10-28-1987 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Little Canada Planning Commission 6 October 1987 Page Two The Little Canada Zoning Ordinance sets up several criteria by which variance requests are to be judged. They are: a. Special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land, structure, or building involved. (1) Special conditions may include exceptional topographic or water conditions or, in the case of an existing lot or parcel of record, narrowness, shallowness, insufficient area or shape of the property. (2) Special conditions and circumstances may not be primarily economic in nature. b. Literal interpretation of the provisions of this Ordinance would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same district under the terms of this Ordinance. c. The special conditions and circumstances do not result from the actions of the applicant. d. Granting the variance requested will not confer on the applicant any special privilege that is denied by this Ordinance to other lands, structures, or buildings in the same district. e. A genuine hardship exists in complying with the literal terms of this Ordinance. In order to qualify for variance approval, an application must comply with all of the stated conditions. The request fails to qualify as a special condition under point a (1) and also would tend to confer a special privilege on the applicant. In addition, granting the variance would be allowing the encroachment problem to be overcome by encroaching on the setback from a totally unrelated property owner (Lot 6). Secondly, while a house of certain design may not fit within the buildable area remaining, a house of another design could still be constructed on the parcel. As a result, we do not see a hardship present in this case. If there is a hardship, it is economic in nature and is not within the scope of the Zoning Ordinance to resolve. RECOMMENDATION We recommend that the variance for side yard setback be denied. The request does not comply with Zoning Ordinance criteria for variance approval since any hardship is economic in nature, and the variance would only allow an encroachment onto the setback from an unrelated party. cc: Joe Chlebeck John Palacio Tom Sweeney Ron and Roxie Foyt Don Carley Joel Hessen Page 45