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Item No: 5B Meeting Date: September 17, 2014 Type of Business: Public Hearing City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing - Consideration of Variance Request to allow for a Reduced Rear Yard Setback at 2624 Ardan Avenue; Planning Case VR2014-007 Introduction: The property owners, Gerald and Melanie Lind, are requesting a variance to permit a porch addition to their house at 2624 Ardan Avenue to encroach twelve feet into the required 30- foot rear yard setback. The Linds want to build a 14’ x 16’ porch on the back of their house where the existing deck is. Discussion: The Lind’s house is a rambler style built in 1969 on a 0.25 acre shallow lot that is only 89.5 feet deep. The applicant’s home was placed on the lot with the required minimum 30 foot front setback. Because of how shallow the lot is, the backyard setback is only 32 feet (City Code requires a 30 foot rear setback). Because of how their lot was split, the applicant’s property has a much smaller backyard than most of the homes on the block. The Lind’s like their neighborhood, but want to expanding their existing home with a new porch. They currently have a large deck on the rear of the house and want to convert half of the deck to a 3-season porch. The City Code allows decks to have a 5 foot setback, so the deck is code compliant with its 18 foot setback. But when you have a covered, enclosed space, it is considered living space and must meet the 30 foot rear yard setback requirement. The applicant’s backyard is adjacent to the rear neighbor’s shed and they have a privacy fence. Variance Criteria Review: 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: