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Item No: 5A Meeting Date: March 21, 2012 Type of Business: Public Hearing City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate Item Title/Subject: Consideration of a Variance to allow a Detached Accessory Building to Exceed the Maximum Size Limit at 2975 County Road 10; Planning Case VR2012-001 Introduction: The applicant, Bill Lloyd, owner of BHL Services, Inc. has a purchase agreement for the property at 2975 County Road 10. Mr. Lloyd wants to move his construction management business into the building, but needs a garage for secure storage of supplies and vehicles. He is requesting a variance to allow the size of the detached accessory building to exceed the maximum size limit of 30 percent of the floor space of the principal use. Discussion: The property at 2975 County Road 10 is zoned B-3, Highway Business, and 0.58 acres in size. The 1,421 square foot building was built in 1959 and has been used for auto-related businesses, most recently as a Thrifty Car Rental. The building currently has two garage bays, but the applicant would remodel the entire building into office space and move his construction management business to this location. He is currently renting a storage garage and has a vehicle and two trailers that he wants stored indoors for security and property attractiveness. The Zoning Code states in Chapter 1112.03: Accessory Uses: The following are permitted accessory uses in a B-1 District: Subd. 1. Commercial or business buildings and structures for a use accessory to the principal use, but such use shall not exceed 30 percent of the gross floor space of the principal use. The existing building at 2975 County Road 10 is 1,421 square feet. Based on this, the Zoning Code would only allow a 426 square foot garage on this site. Mr. Lloyd wants to build a 728 square feet (26’x28’) garage, which would be 51 percent of the floor space of the building. This commercial property is on the corner of County Road 10 and Spring Lake Road, and is surrounded by single and two-family residences. 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: