The Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny without prejudice Iroonet’s Conditional Use Permit request to operate a 16-resident boarding house in Dublin Ranch on Oakhurst Court. The boarders currently living at the Iroonet home in Dublin Ranch are exchange students from South Korea that are attending private schools in the area such as Quarry Lane and Valley Christian. The Planning Commission also denied Iroonet’s request to reduce the on-site parking requirement from 6 spaces to 3 spaces.
Some of the concerns and questions commonly noted by representatives for the Dublin Ranch HOA and residents in attendance were with respect to:
- Iroonet’s commercial status while operating in an area zoned for residential use;
- Number of children living in the home on Oakhurst Court (14 kids plus 2 caretakers);
- The actual number of bedrooms at the home (a living room was converted to a bedroom); and
- Parking challenges associated with having visitors at the boarding house (it was later noted that there haven’t been any parking challenges of late).
The Planning Commission is expected to ratify Tuesday night’s decision during their next meeting on January 27th. As Community Development Director Jeri Ram noted last night, Iroonet will have up until February 6th to appeal the Planning Commission’s decision to the Dublin City Council (if ratified). There is a good chance that Iroonet will appeal the Planning Commission’s decision given that Iroonet is already operating a boarding house at the Dublin Ranch address (with the students in the middle of the school year) and that they have another home in Dublin that they would like to convert into a boarding house.
The Planning Commission also selected Commissioner Doreen Wehrenberg as Chair and Morgan King as Vice-Chair on Tuesday night. Commissioner Bill Schaub ended his tenure as Chair after four tremendous years highlighted by projects such as Grafton Station, Venture Commerce Center, Gateway Medical Center, and Tralee.
