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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/14/2007 P&Z Packet• • CITY OF LINO LAKES PLANNING & ZONING BOARD MEETING Wednesday, November 14, 2007 6:30 p.m. Council Chambers (Scheduled to be televised on Ch. 16) Please be courteous and turn off all electronic devices during the meeting. AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October 10, 2007 IV. OPEN MIKE V. ACTION ITEMS A. Public Hearing for an amendment to the City of Lino Lakes Zoning Ordinance, Section 3, Subd. 3.B. related to the subdivision of unsewered lots — Michael Grochala VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. Comp Plan Process - Update B. Transportation - Update C. 2008 Meeting Dates VII. ADJOURN Meeting guidelines on reverse side. City of Lino Lakes Planning & Zoning Board MEETING GUIDELINES Open Mike — The purpose of a Board Meeting is to accomplish the business of the city. When presenting at a meeting please remember to be respectful, and follow these guidelines: • Please address the meeting chair. • State your name and address for the record. • Please observe a 4- minute limit. • The topic must relate to city business. • Open Mike is for items not on the agenda. • A spokesperson must represent a group of five or more — groups will have 8 minutes. • The Presiding Officer may limit duplicative presentations. • Remember, the meeting is to discuss city business only. Public Hearing - Held as a separate item of business on the agenda. The public hearing segment is your opportunity to tell the Board how you feel about issues scheduled to be heard. Typically, a hearing follows these steps: • The Presiding Officer (Chair or Vice - Chair) will announce the proposal to be reviewed and ask for the staff report. The presiding Officer shall maintain strict order and etiquette at all meetings. • Staff will present their report on the proposal. • Board members will then ask City Staff questions about the proposal. • The Presiding Officer will then open up the public hearing for anyone present who wishes to comment on the proposal. This is the time for the public to make comments or ask questions about the proposal. Comments should be limited to four (4) minutes unless further time is granted by the Presiding Officer. All comments should be directed to the Board as a body and not to any individual Board Member or City Staff Member unless permission is granted by the Presiding Officer. No person shall be permitted to enter into any discussion, either directly or through a member of the Board without the permission of the Presiding Officer. • After everyone in the audience wishing to speak has given his/her comments, the Presiding Officer shall close the public hearing. • The Board will then discuss the proposal. No further public comments are allowed. • The Board will then make a recommendation(s) and/or a decision. When you are called upon for your comments, please step to the microphone at the podium and state your name and address for the record. Occasionally, the Board may continue a hearing to another meeting before taking action. Meeting Etiquette The Planning & Zoning Board must preserve order and decorum while the meeting is in session. A resident shall not, by conversation or otherwise, delay or interrupt the proceedings or the business of the Board, nor disturb any resident or Board Member while speaking or refuse to obey the orders of the Board. • • • AGENDA ITEM 5A STAFF ORIGINATOR: Michael Grochala P & Z MEETING DATE: November 14, 2007 TOPIC: Amending Section 3, Subd. 3.B. Unsewered Lots APPLICANT: City of Lino Lakes BACKGROUND At the Open Mike portion of the August 13, 2007 City Council Meeting, the owner of property located at 1612 Birch Street requested city assistance in his attempt to secure a reverse mortgage on the 15 acre property. The property is not currently served by municipal sanitary sewer and lies within the R, Rural Zoning District. Unsewered properties within the City are subject to a 10 acre minimum lot size. The owner stated that the reverse mortgage option was only available to properties that are three acres or less in size. The council directed staff to review the issue and report at a future work session. Reverse mortgages are a special type of home loan that lets a homeowner convert the equity in his/her home into cash. They can give older Americans greater financial security to supplement social security, meet unexpected medical expenses, make home improvements, and more. Homeowners 62 years and older who have paid off their mortgages or have only small mortgage balances remaining are eligible to participate in HUD's reverse mortgage program. The program allows homeowners to borrow against the equity in their homes. Unlike ordinary home equity loans, a HUD reverse mortgage does not require repayment as long as the borrower lives in the home. Lenders recover their principal, plus interest, when the home is sold. The remaining value of the home goes to the homeowner or to his or her survivors. If the sales proceeds are insufficient to pay the amount owed, HUD will pay the lender the amount of the shortfall. The Federal Housing Administration, which is part of HUD, collects an insurance premium from all borrowers to provide this coverage. This issue was previously before the City in 2004. At that time the property owners had requested approval of a minor subdivision requiring variances for both minimum lot area and lot width. The variance request was recommended for denial by the Planning & Zoning Board. The City Council denied the request on April 26, 2004. At the September 5, 2007 City Council work session the council directed the City Attorney to prepare an amendment to the City Zoning Ordinance for consideration. The council subsequently reviewed draft ordinance language at their October 1 and November 5, 2007 work