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Item No: 5 Meeting Date: July 2, 2003 Type of Business: Public Hearing and Commission Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: James Ericson, Interim City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing and Consideration of a Variance Request for a Reduced Front Yard Parking Lot Setback at 2402 County Road I Planning Case VR03-004 Introduction: The subject property is a small, commercial lot improved with a two-story office building at the southwest corner of County Road I and Greenfield Avenue. The property is zoned B-3, Highway Business Commercial and is designated as Neighborhood Commercial in the Comprehensive Plan. The variance request would allow the property owner to expand the parking lot by an additional two parking stalls toward Greenfield Avenue, reducing the permitted setback from 10 feet to 2 feet. Discussion: Soon after the building at 2402 County Road I was completed and occupied, staff began receiving complaints from residents regarding tenants and clients from the office building parking on Greenfield Avenue, overflowing from the parking lot. After a series of meetings on the subject, the Planning Commission recommended and the City Council approved a parking restriction on the east side of Greenfield Avenue, 350 feet back from the corner, except the area directly across from the office building. The No Parking signs have been installed and have been effective in eliminating parking in front of the single-family dwellings. Mr. Steve Farrell, the owner of the office building, was not in favor of the parking restriction. Variance Considerations: For a variance to be approved, there needs to be demonstrated 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. 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 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. 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.