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Item No: 5A Meeting Date: May 20, 2015 Type of Business: Planning Case City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing - Consideration of a Variance to Allow a Driveway Curb Cut to Exceed 24 Feet at 8382 Knollwood Drive; Planning Case VR2015-002 Introduction: The applicant, Robert Horbul, is requesting approval of a variance to allow the driveway curb cut to exceed 24-feet at his property at 8382 Knollwood Drive. The applicant’s entire driveway, including the curb cut, is currently 34 feet wide. This property is on a street that is being reconstructed this year. As the streets have been reconstructed, the City is installing the new curb cut aprons so that they comply with the Zoning Code requirements. The new aprons are installed with a 5-foot setback and a maximum of 24 feet wide. The applicant’s existing concrete driveway was installed 34 feet wide in 1977 when the house was built and has remained this way ever since. It does comply with the required side yard setback. City staff sent the applicant a letter stating that his driveway was non-conforming, and that the new apron would be installed 24 feet wide instead of matching to his existing width. The Zoning Code allows driveway curb cuts for single family homes to be a maximum of 24 feet wide, so the applicant has requested a variance for a curb cut to exceed the allowed width. Discusssion: There was no zoning permit issued when the driveway was installed, and there was no variance granted allowing the driveway to be 34 feet wide. Had the builder applied for a permit, he would have been informed that the driveway was not allowed to be 34 feet wide at the street. The driveway itself can be wider – it’s only the curb cut opening that is limited to 24 feet. When Knollwood Drive is completed, the applicant wants his new driveway apron to be installed 34 feet wide. The Zoning Code states that the Planning Commission may issue a variance to provide relief to the landowner in those cases where the Code imposes practical difficulties to the property owner in the use of the property owner’s land. This is true for all variance requests. State statutes require that the governing body review a set of specified criteria for each application and make its decision in accordance with these criteria. These criteria are set forth in Section 1125.02, Subdivision 2, of the City Code. A variance may be granted only in the event that all of the following circumstances exist: a. The variance is in harmony with the general purposes and intent of these regulations. The zoning code limits driveway openings for traffic safety reasons, and for neighborhood aesthetics. Staff feels that limiting the applicant to a 24 foot wide curb cut would not be depriving him of something commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same district.