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• • • AGENDA ITEM 6 B STAFF ORIGINATOR: Jeff Smyser C. C. MEETING DATE: July 11, 2011 TOPIC: FIRST READING: Ordinance No. 15 -11 Amending Section 2, Subd. 4 of the Zoning Ordinance Regarding Variances ACTION: 3/5 vote BACKGROUND Cities in Minnesota have the authority to adopt and amend a zoning ordinance, a power granted by MN Statute 462.357. The statute also includes criteria for granting variances. The 2011 Minnesota Legislature amended the statute, significantly changing the variance criteria. The focus of the change is the removal of "hardship ", the concept that the land could not be put to a reasonable use if the variance is not granted. This has been replaced by "practical difficulties ", meaning that that the property owner proposes to use the property in a reasonable manner not permitted by the ordinance. The amendment to the statute also requires that any conditions attached to the variance must be directly related to and must bear a rough proportionality to the impact created by the variance. The Lino Lakes zoning ordinance contains variance criteria in Section 2, Subdivision 4. The proposed revisions, included in the attached Ordinance No. 15 -11, replaces the old statutory criteria with the new ones. In addition, the passage regarding compliance with the state deadline law has been revised for clarity. This is part of an overall effort at ordinance housekeeping. PLANNING & ZONING BOARD On May 11 the P &Z completed a public hearing on the entirety of Section 2 and recommended approval of the proposed changes, including amendments to the variance criteria. Staff's original plan was to bring the all of Section 2 to the City Council. However, the state law change regarding variances is in effect and we should make our ordinance consistent as soon as possible. P37