05-24-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION DRAFT 5 (hasn’t had a lot of permit experience) but the intent was to put in a driveway this year. 175 Councilmember Cavegn asked about the vehicles being housed and Mr. Sadowski noted 176 the presence of his children’s vehicles and a work vehicle. Councilmember Cavegn 177 noted the driveway location and suggested that safety isn’t a factor; he feels that the City 178 has some responsibility to consider how a garage will be accessed when it is requested. 179 Further the council has the power to make exceptions and there are reasons when that 180 should happen. Councilmember Cavegn said he is in favor of allowing the access. 181 182 Councilmember Lyden said this is a simple question to him. Just requesting a variance 183 should not be a vehicle for denial. He asks what would be the downside for the City if 184 this were granted. He measured the site and sees the curb cut is appropriate. He 185 supports the request. 186 187 Councilmember Ruhland asked about implications of granting the request. Is the City 188 opening itself up to other situations? That is a concern for him even though he sees that 189 the driveway makes some sense. 190 191 City Planner Larsen revisited the variance criteria that isn’t met by this request. She 192 noted that the Planning & Zoning Board did recognize the reasoning behind granting the 193 request and therefore looked at the concept of reviewing the regulations. City Planner 194 Larsen pointed out that approval would set a precedent. 195 196 Mr. Sadowski pointed out that he follows council actions and has seen variances 197 approved. That is sometimes the job of the council. He has tried to do the right thing 198 but he really didn’t have the expertise going into this. He finds the criteria difficult and 199 not allowing of any consideration. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t be “no” just 200 because it isn’t usually done. 201 202 Councilmember Cavegn noted training with the City Attorney on zoning a few weeks 203 back. He heard then that there are different situations and the council has the right to 204 make individual choices. 205 206 City Planner Larsen asked the council to consider if they would have a different position 207 if the driveway was requested before it was built or if it came forward with a 208 development. The City should look at the uniqueness of the parcel and there is no 209 uniqueness in this case; he has the one allowed driveway. Hopefully the ordinance 210 change will have an impact. 211 212 Councilmember Lyden pointed out that this would allow one driveway per street. 213 214 Councilmember Stoesz said he supports looking at a change in ordinance but is leaning 215 toward staff recommendation to deny the variance request. 216 217 Councilmember Ruhland would like to see the ordinance change move as quickly as 218 possible. 219