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City of Falcon Heights • Planning Commission Minutes November 23, 2004 PRESENT: Commissioners DeLeo, Lukermann, Harris, Lageson, Maher, Heideman, Ryan, Tracy, Ziebarth, Council Member Lindstrom. Also present were City Administrator Heather Worthington, City Attorney Joel Jamnik and Staff Liaison Deb Jones. The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Harris, Commission Chair, at 7:02 p.m. The minutes of the September 28, 2004, meeting were approved. VARIANCE AT 2135 HOYT AVENUE Staff liaison Jones presented the staff report on the case. 2135 Hoyt is a residence in the University Grove neighborhood of Falcon Heights. The property is bounded on the east by the common area walkway between Hoyt and Folwell and on the north (rear) by a common area which provides a greenspace buffer over 40 feet wide between the property and closest property to the north. While the property is not unique, it does belong to a limited group of properties that share some unusual characteristics: (1) houses stand on land that is owned by the University of Minnesota; (2) properties are adjacent to an open commons; (3) living spaces are oriented toward the commons, at the rear of these houses. • The owner seeks a variance to construct a 14 foot by 16 foot sunroom addition at the rear of the house. The addition would be designed to blend architecturally with the existing home. The addition would encroach 9 feet into the required rear yard of 30 feet. The porch would replace an existing non-conforming deck that is slightly smaller in area than the proposed porch. The homeowner points out that several homes in the neighborhood make similar encroachments into their rear setback, and therefore that the house will not be out of line with the rest of the block. The applicant further says that living areas of homes in the neighborhood are oriented toward the commons and that mosquitoes make it very difficult to fully enjoy this amenity without a screened porch. The proposed addition, if allowed, will be 66 feet from the center line of the commons. A map of the neighborhood provided to the Commission shows that six homes in the immediate neighborhood, out of 24, do encroach into rear setback, and the proposed addition would not be greatly out of line with existing structures. In summary, the Staff did not find any negative impact on the area or impairment of property values that would ensue from granting the variance. As to whether denial of the variance would cause a substantial hardship, Staff were willing to defer to the Commission on making that judgment. Therefore, there is no Staff recommendation. In response to a question from Commissioner Lageson, City Attorney Jamnik affirmed that • a variance would be required even if the owner built the porch on the same footprint as the existing deck. City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of November 23, 2004 -Page 1 of 4