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Item No: 5A Meeting Date: May 2, 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 Driveways with Zero Setbacks at 5045 Eastwood Road & 5046 Rainbow Lane; Planning Cases VR2012-002 and VR2012-003 Introduction: The applicants, Blaine & Mary Fyksen, property owners of 5045 Eastwood Road, and Gordon & Marilyn Davis, property owners of 5046 Rainbow Lane, are requesting variances to allow their driveways to remain combined. The City Code requires a five foot setback for driveways without a variance. Discussion: 5045 Eastwood Road and 5046 Rainbow Lane are corner lots and both homes were built in 1955. The homes have detached garages located next to each other that access County Road H. The Davis’ driveway is mostly concrete and the Fyksen’s is asphalt. They have been combined together with no separation for many years. Both owners are going to replace the driveways since they are in poor condition, but driveways must be brought into compliance with current Zoning Code requirements when replaced. The Fyksens and the Davis’ want the driveways to remain combined because they are then able to turn vehicles around and drive forward out of the driveway rather than backing onto County Road H. Sunnyside Elementary School is on County Road H, almost across the street from the Davis’ house. County Road H is a fairly busy road, particularly during the morning and evening rush hours and school start and ending times. It is difficult and dangerous to back out of any driveways onto County Road H. It is even hard to stop on County Road H, then back into the driveways because of the amount of traffic and pedestrians in the area. According to the submitted site plan, the property owners are proposing to leave a four foot separation at the top section of the driveways, and would only connect approximately the bottom half of the driveways. 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: