Agenda Packets - 2003/03/24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 9A Meeting Date: March 24, 2003 Type of Business: Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, Acting City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Consideration of an Appeal of the Planning Commission Denial of a Variance Requested by the Property Owners of 2075 Hillview Road Pertaining to a Proposed Reduction in Required Parking Stalls Introduction: The property owners of 2075 Hillview Road requested a permit to expand their four-plex by constructing two additional units in the basement of the four-unit building. The property is zoned R-3, Medium Density Residential. In terms of density, both a four-plex and a six-unit building would be appropriate for this district. However, there is not enough parking on-site to satisfy the zoning requirements for a six-unit building which prompted the property owner to request a variance. On February 5, 2003, the Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider the request. Based on the testimony provided at the meeting and the review of the zoning requirements, it was apparent that no hardship existed that would warrant or justify approval of the variance. The Planning Commission directed staff to draft a resolution denying the request as it failed to satisfy the hardship requirements. That resolution, Resolution 719-03, is attached for your reference. The property owners were sent a letter on February 20, 2003, indicating that their request for a variance had been denied, however the Code allows for an appeal to the City Council if such an appeal were received in writing by March 2, 2003. Such an appeal was received by that date and as such a new public hearing was scheduled with the Council for March 24, 2003. Discussion: Chapter 1121 of the Zoning Code requires that multi-family housing developments provide a minimum of 1 and ½ outdoor parking stalls per unit and 1 garage stall per unit for a total of 2 ½ parking stalls per unit. Currently there are twelve stalls on the site, of which only two are garage stalls. While the total number of stalls satisfies the total number presently required, there should be two more garage stalls for the property to be completely conforming to the City Code. As it is now, the property is considered a legal, non-conforming use. To expand the number of dwelling units in the building, there would need to be a total of 15 stalls, six of which would need to be garage spaces. The appeal is to maintain the present parking capacity at 12 spaces with only the two garages stalls. While the property may have more parking capacity than many of the other surrounding four- plex units by virtue of the garage stalls, if the property were to expand to six units, the number of additional vehicles could potentially exceed the lot capacity on a daily basis. The question the Planning Commission and residents asked was, where would the overflow