May 2, 2006 CCP - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Excerpt DRAFT Lake Elmo Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of April 24, 2006 Rockpoint Church PUBLIC HEARING: Variance-Rockpoint Church The Planner said there are two items for the church tonight. The variance is for four things one is for the parking area and the applicant has relocated it to meet setbacks so the variance for that is now unnecessary, second is height of sidewall, third is height of the steeple, and fourth is exterior surface materials. The Planner spoke with the City Attorney regarding steeple height, the original provision for height in our Code was designed for an unoccupied area. Later adoption of the PF Ordinance modified the provision that pre -dated it, so the City Attorney said the applicant does not need a variance for the steeple. Performance Architectural Standards were adopted in many Zoning Districts and accidentally left out of the PF Zone. That hearing to modify Performance Standards in the PF Zone will be heard later tonight. That leaves the variance for sidewall height. The applicant's architect provided drawings to show another roof line and to remove the lower level windows. The Planner said this is a unique site and a mansard roof does not appear very church -like. He said that artificially closing the walk -out lower level seems to be unreasonable. The Planner said that a hardship for reasonable use can be made here so staff recommends approval. Richard Stuhiman, BWBR Architects Mr. Stuhlman presented a 3-D model of the church as originally designed. He said the largest portion of the building faces the trees. He also presented a site plan to show the church orientation on the site. He said it is several hundred feet from the church to the easterly property line. There are trees to the east on the property line but some on neighboring property. Mr. Stuhlman said in trying to force a solution to dispense with need for the variance, the building appearance does not really change very much for passersby and neighbors. THE CHAIRMAN OPENED THE PUBLIC HEARING AT 7:35 P.M. Nobody spoke. THE CHAIRMAN CLOSED THE PUBLIC HEARING AT 7:36 P.M. M/S/P, Fliflet/Pelletier to recommend approval of a variance for Rockpoint Church to allow side walls of the structure to extend to a maximum of 49 feet based on the following Findings: 1. The property cannot be put to reasonable use without the granting of the variance requested. The proposed sidewall height variance applies to only a portion of the building and relates to utilizing the site contours as they appear naturally and minimizing the impervious coverage of the site by creating floor area vertically rather than horizontally. 2. The variance requested results from circumstances unique to this Place of Worship use and the physical characteristics of the site. 1 Granting the variance will not change the essential character of the neighborhood.