April 4, 2006 CCP - Laserfiche WebLink

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standards resulting in conflict with those standards.. In some cases these have been garage additions and some cases they have been home additions. In this case a completely new house and garage are proposed., thereby creating a zoning issue regarding construction on a non -conforming (by area) lot. As noted above, the subject parcel is made up of several "shotgun" -lots is reported to be 34,700 square in area. The required lot area in the R-1 zone (and Shoreland Overlay R-1) is 1.5 acres — 65,340 square feet, but as a "parcel of record" prior to 1980, the parcel would qualify for a dwelling if it were at least 1 acre (43,560 square feet). The subject parcel fails to meet either standard, and a variance for lot area would be required to permit construction of a new house once the existing house (and legal non -conformity) is removed. This lot area variance proposal could become far more of an issue for the City than the OHW set back variances we process on a regular basis in these neighborhoods that pre-exist the Shoreland standards. Within the R-1 zoned areas of the City, including the Tri-Lakes, Old Village and other neighborhood in the western half of the City there are numerous parcels of record that are not legally buildable as now vacant. There are numerous other non -conforming parcels that would become candidates for tear downs and new houses using a variance in this case as a precedent. By the approval of this application to build a totally new house on a legally sub -standard parcel — by any measure, Shoreland or R-1 — the City will be essentially re -writing the zoning ordinance. The Commission and City Council should address this proposal with "eyes open" as to the precedent consequences. While there is on -going discussion of a Neighborhood Conservation zoning district that may address this non -conformity issue, that discussion remains months away from conclusions and new code. This variance (lot area) is not an appropriate way to short circuit the new zoning ordinance. In each of the prior similar cases the City addressed a Finding as to whether the applicant's proposed improvements/expansion constituted a "reasonable use".of the site given contemporary housing design/features and the scale of the resulting structures in relation to other contemporary structures on the subject lakefront and/or neighborhood. In some cases the City required modifications to applicant plans to reduce scale and/or mitigate lakefront impact of the expansion. In at least one recent case the City denied the variance based on scale,. and the Court upheld the City's decision at subsequent litigation by the applicant. As staff has done with recent OHW variance proposals, we have reviewed Washington County records regarding the scale/lake impact of existing homes that are in close proximity to the subject. In this case we have surveyed the existing homes 4 parcels north (one parcel is a vacant 20,000 square foot lot) and 3 parcels south. The north parcels (including the Frazzone parcel, for which an OHW set back variance was recently approved) present structure foot prints (including the approved additions in the Frazzone case) ranging from 830 square feet to 3,000 square feet and finished areas of 830 square feet to 3,400 square feet. The south neighboring parcels range 948 square feet to 1,288 square feet of foot print and 2,686 to 3,592 square feet of finished area. As noted above, the applicant's proposal is for 3,742 square feet of structure coverage and 4,239 square feet "finished" — in both cases larger than neighboring properties. In previous cases where significant increases in house scale (and resulting out of proportion house scale compared to neighboring properties) have been proposed one mitigating factor has been the extent and scale of forestry between the proposed house and the lake. In this case the applicant has demonstrated a significant growth of mature trees that would be saved that would work to mitigate the impact of the larger structure as viewed from the lake.