Agenda Packets - 2006/08/14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council July 10, 2006 Regular Meeting Page 13 1 Councilmember Flaherty stated that Mr. Slabiak is, by all accounts, an excellent neighbor. He 2 stated the Council attempts to accommodate residents, but must also consider the codes. He 3 stated he would be okay with a smaller variance, but he is not okay with such a size request. He 4 added that the Planning Commission has never approved a variance over 1,800 feet. He stated it 5 puts the City in a difficult position because if such a large variance is granted, it could lead to 6 even larger variance requests. 7 8 Mr. Calusniak stated he understands the concerns of the Council and pointed out that other cities 9 have larger accessory building codes, which should also be considered. 10 11 Mr. Slabiak asked the Council to appreciate his situation and the difficulty he had obtaining the 12 correct information from City Hall when he first moved to his current property. He stated it 13 would be difficult to sell his home in this market and purchase another property where he could 14 have a large enough accessory square footage. 15 16 Councilmember Thomas stated that none of the parties at the table believes the property owner’s 17 knowledge of the situation before he purchased the home should be factored into the decision. 18 She stated the Council needs to limit the scope of the question before them and cannot address 19 the issue of making the accessory building square footage number larger, even if they wanted to. 20 21 Councilmember Thomas stated that the City should not consider other questions while answering 22 the one presented. She stated the City has a limit to accessory buildings and she believes the 23 applicant could come back with a 668 square foot smaller building that would work. 24 25 Mr. Calusniak noted that the pinball machines require a buffer zone and needs the extra 668 26 square feet. Councilmember Thomas stated she wants to see a demonstrated need for such a 27 large building, which she does not see with the proposed plan. 28 29 Councilmember Gunn stated she thought a good point was brought up regarding lot sizes when 30 variances are discussed. She explained that she has been following Planning Commission 31 discussions and part of the future of the City is to make its neighborhoods better looking. She 32 noted that there are pole buildings in back yards and that she finds such structures more 33 aesthetically unpleasing than the proposed building. She added there is no way the building will 34 be seen from the road and that the Council should take into consideration lot size when 35 approving or denying such requests. 36 37 Director Ericson stated one of the reasons the code was amended was to increase square footage 38 in recognition that there are larger lots, which can support larger accessory buildings. He stated 39 there has been some backlash from residents regarding accessory buildings. He explained he 40 does not believe increasing the square footage is necessarily the best option and the reason the 41 ratio for properties versus accessory storage was eliminated is because it was difficult for 42 residents to calculate. 43 44 Mayor Marty closed the public hearing at 8:52 p.m. 45