken.
In late April Mrs. Nguyen sent a potential lessee to the Planning and Zoning counter to apply for
a certificate of occupancy to open a business at 3906 Kenneth Avenue. The property at 3906
Kenneth Avenue is zoned RS (Residential Single Family Dwelling) District and was open as a
small neighborhood grocery for many years. According to the Beaumont Health Department, and
Mrs. Nguyen, the grocery was closed in February 2013. The application for certificate of
occupancy was denied as more than one year had passed since a commercial use had been in
operation.
Section 28.04.005(b)2 of the Beaumont, Texas Code of Ordinance states:
Any building, structure or land which is occupied or used as a lawful nonconforming use which
shall become vacant or unused for a continuous period of one year shall not thereafter be
occupied or used except for a use which conforms to the use regulations of the district in which it
is located. Provided, however, that nonconforming field crops may be reestablished when the land
has been unused for a period of time not exceeding three (3) years. For the purposes of this
paragraph “vacant” or “unused” shall mean the nonconforming use has been intentionally
abandoned. The temporary suspension of a use shall not constitute abandonment, provided the
property is not used during the period of suspension for any other purpose.
Mrs. Nguyen argues the use should be allowed to continue as she had entered into a lease for the
business in February of 2014, even though the lessee did not make application for a certificate of
occupancy until April. The Planning staff’s interpretation of the ordinance is that the property
must be in use within a years’ time.