HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes09_0526City of Falcon Heights
Planning Commission Minutes
May 26, 2009
PRESENT: Commissioners Gosline, Gustafson, Hasegawa, Noble, Rodich and Watkins, City Council Liaison Kuettel. Also present was City Attorney Andrea Poehler and Staff Liaison Deb Jones.
A quorum being present, the meeting was called to order by the Chair at 7:00 p.m.
Approval of the Planning Commission minutes for March 24 was postponed.
Public Hearing: Variance at 1496 Larpenteur Avenue
Staff liaison Jones provided an introduction. The applicant is the owner of an eight-unit apartment building on a 50 foot by 115 foot lot on Larpenteur, served by an alley. The applicant
as asking for three variances in Section 113-240 of the city code in order to build a five-bay garage with a covered walkway through the building. The application is for
A setback variance on the west side from 5 feet to two feet
An area variance to allow a structure covering 67.5% of the required rear yard where the code allows 40%
An area variance to allow a 1015 square foot structure where 1000 is the overall limit for detached accessory buildings on a property.
Staff recommended approval of the first two and made no recommendation on the third. The property is unique in being the most densely populated in the city. As the property now has five
on-site parking spaces, there would be no net loss in off-street parking. The provisions of Section 113-240, while reasonable for a single-family property, preclude more than a two car
garage on this multi-family lot.
The only speaker was the applicant and property owner, Mr. Doug Lee, resident of New Hope. He explained that shaving 15 square feet off the garage would make the breezeway too narrow
for a wheelchair. The parking bays have already been made as narrow as possible in the design. Staff Liaison Jones said that if this information had been known earlier, staff would
have recommended approval of the third variance also. There being no other speakers, the Chair closed the hearing
Discussion and Recommendations on the variances at 1496 Larpenteur
Commissioner Watkins began discussion by making a motion to recommend approval of all three variances. None of the commissioners had any comments to make. The motion was approved unanimously
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah Jones, Staff Liaison