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Item No. 1 61 Staff Report No. Meeting Date: July 7, 1947 • Type of Business: Work Session WK.: Work Session;PH:Public Hearing; CA:Consent Agenda;CB:Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mayor and City Council From: Pamela Sheldon,Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Discussion of Policy on Removal of Driveways Date of Report: July 6, 1997 Summary: Staff is requesting direction from City Council on how to proceed with enforcing the requirement that single family residential lots be limited to one curb cut. Background: At your last meeting, the City Council had two conditional use permit applications for oversized garages where both properties had more than one curb cut. In both cases, staff was recommending that one of the curb cuts be removed as a condition of approval. This recommendation was based on Section 1121.09 Subd. 5.e. of the Mounds View Zoning Code which states in part that"All property shall be entitled to at least one curb cut. Single-family uses shall be limited to one curb cut access per property unless, upon application for a variance of this restriction, the Board of Adjustment fmds that it 4110 is in the interest of public safety to waive such." There was some discussion of the timing for compliance. Staff also noted that direction is needed on how to enforce this provision. This provision was added to the Zoning Code by Ordinance 259 on February 14, 1977, so it is a longstanding provision of the Code. There are many single-family residential properties in Mounds View with two curb cuts. As far as we know,there has not been a systematic program for bringing these properties into compliance. Staff typically becomes aware that there is more than one curb cut in ' the following situations: • when we receive nuisance code complaints and inspect properties • when a property owner, who is violating the nuisance code, is sent a letter notifying them that they need to remove a curb cut, and they note other properties with the same situation • when property owners apply for conditional use permits or variances • when staff is conducting field inspections and notices properties with more than one curb cut Staff feels it would be helpful if the City Council set a policy regarding how to deal with this issue. We also feel it is appropriate to ask, at this point, whether the City wants to require people to remove second curb cuts and leave this provision in the Code. We are unsure why the provision was added. Staff has noticed that in some cases having large driveway areas results in an unusually large number of cars being parked on properties and the accumulation of equipment and other items being stored. Sometimes the second driveway is in poor condition or leads to an area where debris accumulates. In other cases, driveways are kept in an attractive manner. • We have adequate provisions in the Code for obtaining removal of equipment and stored items. The City Council may want to consider a limit on the number of vehicles parked outside as a separate issue. With respect to the number of curb cuts, there are several approaches which could be taken: