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Mounds View City Council UNAPPROVED <br /> December 28, 1998 <br /> Page 10 <br /> Commission Resolution No. 558-98,A Resolution Denying a Variance request for Two <br /> Curb Cuts at 8111 Eastwood Road,Requested by Michael Tobias. <br /> Ericson gave the staff report as follows: <br /> On November 23, 1998,Michael Tobias appeared before the City Council to appeal Planning <br /> Commission Resolution No. 558-98, a resolution which denied Mr. Tobias' variance request to <br /> maintain two driveways at his home at 8111 Eastwood Road. At this meeting,the Council heard <br /> testimony from Mr. Tobias and was presented all of the background documentation pertaining to <br /> this case. The Council voted to postpone action on the appeal until the Planning Commission <br /> had an opportunity to discuss the merits of amending the Code to allow for multiple-curb cuts on <br /> corner lots. <br /> The City Attorney indicated that the idea of a nonconformity was that if by the end of a <br /> nonconforming use's viable lifespan it did not conform to the Codes,which would be allowed to <br /> be rebuilt. If the driveway in question had gotten to a point of disrepair such as that it had to be <br /> removed in order to maintain it,this would indicate it's useful life had ceased, as then did its <br /> nonconforming status. <br /> In regard to the public safety aspect of backing out of a driveway, Council Member <br /> Koopmeiners,who had been a member of the Mounds View Police force in excess of twenty <br /> years, could not recall a single such accident. <br /> Also discussed was the fact that the variance requested was unique in the sense that the last such <br /> variance request came before the Commission in 1994, which indicated to the Commission that <br /> there was no need to amend the Code. <br /> The Planning Commission felt that Section 1121.09, Subdivision 5c,which limits single-family <br /> residential properties to only one curb cut, is appropriate and should remain in force, unchanged <br /> from its present language. <br /> Staff was recommending approval of Resolution No. 5299,A Resolution upholding Planning <br /> Commission Resolution No. 588-98, a Resolution Denying a variance request for two curb cuts <br /> at 8111 Eastwood Road, Requested by Michael Tobias. <br /> Stigney asked, "What benefit do the residents of this City get by restricting the access to a corner <br /> lot to one curb cut?" <br /> Mayor McCarty ruled the question "out of order" on the basis of: Council is not here to argue <br /> with staff, or ask staff to defend the Codes of this City. We're here to enforce them. We have a <br />