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Item No: 5A Meeting Date: July 20, 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 Request to allow for a Reduced Rear Yard Setback at 8088 Sunnyside Road; Planning Case VR2011-006 Introduction: The property owners, Gordy and Cynthia Druvenga, are requesting a variance to permit an addition to their house at 8088 Sunnyside Road to encroach two feet into the required 30- foot rear yard setback. The Druvengas want to build a 14’ x 28’ addition with a family room and main floor laundry on the back of their house. Discussion: The Druvenga’s house is a rambler style built in 1952 on the southwest corner of Sunnyside Road and Sherwood Road. All of the lots on this block of Sunnyside are 231 feet deep except for the applicant’s lot, which is 146 feet deep. Because of the deeper lots, all the homes, including the applicant’s, were built with large front setbacks of about 76 feet (city code requires a minimum 30 foot front setback). 8088 Sunnyside was then subdivided and the rear 85 feet used to create a lot fronting Sherwood Road (this house was built in 1964). Because of the lot split, the applicant’s property has a much smaller backyard than the rest of the homes on the block. The Druvengas bought their house in 1988 and like the neighborhood, but want more space. Rather than move to a larger house, they are choosing to expand their existing home with a new family room and main floor laundry. The current layout of the house is such that it only makes sense to put the addition on the back of the house. Since this property only has a 42 foot deep backyard, there is not much room to expand the house and still meet the setback requirement. The applicant’s backyard is adjacent to the west neighbor’s garage, the south neighbor’s garage and two sheds, and Sherwood Road. A row of tall bushes screens the Druvenga’s backyard from Sherwood Road. Variance Criteria Review: As with any variance application, for the Planning Commission to act favorably, there must be a demonstrated 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: