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Planning Cases VR2011-001 to 005 June 1, 2011 Staff Report Page 2 As with any variance application, for the Planning Commission to act favorably, there must be a demonstrated hardship or practical difficulty associated with the property that makes a literal interpretation of the Code overly burdensome or restrictive to a property owner. 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. The Code clearly states that a hardship exists when all of the criteria are met. The individual criteria, with responses, are as follows: a. Exceptional or extraordinary circumstances apply to the property which do not apply generally to other properties in the same zone or vicinity and result from lot size or shape, topography or other circumstances over which the owners of the property since the effective date hereof have had no control. The extraordinary circumstances which apply to these properties are that a 100 foot wide lot is somewhat narrow for a rambler style duplex. The lots are all walk-outs so the grade drops significantly at the back of the house which would make it very difficult to put garages behind the duplexes and be able to access them with a driveway. b. The literal interpretation of the provisions of this Title would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same district under the terms of this Title. The literal interpretation would not deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by others in the district, as most other property owners are able to have at least a decent sized one car wide driveway. c. That the special conditions or circumstances do not result from the actions of the applicant. The applicant is not responsible for the conditions which have prompted him to apply for a variance. Mr. Kinyon purchased the duplexes after they were built. d. That granting the variance requested will not confer on the applicant any special privilege that is denied by this Title to owners of other lands, structures or buildings in the same district. Granting this variance would not confer upon the applicant a special privilege in that other property owners are able to have two car wide driveways. e. That the variance requested is the minimum variance which would alleviate the hardship. Economic conditions alone shall not be considered a hardship. The variances requested are the minimum that would be necessary in order to have a driveway wide enough for two cars to park next to each other.