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Select Senior Living Staff Report August 6, 2008 Page 3 Variance Considerations: For the city to approve a variance, the applicant must demonstrate a hardship or practical difficulty associated with the property that makes a literal interpretation of the Code overly burdensome or restrictive. Minnesota statutes require that the governing body (the Planning Commission, in this case) 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 states that a hardship exists when all of the criteria are met. The criteria 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 exceptional circumstances for this proposal are the unique lot size and shape and the type of housing. The city code does not clearly accommodate the proposed housing. The city recognizes these issues and is proposing additions to the code that will deal with density, unit size and parking requirements for these types of senior housing developments. Had the city code addressed these issues, the applicant would not have needed to apply for as many variances. The additional two foot overhang encroachment is unique in that most buildings of this size are not designed with hipped roofs and overhangs. The applicant wants the building to have a residential look, having the four foot overhang fits the scale of the building and helps give the building the characteristics to better fit into a residential neighborhood. The small section of the building that is encroaching into the side yard setback is where a stairwell and a corner unit are located within the building. The city code requires that senior housing in an R-4 district have a 40 foot side yard setback versus all other R-4 multiple family housing is only required to have a 20 foot side yard setback. The encroachment is four feet and six feet, which still gives this section of the building 36 and 34 foot setbacks. 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 of the provisions of the Zoning Code would not necessarily deprive the applicant of rights enjoyed by other properties in the same zone. Denying the requests for increased density, reduced unit sizes and reduced parking, however would limit their ability to proceed with this project. Granting the variance to allow the additional two feet of roof overhang would not confer upon the applicant a special privilege in that other property owners are able to apply for a variance in order to improve the function or appearance of their property.