Laserfiche WebLink
Item No: 5B <br />Meeting Date: October 2, 2013 <br />Type of Business: Public Hearing <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br />To: Mounds View Planning Commission <br />From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate <br />Item Title/Subject: Consideration of a Variance to allow a 3-foot Driveway Setback <br />at 2833 County Road H; Planning Case VR2013-006 <br /> <br />Introduction: <br />The applicant, Kent Reed, property owner of 2833 County Road H is requesting a variance <br />to allow the driveway to have a 3-foot setback. The City Code requires a five foot setback <br />for driveways without a variance. <br /> <br />Discussion: <br />2833 County Road H is a large lot with the existing home placed 17 feet from the west side <br />of the property. There is a gravel driveway that runs past the house to the detached <br />garage behind the home. The applicant will be installing a new hard surface driveway but <br />wants to keep the driveway in the existing location with a 3-foot setback because there is <br />limited room between the side entry steps on the house and the property line for a <br />driveway. The driveway will have a 5-foot setback behind the house so that it lines up with <br />the garage. <br /> <br />The Zoning Code states that the Planning Commission may issue a variance to provide <br />relief to the landowner in those cases where the Code imposes practical difficulties to the <br />property owner in the use of the property owner’s land. This is true for all variance <br />requests. State statutes require that the governing body review a set of specified criteria <br />for each application and make its decision in accordance with these criteria. These criteria <br />are set forth in Section 1125.02, Subdivision 2, of the City Code. A variance may be <br />granted only in the event that all of the following circumstances exist: <br /> <br />a. The variance is in harmony with the general purposes and intent of these <br />regulations. <br /> <br />The zoning code requires minimum driveway setbacks for aesthetics and to provide <br />separation and some sense of privacy between neighbors. The required setbacks <br />typically can be met, but because the house was placed closer to the west side <br />property line and the detached garage is behind the house, the driveway has to run <br />next to the house to reach the garage. The house was built in 1940 and the <br />driveway location has likely existed with a 3-foot setback since then. <br /> <br />b. The variance is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. <br /> <br />The Comprehensive Plan supports improvements to properties.