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LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES MAY 1, 1990 PAGE 6 Councilman Williams referred to the certificate of survey which states ( 8' for a sideyard setback. Our code is specific in that there must be a hardship for granting a variance, and he did not see a hardship demonstrated here. Mr. Johnson could decrease the size of the addition or change the design to avoid the variance. Councilman Graves had no problem with granting this variance. The Council has granted variances such as this in the past. The neighbor has no problem with the variance, and there was no one else to speak against it. The addition would upgrade the neighborhood, improve the overall economic appearance and esthetics to the property and still allow access to the back lot. M/S/P Graves/Hunt - to grant approval of the 2' variance request to Stephen and Elizabeth Johnson, 2945 Lake Elmo Avenue, to the sideyard setback based on the hardship being stated there are no other physical options and on the orientation of the houses on their lots due to circumstances surrounding the road placement and placement of the lake and the septic system. Mr. Johnson acknowledge he was made aware that approval of this request may be detrimental to himself in cutting off access to the back lot. (Motion carried 3-2: Williams: I definitely disagree with the stated hardship; Armstrong: I agree there is no hardship stated and want to wait for the outcome of the 30th Street Easement.) D. PUBLIC HEARING: Feasibility Report and Order Project for Improvement of Legion Avenue Mayor Dunn opened up the Public Hearing at 8:18 p.m. in the City Council chambers. The Public Hearing notice was published in the St. Croix Valley Press on April 18 and April 25, 1990. All benefitting property owners were notified. City Engineer, Larry Bohrer, reported on the proposed improvement and on the proposed preliminary assessment rate and assessment role. (See L. Bohrer's Feasibility Report). Proposed Improvement: It is planned to overlay the street with a 1 1/2" thick bituminous overlay to strengthen the entire surface and seal off the cracks. A 1 1/2" overlay was chosen instead of a 2" overlay because Legion Avenue has very little rutting compared to other streets and no leveling is required. Gravel will be added to the shoulders and all driveways will be matched. Proposed Assessments It is proposed that the entire cost of the project be assessed to benefitting property. Benefitting property is every parcel which abuts the street or gains primary access from the street. Corner lots which were recently assessed for street imrpovements on one side will receive a one-half assessment on Legion Ave. Lots that have double frontage, but are not corner lots, will be reviewed individually to see if the property benefits from the second frontage. In this particular case, Lots 3 and 4, Packard Park 2nd Addition, have secondary frontage on Legion Avenue. But since the building part of