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STAFF REPORT DATE: August 20, 1996 TO: Planning Commission Members FROM: Kim Moore-Sykes, Management Assistant ITEM: Variance Request for Parking in the Setback -- Mike Miller, St. Anthony Health Care Center BACKGROUND. Mike Miller, Administrator and owner of the St. Anthony Health Care Center has filed an application for a fifteen (15) foot variance to park in the sideyard setbacks at Foss Road and Chandler Drive. The ordinance requires a thirty (30) foot setback when the sideyard is adjacent to a public right-of-way. Parking plans.have been submitted that show four parking spaces in the parking setbacks of Chandler Place on Chandler Drive side and St. Anthony Care Center on the Foss Road side. Mr..Miller is requesting this variance because the expansion of the St. Anthony Health Care Center will need a minimum of 144 parking spaces on site as required by the City's Parking Ordinance. It has long been recognized that both Chandler Place and St. Anthony Care Center lack adequate parking. This is evidenced by the amount of parking that occurs on Foss Road and Chandler Drive. Showing parking spaces in the setback allows him to meet the required number of spaces for his facility and proposed addition. He feels that getting a variance to parking in the setback is a better solution to the parking situation than asking for a variance that forgives the eight parking spaces. The curb cuts on both Foss Road and Chandler Drive meet the minimum width requirement of the Parking Ordinance and are far enough from the intersections of 37th Avenue N.E./Foss Road and 37th Avenue N.E./Chandler Drive so as not to obstruct the view of motorists entering or exiting the sidestreets to either facility. Staff have determined that the curb cuts are far enough from the corners of 37th Avenue N.E. of each affected sidestreet that it will not pose a hazard to motorists. If the owners' variance request to park in the parking setback is denied, they will then be required to obtain a parking variance for the eight spaces. There is no surrounding property available for purchase to accommodate the eight parking spaces needed. The State of Minnesota recognized their need to build the proposed addition by granting them an exception to the moritorium that is in place to prevent the construction of additional nursing homes or expanding the number of beds for a nursing home facility. By adhering strictly to the City's Ordinance requiring a 30 foot parking setback, St. Anthony Health Care facility will not be able to construct their proposed addition, thereby causing