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Item No: 7A <br />Meeting Date: August 22, 2011 <br />Type of Business: Public Hearing <br />Administrator Review: ________ <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br /> <br />To: Mounds View Planning Commission <br />From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate <br />Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing - Introduction and First Reading of <br />Ordinance 861, Code Amendments to Update Variance <br />Language <br /> <br />Introduction: <br />In May 2011, Governor Dayton signed the state code changes made by the Minnesota <br />Legislature about the wording used for variances. The Mounds View City Attorney has <br />recommended that the City amend the City Code and Zoning Code to be consistent with the <br />updated state language. <br /> <br />Discussion: <br />During the 2011 Legislative Session, a proposal to change state code language regarding <br />variances was proposed by the League of Minnesota Cities and supported by many cities in <br />Minnesota. These changes were proposed after a ruling about a variance case was made by <br />the Minnesota Supreme Court. A few years ago, the City of Minnetonka approved a variance <br />and an opposing neighbor sued the city. The lower courts all ruled in favor of the City, but <br />the neighbor was adamantly against the variance and appealed the case all the way to the <br />Minnesota State Supreme Court. The Supreme Court made a surprising ruling stating that <br />the City was in error and should not have approved the variance based on the literal <br />interpretation of the variance language. The Supreme Court specifically referred to the <br />meaning of the word “hardship.” The primary change to the variance language is removing <br />the word “hardship,” and replacing it with “practical difficulty.” <br /> <br />Staff requests that the City Council see attached Ordinance 861 to review the proposed <br />language change. The changes are indicated by deleting the stricken language and adding <br />the underlined text. <br /> <br />Recommendation: <br />The City Council should review Ordinance 861 with the proposed City Code and Zoning <br />Code amendments, take testimony from staff and hold the public hearing. <br /> <br /> <br />Respectfully submitted, <br /> Heidi Heller <br />Planning Associate <br />