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Mounds View Planning Commission June 21, 2000 Regular Meeting Page 21 Commissioner Hegland stated that is not representative of the majority of the homes in the community. He inquired if they would desire to limit all of them to having to obtain Conditional Use Permits to construct a second garage, the primary purpose of which would be boat and recreational vehicle storage. Commissioner Thomas inquired why the size of the house was a factor. She stated if this was simply an issue of appearance, the point has been raised that in light of the new design configurations, the City is already seeing the larger garages. Commissioner Hegland inquired how they would approach two story houses. Commissioner Johnson stated the Commission was able to approve a Conditional Use Permit request for a property on Long Lake Road by including the square footage of the second story of the home. Planning Associate Ericson pointed out that this property owner required a Conditional Use Permit regardless of this. He inquired if the Commission desired to retain the tie in to the footprint of the house, so as to prevent a 1,400 square foot garage from dominating a lot. He advised that presently, if a property owner desires to do this, a Conditional Use Permit is required. Planning Associate Ericson stated Commissioner Thomas was proposing a 1,400 square foot structure without a Conditional Use Permit. Commissioner Hegland and Johnson stated they also agreed with this. Commissioner Thomas inquired how the structure would dominate the lot it if it restricted to the rear yard. Planning Associate Ericson stated the structure must be located behind the front line of the house, and could not be in the front yard of the property. Commissioner Thomas stated the house would still be in front of the property, and it would still be the primary structure, because it would be the first structure in view. Planning Associate Ericson stated staff has received significant feedback from residents who have been notified that the neighboring property owner desires to construct a 1,200 square foot garage, and their house is only 650 square feet. He stated this is an issue of significant concern to the neighbors, who indicate that such a proposal would be very displeasing and would depreciate the neighborhood, in addition to the fact that they would have to look at a garage instead of a house. Chairperson Peterson stated in some sense he would agree with this. He explained that looking back through the garage Conditional Use Permit requests that the Commission has considered over the last six years at an average of three per year, in most cases there was a neighbor who was concerned with regard to the size of the structure and what the property owner intended to utilize it for. He explained that simply allowing the construction of these larger garages would generate a significant amount of concern among the neighboring property owners.