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Item No: 8 Meeting Date: December 3, 2003 Type of Business: Discussion City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: Kristin Prososki, Planning Associate Item Title/Subject: Consideration of Possible Revisions to the Zoning Code to Allow for an Administrative Variance Approval Process; Special Planning Case SP-120-03 Introduction: Currently, a resident may seek relief from Zoning Code by applying for a variance. The process of applying for a variance entails submitting an application and a fee, staff reviewing the application and situation, staff presenting the case to the Planning Commission and the Planning Commission voting to approve or deny the variance request. The process can take up to one month and is somewhat time consuming for the resident, Staff and the Planning Commission. Due to the number of variance requests received, Staff has researched another option called an administrative variance. Discussion: Administrative variances are used in many other cities in Minnesota and the United States. The process for an administrative variance is similar to the formal variance process, except that Staff makes the decision in approving or denying the variance instead of the Planning Commission. This process is allowed only for variance requests within certain limitations, set by the Planning Commission. For example, an administrative variance could be requested if the request is within 10% of the code requirement. In order to qualify for this process, a hardship must exist and the same variance criteria will be evaluated for each request. Staff researched administrative variance processes in other cities and has developed a chart for comparison of each of the requirements. (See attached). If the Planning Commission wishes to go forward with an administrative variance process, the process will need to be discussed and a recommendation for a code amendment will need to be made to the City Council. Some of the topics that need to be discussed include: 1) Limits and Standards – There are many different options when it comes to deciding what qualifies for an administrative variance and how much deviation from code to allow. For example, the City of White Bear Lake, MN limits administrative variances to the square footage of accessory structures, the location of air conditioners and pre-existing, nonconforming structures. In this case, the administrative variance process does not apply to other requests. Another example is Boulder, CO. They grant administrative variances for up to 20% of a required setback. The Planning Commission may review the chart and based on past experience with variances in Mounds View decide which topics would be suitable for administrative variances. All other topics would need to go through the formal variance process. In addition, limits need to be set for how much a request can differ from code.