PL MINUTES 03171981 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-2- Mr. Spielman told of the need for more room to accommodate his growing family. He saw an advantage to the City in attaining addi- tional housing for more school children at the same time there will be an addition..to the tax rolls.. He said people in that- neighborhood don' t make full use of their deep back -yards and believed the new home would provide an. addi.tional buffer for' the homes behind him to the commercial activity across. 37th. Avenue-. His. reasons for grant- ing the variances. were echoed by his father., Don Spielman, 2225 Benjamin Street N.E. , who didn't see the "minor deviations in lot size as. serious" . When the possibility of 37th Avenue being widened was suggested, Mr. Spielman. said knowledge gained as the Hennepin County Engineer led him to: believe "37th will remain a four lane roadway" . Mr. Berg said he didn 't see the 10 foot width variance.. (from 75 feet to 65 feet) as, unreasonable,. but. was concerned with the substantial lot size variances which. will be required. Mr. Sopcinski was con- cerned with starting the precedent of radical adjustment -of lot sizes in the City without a community forum. He. said a majority of the residents bought in St. Anthony, because "they wanted a little elbow room" . He was also concerned- with building another single family dwelling- so close to American- Monarch. recalling the complaints from the homeowners in- that area -to the noise- and lighting from the plant. He said even if the. Spielman' s live in their home for ten years, as Mrs . Spielman said .they planned to do, the Commission's duty is to anticipate problems .when and if the home .is later sold. The property owner replied that he .had been happy with the expansion of the -Monarch plant since it had resulted in a cutting down of the Slighting from Apache,, railroad noises. and shut off an egress to 37th Avenue and Harding. The Chairman told Mr. Spielman he personally believes the concerns he has regarding the proposal can only be offset by documentation that the property owners along 37th Avenue N.E. and south of him are not opposed..to the increase. .in density planned for that parcel. Mr. Enrooth said he considered neighborhood very important but would rely heavily . on the responses made to the conditions. set for grant- ing variances in: .the Application. for Variance. He was concerned as to what effect the drastic reduction .of 5 ,500. square feet might have on the resale value of the R-2 property, saying "concentrating density often diminishes the economic advantages" . He also recalled the recent instance where the City had "stuck to its guns" regarding zoning requirements when property on 39th Avenue N.E. had been replatted. . The Chairman agreed-. with him that the variances involved probably represented a more extensive precedent "than we 've ever set" . Mr. Jones said he is very concerned about what density does to property values. but wondered if. the City "might not be a little unrealistic. in their standards" . The Chairman agreed "it is true that the Metropolitan Council has recently encouraged smaller lot sizes than are allowed in. St. Anthony" . He saw two methods of complying with these standards - either changing the zoning ordin- ance or circumventing that process by liberally granting significant variances.