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Item No: 5b Meeting Date: July 6, 2005 Type of Business: Public Hearing City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: James Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing and Consideration of a Request for a Variance to Reduce the Front Yard Setback to Allow for the Construction of a Living Space Addition at 2340 Knoll Drive; Planning Case VR2005-007 Introduction: The applicants, Nathan and Kendra Miller, are proposing to construct an addition to their home located at 2340 Knoll Drive. The proposed addition would expand the existing home to the southeast by fifteen feet. 2340 Knoll Drive is a wedge shaped lot with an expansive frontage and little backyard space. Constructed in 1965, the house is situated facing the street but does not line up parallel with any property lines, as can be seen on the attached aerial views. The applicants have submitted a statement describing their proposal and addressing the hardship criteria. Discussion: Setback requirements are addressed in Section 1104.01 of the Zoning Code. Each zoning district is listed with the corresponding front, side and rear setbacks. In an R-1, Single Family Residential district, the typical building setbacks are as follows: Front, thirty (30) feet; Side, ten (10) feet; and Rear, thirty (30) feet. For the lot located at 2340 Knoll Drive, there is a long, curving street frontage which causes there to be an excessive front setback. The house was constructed in an attempt to face the street; however in so doing, the home does not line up with the side lot lines. From the aerial view, it appears that the rear of the existing garage is either on or close to the property line, while the home itself encroaches into the front setback on the west side of the lot. The applicant is proposing to construct a fifteen-foot addition to the existing house which would encroach further into the front setback. Upon completion, the home would be set back approximately 9 feet from the front property line yet buffered from public view by a stand of mature evergreens. Variance Considerations: For a variance to be approved, the applicant needs to 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 the case of Mounds View) 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 criteria are as follows: