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48 To: St. Anthony City Council From: St. Anthony Planning Commission Re:. Recommendation to change lot coverage ordinance. Background In the fall of 1999, the Planning Commission heard two very similar variance requests in consecutive months. They were both requests for variances of the lot coverage maximum. Both were undersized tats in area and width. 'Both had garages located in the backyard with the driveway running from the street in front (i.e., no alley). .Both were above the maximum 35% lot coverage limit with 20-25% of the coverage made up of the driveway and garage. Both listed the non conforming lot size and width as the hardship in their variance request. There.are 439 lots under the current 9000 square foot minimum, about 25% of the city. We suspect that most, if not all, of these lots are already above the 35% limit and many will be seeking variances as people seek to enlarge their Rarages or improve their homes. Rather than looking at the requests on a case by case basis,.the Planning Commission wants to set criteria that can be applied consistently, allowing improvement of the homes in St. Anthony wiftut,advemely affecting_the-storm..water control efforts. The go;l of thg ordinance change is to reduce the number of variance requests to only thoae�that-r,_epresent extraordinary circumstances. Recommendatlnn We recommend that-the Ipt coverage ordinance be cha,nged as follows: 1. Change Section 1605T Subd. 44(a) Lot Cove--age to clarify the definition of "impervious surface" W e de.rl-ec-ks-as long as the surface below the dock is ..not f mpeus. Lot Coverage. The area of a tot covered by impervious surface. An impervious surface is any material that substantially reduces or prevents the Infiltration of storm water into previously.undeveloped land. Impervious surface shall, iriclude all buildings, driveways (paved or-gravel),sidewalks and-park.lng�-areas. A surface that.has _ been compacted or covered with a layer of material so that it.is highly resistant to-infiltration ley water will be considered impervious. Impervious surface shall not include decks as Jong as the surface beneath the deck is hot impervious. Note: The-definition a.a_deck should_ also..be_changed to ensure that the deck .itself as-notimpervious. 2. Change Section 1615.05, Subd. 8 to create a two tier system for lot coverage limits. Lots with area 9000 square feet or over would retain the 35% limit. Lots with area less than 9000 square feet would have an increased limit of 40%. 3. Add a storm water retention plan to the building permit application. The