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Longview Estates Variance Report June 16, 2010 Page 2 This will be the fourth request by the Harstads to the City for a subdivision of this parcel. In the past, the City has denied 11-lot and 23-lot subdivision proposals for this property, but the City approved a 15-lot subdivision in 2003. This seven-acre parcel is large enough to be subdivided into more than the requested 10 lots if there were lots fronting on Longview Drive, and lots fronting Silver Lake Road. The City approved the applicant’s last request for the 15- lot subdivision in 2003, but the approval expired since the applicant did not record the plat with Ramsey County. It should be noted that with the 15-lot subdivision, neither the City nor Ramsey County liked the plan that would have added seven driveways onto Silver Lake Road. Mr. Harstad now wants to move forward with a 10-lot subdivision that would have the lots front only Longview Drive. In a wetland district, the minimum lot size is 125 feet wide (as measured at the building setback line) and 20,000 square feet. By Mr. Harstad having the lots only front Longview Drive, he would be able to subdivide the property into a maximum of eight lots that meet the required size. Mr. Harstad is asking for a variance to have reduced lot widths in order to subdivide the property into 10 lots. All of the proposed lots meet the 20,000 square foot requirement, and two of the lots meet the 125 foot width requirement. The proposed lots range from 90 feet wide to 152.42 feet wide. Mr. Harstad is requesting City approval to have 10 lots because when the City constructed Longview Drive in 1966, they installed 10 water and sewer service stubs for this parcel in anticipation of a subdivision. The Harstad family has owned this property since the early 1970’s. The cost for installing the 10 utility services had been assessed to the property taxes to be paid over many years. Mr. Harstad received approval from Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) in 2004 for the 15- lot subdivision. The RCWD Board met on June 9, 2010 and determined that the 10-lot subdivision was a better plan and his request was approved. He will also need to apply to the City for wetland alteration permits for each of the future homes since each of them would be setback less than 100 feet from the wetland. Variance Considerations: For the City to approve this variance, as with any variance request, the owner or applicant needs to demonstrate substantial hardship or practical difficulties 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 (the Planning Commission) review a set of specified criteria for each application and make its decision in accordance with these criteria. The City has set these criteria 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 and a staff comment about each 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 property known as Longview Estates is a 7.14-acre parcel located entirely in a wetland district, which is a unique circumstance.