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Item No: 5A Meeting Date: December 16, 2009 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 request to allow the car wash entrance driveway to have a zero foot setback at The Station, 2280 County Road I; Planning Case VR2009-003 Introduction: The applicant, Leon Theis, owner of The Station at 2280 County Road I, is requesting a variance to permit the entrance driveway at his new car wash to have a zero-foot setback from the west property line. In August 2009, the Planning Commission recommended approval of a development review for a new car wash at The Station. When the architect brought in the site plan drawing, staff reviewed it and noticed that the entrance driveway only had a very small setback from the west property line – the line that runs between the car wash and the neighbor, the Alano Society’s, garage. Staff brought this to the architect’s attention, and he changed the setback amount to the required five feet on the site plan. The Planning Commission and City Council then approved this corrected site plan. When the car wash was almost complete, it was brought to city staff’s attention that the contractor has installed the entrance driveway all the way up to the Alano Society’s garage. The garage has a five-foot setback from the property line, which means that the driveway was five feet over the property line. It appears that the contractor may have been confused about where the property line actually was since it jogs around the Alano Society’s garage, and decided that it would look better, and make access to the car wash easier, if the driveway just went all the way to the garage (rather than leaving a strip of grass or landscaping). After city staff contacted Mr. Theis about the issue, he applied for a variance, and within a few days, had removed the five feet of the driveway that was on the Alano Society’s property. The driveway currently has a zero-foot setback from the property line. If the driveway were to have the required five-foot setback, it would be very difficult for vehicles to enter the car wash. Due to this, the applicant is requesting that the entrance driveway remain where it is, with a zero-foot setback. City Code requires that all driveways be at least five feet from the property line (without City approval of a variance). Discussion: For the Planning Commission to act favorably toward this application, 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. 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. The Code clearly states that a hardship exists when all of the criteria are met. The individual criteria, with responses, are as follows: