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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes May 17, 2005 Page 2 1 VI. COMMUNICATION WITH CITY COUNCIL 2 6.1 Designate a Planning Commission member to the May 24, 2005 City Council Meeting, 3 4 Chair Stromgren stated that Commissioner Young would attend the City Council Meeting on 5 May 24, 2005. 6 7 VII. PUBLIC HEARING. 8 9 7.1 3217—31St Avenue NE, Petition of Variance for Lot Coverage 10 11 Chair Stromgren opened the Public Hearing at 7:02 p.m. 12 13 Ms. Moore-Sykes stated that Staff is asking the Planning Commission to review the Petition of 14 Variance for Lot Coverage submitted by Patrick Palan and Patricia Le Febvre, owners of 3217— 15 31St Avenue NE. She explained that the owners are proposing to construct a 12-foot x 10-foot 16 deck on the backside of their house. She stated that based on the findings from the public 17 hearing Staff recommends that the Planning Commission recommend approval of the variance to 18 lot coverage to the City Council. She provided the Commission with a brief background noting 19 that it was discovered during a meeting between Mr. Palan and Staff, that the structures on the 20 site exceeded the allowable lot coverage percentage as stipulated in the City Ordinance. She 21 reviewed the lot size, structures and layout with the Commission noting that currently the house, 22 the detached garage, the driveway, sidewalk and patio exceed the allowable lot coverage by 230- 23 square feet. She stated that according to documents from Hennepin County and the City's 24 address file, the house and garage were built in 1955. She noted that Staff assumes that a 25 driveway was also constructed at the same time but the file does not indicate the materials used 26 for the original construction. She stated that the current owners pulled a permit in 1991 to 27 replace the original driveway with asphalt. She stated that in their application for a variance the 28 applicants state that the undue hardship they have with this property is the length of the driveway 29 required to access their detached garage, which is located deep into the lot. She explained that in 30 order to build the proposed deck and comply with the City's lot coverage requirements the 31 applicant would have to move their garage forward approximately 10-feet. She further explained 32 that the extraordinary circumstance that they feel this variance would help to alleviate is because 33 the property had already exceeded the allowable lot coverage they are not able to improve the 34 property. She stated that Staff's review of the documents in the property file shows that the 35 hardship was not created by the owners but rather as a result of the original codification of the 36 City's Zoning Ordinance, which was created in 1976. 37 38 Mr. Palan stated that he has worked to make improvements to the house over the past three years. 39 He reviewed the changes and upgrades with the Commission and explained that they were not 40 aware of the lot coverage issue until they applied for the deck permit. He reviewed the layout of 41 the lot, locations of the current structures and the proposed deck plans with the Commission. 42 43 Chair Stromgren asked what type of surface would exist under the deck. Mr. Palan stated that he 44 plans to place key rock under the deck and along the sides of the deck. 45