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Item No: 7 Meeting Date: December 3, 2003 Type of Business: Public Hearing City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: Kristin Prososki, Planning Associate Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing and Consideration of a Variance to Allow a Reduced Side-Yard Setback for a Second-Story Addition at 5072 Brighton Lane; Planning Case VR03- 013 Introduction: The applicants, Mark and LeeAnn Loken, are proposing to construct a second-story addition above their garage located at 5072 Brighton Lane. The garage was constructed in 1972 and at that time was built eight (8) feet from the side lot line. Mounds View Zoning Code requires that the living area of a home is ten (10) feet from the side property line. The requested variance is for two (2) feet. 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. It is noted that sheds and garages, attached or detached, can have side and rear setbacks of five (5) feet. The Code also addresses the issue of “prevailing setbacks,” however, that is not applicable in this case. The applicants desire to expand their home by constructing a 682 square foot second-story addition above the garage. The existing house has 940 square feet, which is less than the current minimum square footage requirement. Zoning Code requires 960 square feet for a one-story house. 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 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 clearly 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.