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Item No: A Meeting Date: October 19, 2005 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 for a Driveway/Parking Area Extension and Garage Lean-to within 1 foot of the Property Line (1 foot setback) at 8036 Fairchild Avenue; Planning Case VR2005-013 Introduction: The applicant, Dan Kelner, is requesting a variance to permit a driveway/parking area extension along the side of the garage with a lean-to covering it built onto the side of his garage within 1 (one) foot of the south side property line. Most of the lean-to structure has already been constructed and the concrete extension is completed, both without a permit. Staff became aware of the structure recently by noticing the new construction while driving by the property. Mr. Kelner was sent a letter on September 20, indicating that building and zoning permits had not been obtained and that the construction was in violation of Code requirements. Attached to that letter were planning and zoning applications. Mr. Kelner stopped construction and applied for a variance on September 25, 2005. Discussion: As with any variance application, for the Planning Commission to act favorably, 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. 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 applicant was given a list of the criteria and was encouraged to submit a written response to demonstrate his hardship. A written statement was included with the application.) The individual criteria, with responses, 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. There are no extraordinary circumstances which apply to this property. 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.