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Item No: 5A-5E Meeting Date: June 1, 2011 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 Variance Requests to allow for one and three foot driveway setbacks at 5330-5332, 5338- 5340, 5344-5346, 5372-5374 and 5380-5382 Raymond Avenue; Planning Cases VR2011-001 to VR2011-005 Introduction: The applicant, property owner, Michael Kinyon, is requesting variances to permit the new driveways at five of his side-by-side duplexes to have one and three foot setbacks from the north and south property lines. Mr. Kinyon will be adding attached garages to the rest of his duplexes, one on each end of the building, along with new driveways to replace the existing gravel. The lots are all 100 feet wide so only a single car garage will fit, but the owner would like to make the driveways wide enough for two cars to park next to each other. Many of their tenants have more than one vehicle, and with the current narrow driveways, they either park or drive off the driveway, or they have to move cars around when someone is leaving. Since there is no overnight parking on the streets in Mounds View, all vehicles must be in the driveways. The east side of Raymond Avenue has 14 side-by-side duplexes on identical 100 foot wide lots which causes issues when owners want to add additional space or more than a one car wide driveway to these properties. The applicant, Mr. Kinyon, owns ten of the duplexes on Raymond Avenue and received variances for reduced driveway setbacks in 1995 and 2008 when he added garages to his other duplexes on the block. Another duplex owner on this block received a reduced setback variance in order to add living space closer than 10 feet to the property line. Due to the lots being rather narrow for side-by-side style duplexes, the applicant is requesting to place the driveways one foot or three feet from the property lines. City Code requires that all driveways be at least five feet from the property line without a variance. Discussion: Mr. Kinyon has applied for all five variances now because the City is reconstructing Raymond Avenue this year, which includes installing new curbs and driveway aprons. Mr. Kinyon will not have all five garages and remodels completed for approximately five years, but he would like to have the wider driveway aprons installed during the street project rather than tearing up the new curbs later to widen the curb cut. The City Code states that a variance approval becomes void if the work is not complete within one year, but the applicant may request an extension from the Planning Commission. Mr. Kinyon will likely be asking for extensions in the future unless he is able to install all of the driveways before the garages are built.