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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02_0226City of Falcon Heights Planning Commission Minutes February 26, 2002 Commissioner Maher called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. PRESENT: Tracy, Middleton, Lageson, Maher, Heideman, Ziebarth, Ryan. Also present were Peter Lindstrom, Council Liaison, Heather Worthington, City Administrator, Deb Jones, Zoning and Planning Coordinator ABSENT: De Leo, Harris ELECTION OF CHAIR: Barbara Heideman was elected to serve as chair of the Planning Commission for 2002. CONTINUING DISCUSSION OF SETBACK AND LOT COVERAGE ISSUES Zoning and Planning Coordinator Deb Jones presented a summary of a staff survey of other cities' codes regarding setbacks, lot coverage and accessory buildings. The survey included St. Anthony Village, Golden Valley, St. Louis Park, Robbinsdale, and Richfield. The most outstanding feature is that Falcon Heights allow much higher percentage of lot coverage than these other cities, although our 75% does include impervious covering as well as structures. Commissioner Tracy pointed out that we probably have more in common with adjacent areas of St. Paul (Como and St. Anthony Park) than with the other suburbs. Commissioner Heidemann would like to include communities with alleys in the survey. Both commissioners expressed concern about our 75% coverage allowance with respect to water run-off. Commissioner Middleton said she was struck with the difficulty of doing something after the fact (about non-conforming or illegal building) and asked what other cities are doing about enforcement. Ms. Jones said she would contact zoning departments to find out. Commissioner Ziebarth asked if the other cities allow some flexibility. Ms. Jones said they do, although it was not possible to include all the cases on the comparison chart. Also, all cities have variance procedures. Reading between the lines, it appears that cities engineer their codes in response to particular situations Returning to the enforcement issue, Commissioner Ryan asked if there is any way to request that police squads report on if they see construction so permits can be checked. Administrator Worthington replied that they do that now, and city staff also drive through the city regularly. Mr. Ryan also asked if there are ways to place requirements on home sales. Ms. Worthington said this point would be addressed later in the meeting. Commissioner Middleton would like Ms. Jones to talk to zoning staff in other cities to gain more in-depth information than what we can get just looking at their code. She would also like to find out if the other cities have subcategories for single-family residential zones. She pointed out that Falcon Heights has gone in the direction of less specific rules. Commissioner Heideman repeated her concern about storm water runoff, citing the southeast corner of Snellig and Larpenteur in particular. 75% coverage is "huge." Commissioner Ziebarth commented that we want to be careful not to become two restrictive; people need space for two cars these days. Commissioner Lageson pointed out that driveways cover a lot of land. Administrator Worthington acknowledged that Falcon Heights is a little unusual in specifying all impervious coverage; perhaps we should consider amending code to address structure coverage. St. Anthony Village has a creative solution, relating building footprint size to height. On the other hand, if we address structure coverage alone, we would have to address the impervious surface coverage (relevant to the storm water issue) separately, which would make our code more complicated. Perhaps we need to consider each residential quadrant separately to address the unique qualities of each neighborhood (alleys vs. no alleys, for example). She said that St. Paul and Roseville will be folded into the code survey. Commissioner Middleton said she would be interested to learn the history of the 75%; it will be added to the research list. She also asked whether we have real ongoing issues with the code itself or only with the properties that are non-compliant. Ms. Worthington said that the case that originally prompted this discussion was compliant (and permitted) but approaching the maximum; it did prompt neighbor concern that the 75% is too much. Commissioner Tracy demonstrated that for the average lot, the house, garage and sidewalk would not exceed 30%. (He did not include a driveway). Therefore, a 50% coverage would be excessive in his opinion. Ms. Worthington answered that our setbacks make it difficult to reach the limit; we may really be looking at 75% of that buildable portion in the middle of the lot. Ms. Jones added that the code limits off-street parking to 4 spaces in R-1, of which no more than two can be enclosed. The recent case that approached 75%, Ms. Worthington said, is clearly an anomaly, but if one homeowner can be that creative, others surely will be. She suggested delaying the next meeting one month, unless there is business to be done, in order to give the staff time to gather all the requested information. INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS In response to last month's request for ideas on enforcement, Administrator Worthington presented the idea of a "zoning lien," a way for the city to potentially enforce on a non-conforming property at the point of sale. Clearly, this could not be retroactive but would be going forward, with a lot of education around it. The city could place a lien or restriction that the property must be brought up to code before sale; alternatively, a fee could be imposed. This could also be a way to deal with "chronic offenders." In the ensuing discussion the commissioners brought forth the following points. The system would be too bureaucratic and costly in terms of time and staff Such a provision punishes only a few; does not enforce equally on everyone Minneapolis and St. Louis Park do have these ordinances. Staff will look into this Maybe realtors could display/give a copy of the building code to new buyers. Is this too burdensome? Real estate people are against this type of regulation. Would this provision provide enough of a deterrence? What is potential cost to owner? Avoid term "lien"; must be able to clear this from the record Do you collect fee/fine every time the property is sold? The one point that came up over and over again was the need to educate people (residents and contractors) about the city code and the reasons behind it and about their responsibilities. Administrator Worthington said the staff plans to create an educational brochure or booklet that would be sent to everyone, then given out with new resident packets. Also, zoning information is regularly included in the spring newsletter and will be in the next issue. The enforcement after the fact will continue to be an issue. The legal cost must always be balanced against the public good. (The city does aggressivly pursue enforcement in cases where health and safety are at issue.) It may be necessary to make examples of some offenders, and, in fact, the city has taken some cases to court. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:06 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Deborah Jones Zoning and Planning Coordinator