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Item No: 9A Meeting Date: January 26, 2004 Type of Business: PH & CB Administrator Review: ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Kristin Prososki, Planning Associate Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing to Consider the Introduction and First Reading of Ordinance 725, an Ordinance Amending the Zoning Code Establishing an Administrative Variance Approval Process; Special Planning Case SP-120-03 Introduction: Currently, applying for a variance can be somewhat time consuming for the applicant, Staff and the Planning Commission. Due to the large number of variance requests received, Staff researched another option called an administrative variance approval process, whereby the Community Development Director could approve variance requests under specific conditions. Discussion: The Planning Commission discussed the administrative variance approval process at their December 3 and 17, 2003 meetings and generally supported the idea. Based on comments and feedback from the Planning Commission, Staff drafted Ordinance 725 to amend the current code to allow for the alternate process. Basically, the amendment would allow the Community Development Director to approve a variance request for property zoned R-1 or R-2 if it is a setback request within 25% of code requirements. For example, if an applicant is requesting a variance from the side yard setback requirement of ten (10) feet, the applicant cannot request to be closer than seven (7) feet, six (6) inches to the side property line. In addition, the approval cannot create a setback of less than five (5) feet and the request must meet the hardship criteria as stated in the Zoning Code in Section 1125.2, Subdivision 2. If all the conditions are not met, the applicant is not eligible to request an administrative variance and must apply for a formal variance with the Planning Commission. If the Community Development Director chooses to approve the request, the adjacent neighbors will be notified by mail and allowed ten (10) days to respond to the approval. The Planning Commission will be given a summary report of all administratively approved variance requests. If at any point during the process, any of the three reviewing parties (the Community Development Director, the adjacent neighbors and the Planning Commission) disagrees with administrative approval, the request is denied and the applicant has the option of applying for a formal variance. The fee for an administrative variance will be set by the fee schedule. For 2004, the fee for an administrative variance is seventy-five dollars ($75) and an additional one hundred dollars ($100) if a formal variance becomes necessary. On January 7, 2004, the Planning Commission adopted Resolution 748-04, a Resolution recommending approval of a City Code amendment regarding administrative variances. (Resolution is attached to Staff Report.)