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City of Falcon Heights Planning Commission Minutes • August 23, 2005 PRESENT: Commissioners Harris, Rodich, Heideman, Ryan, Lageson, Mercer-Taylor, Council Liaison Lindstrom. Also present were City Attorney Soren Mattick, City Administrator Heather Worthington and Staff Liaison Deb Jones. ABSENT: Tracy, DeLeo, Lukermann The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. MINUTES: The minutes for June, 2005, were approved. PUBLIC HEARING: Variance Request for 1900 N. Albert Street Commission Chair Ryan opened the public hearing. Zoning and Planning Coordinator Jones presented the staff report. The property in question is a double-deep lot at the southeast corner of Albert and Garden. The property has an existing double detached garage with a driveway off Garden, the side street. The garage is non-conforming with respect to the required setback on Garden, being less than 7 feet from the right of way where 15 feet is required. The applicant, Todd Thun, seeks to build a larger 960 square foot garage (24 x 40) farther from the house but at the same setback, thus requiring a setback variance of 8.5 feet. The applicant also seeks a variance to build a driveway 31 feet wide where 24 feet is the maximum allowed by the City Code. Although the proposed garage is substantially larger than most lots can accommodate, no lot coverage variance is needed because this • property is large enough to accommodate the proposed garage without exceeding the allowed lot coverage. The staff findings indicated that, while the property at 1800 Albert does present some unusual characteristics, having the double depth (295.4 feet) and a corner location, these characteristics do not pose a hardship but rather offer the owner additional options not available to other property owners for placement of his proposed garage, options that would not require the variances. Furthermore, staff found that no substantial hardship would be imposed by denial of the variances. Todd Thun, owner of 1800 N. Albert, next spoke to the Commission. He said that the existing garage needs to be replaced and that his family would like a larger garage to accommodate workshop space or, in future, more vehicles. The new garage would be 10 feet from the house instead of the present 3.5 feet, which would improve drainage. However, moving the garage back to the required setback would spoil the view of the back yard from the house and require the removal of established trees. He ruled out building the garage farther back on the lot because it would require a new curb cut and additional sidewalk, which would add to the cost, and because it would be inconvenient for family members to walk the additional distance to the garage and clear snow from the additional walk. Mr. Thun answered questions from Commissioners about the details of his proposed garage. DISCUSSION As there were no members of the public who wished to speak, the public hearing was closed, and the Commissioners took up discussion of the proposed garage and the requested variances. Several • Commissioners offered ideas for placement of the garage that would conform in every respect to the Code, including moving the garage considerably farther back on the lot so as not to block the view City of Falcon Heights -Planning Commission Meeting of August 23, 2005 -Page 1 of 2