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Mounds View City Council March 12, 2012 Regular Meeting Page 5 neighborhood. Each of her neighbors supported the garage as it was built. She noted the size of 1 the garage was consistent with the design of the house. She felt her lot did have a practical 2 difficulty and should allow for a larger garage due to the larger size of her lot. She requested the 3 Council be flexible and allow for the additional storage space. She noted there were three other 4 homes within 350 feet of her home that had a second garage that was as tall or taller than her 5 garage. 6 7 Mrs. Downing stated the garage and its incompletion caused a financial difficulty to her family. 8 The couple has been unable to refinance their home because the project was incomplete. In 9 addition, if the roof and front portion of the garage had to be removed, this would cause yet 10 another financial hardship and delay the completion. This would decrease the aesthetic value of 11 the garage as well. She requested the Council reconsider the request and approve the variance. 12 13 John Stacey, 8000 Woodlawn Drive, indicated he assisted Mr. Downing with the trusses on his 14 garage. He did not have any issues with the garage or its height. He felt the house height and 15 garage height were uniform. 16 17 Dan Larson, 8046 Woodlawn Drive, stated he did not object to the garage. 18 19 Tom Carlson, 8051 Woodlawn Drive, agreed with the comments thus far. He did not object to 20 the garage height. He felt the buildings were similar in character and did not feel the need to 21 make a change in its height. 22 23 Mike Reed, 2208 Lois Drive, felt the City Code of 2007 should be followed as that was when the 24 permit was approved. 25 26 Hearing no additional public input, Mayor Flaherty closed the public hearing at 8:00 p.m. 27 28 Council Member Mueller requested further information regarding the differences between City 29 Code in 2007 versus 2011. Planning Associate Heller indicated the 15 feet was measured 30 midway between the peak and the eave. However, a steep pitched roof would allow for a taller 31 garage. To simplify this measurement, the overall maximum garage height was changed to 18 32 feet. 33 34 Mayor Flaherty indicated the Downings had a great deal of support from their neighbors. He 35 stated the Downings understood they were not prepared for the Planning Commission meeting 36 and asked for the tone of that meeting. Planning Associate Heller stated the Planning 37 Commission did not support the request because it was a variance after the fact. City Code was 38 not followed and changes were made to the plans without being submitted to the City. The vote 39 of the Planning Commission was 6-1. 40 41 Mayor Flaherty commented the original permit was taken out in 2007. He questioned how long 42 this permit was viable. Planning Associate Heller explained building code allows for the permit 43 to remain in place for six months, so long as work was being done on the site. The Building 44 Official can grant extensions through a written request. She indicated the Downings had 45