sessions and directed staff to initiate the amendment process. Planning & Zoning Board November 14, 2007 ANALYSIS The City's Zoning Ordinance, in conformance with the Comprehensive Plan, requires that all unsewered lots, within any zoning district, be a minimum of 10 acres in size. The 10 acre minimum lot requirement dates back to the City's 1990 Comprehensive Plan Amendment and the 1992 Zoning Ordinance Amendment to implement a rural service policy of one unit per 10 acres consistent with Metropolitan Council guidelines. The intent of the 10 acre minimum is, in part, to prevent the premature subdivision of property that inhibits the efficient extension of public infrastructure as the community develops. The only exception to this requirement is where there exists a habitable single family home constructed prior to July 13, 1992. In this instance a minimum one acre lot size applies subject to several provisions of the ordinance. The City Attorney has drafted an amendment to Section 3.B of the zoning ordinance to allow an additional exception where the creation of a new lot is needed to provide security to a third party lending institution for owner financing (3.B.2.b). Lots created under this exception, in addition to the existing requirements, would also need to record a covenant that prohibits transfer of the lots created unless they are combined. This requirement would not be applicable to any conveyance by a lending institution who has acquired title as a result of a mortgage foreclosure (3.B.2.h). The amendment is proposed to read as follows (underlined text is to be added, strikeout text is to be deleted. Text not indicated as added or deleted remains unchanged): Section 3.B. UNSEWERED LOTS. 1. Except as provided for in Section 3, Subd. 3.A.4, and Section 3, Subd. 3.B.2 of this Ordinance, the minimum unsewered lot size within any zoning district is ten (10) acres. 2. Where the following conditions exist, a lot of a minimum of one acre may be created, provided that: a. A habitable single family home has been constructed prior to July 13, 1992; or b. There exists a habitable single family home constructed after July 13, 1992, and the creation of a new lot is needed to provide security to a third party lending institution for owner financing. The following conditions shall apply to any lot created hereunder: c. The new lot that has a minimum area of one acre contains an existing habitable home, and d. The balance of the property is ten (10) acres or more, and 7 • • • • • • Planning & Zoning Board November 14, 2007 e. The new lot that has a minimum area of one acre contains one acre of contiguous buildable land, not including road right of way, electrical transmission line easements or pipeline easements, and f. Both the one - acre - minimum lot and lots made from the remaining land must meet all minimum lot requirements and provide for meeting setback and other structure requirements, and g. It can be demonstrated that all unsewered lots can accommodate the proposed principal structure, onsite well if the public water system is not available, and an onsite wastewater treatment system including both a primary and secondary drain field area in accordance with Minn. Stat. 7080 and other applicable requirements. h. For lots created under 2.b herein, the applicant making a request for a lot split based upon requirements of a lending institution shall provide written verification from the lender of such requirements at the time the application is filed. For lots created under 2.b herein, the property owner shall record with the Anoka County recorder a covenant that prohibits the transfer of any lots created under this section unless the same is combined into one parcel with the balance of the owner's property from which it was split or in accordance with the provisions of Section 3, Subdivision B.1. This requirement shall not apply to any conveyance by a lending institution who has acquired title as a result of a mortgage foreclosure. 3. Two family dwellings and multiple family dwellings are not allowable uses upon unsewered lots. 4. All subdivisions in areas without public sanitary sewer shall be designed such that the larger non - sewered lots can be resubdivided to provide smaller sewered lots when sewer becomes available in the future. Homes and accessory buildings shall be located on these lots so as to allow for future resubdivisions. OPINION The Council's intent is to provide property owners (specifically seniors) with the opportunity to utilize the available equity in their properties primarily through a reverse mortgage instrument. The reverse mortgage option, established by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), does provide supplemental financial assistance for seniors to meet a variety of needs. However, it should be noted, that the amendment is not restricted to the use of a "reverse" mortgage. The City Attorney has noted that, from a legal perspective, the City cannot distinguish between types of mortgages. Planning & Zoning Board November 14, 2007 Staff is uncertain of the potential impacts that the proposed amendment could have with our rural service policies. However, the requirement that the newly created lots cannot be transferred separately should minimize negative impacts. From a policy standpoint however, staff is concerned with the practice of amending the City's zoning ordinance to satisfy a private institutions and/or and individual's financial requirements. The amendment, in this case, is driven by a financial institutions requirement that limits the applicability of the "reverse" mortgage option to parcels equal to or less than 3 acres. In addition staff is not in a position to determine what other financial "requirements" there may be that could necessitate further ordinance changes. As such staff is not recommending the proposed ordinance amendment. • • •