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i Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes October 21, 2008 Page 4 1 VIII.2 3523 HARDING STREET NE— ADMINISTRATIVE LOT COMBINATION 2 3 Assistant City Manager Moore-Sykes presented the staff report on the request for a lot 4 subdivision/combination at 3523 Harding Street NE. She stated in reviewing the applicant's 5 demolition and building permits, staff discovered that 3523 Harding Street is really two lots, one 6 lot is 15'x130', Lot 3, Block 5, Gardena Acres and adjacent to another lot which is 60'x130', and 7 also described by Hennepin County as Lot 3, Block 5, Gardena Acres. Both of these lots 8 individually are not conforming with regard to square footage. Combined, these lots would be 9 9,750 square feet,meeting the ordinance requirement for an interior lot being a minimum of 10 9,000 square feet. A residential structure does exist at this site, and possibly across both lots. 11 Because both lots have the same legal description, staff believes that there was intent to combine 12 the lots,which never occurred. Assistant City Manager Moore-Sykes stated staff advised the 13 contractor of this non-conforming situation with the lots and informed Mr. Patrick O'Keefe, 14 Bayshore Properties, LLC, that because of the proposed changes to the property, these two lots 15 need to be combined to alleviate the non-conforming situation, as required by the City's Zoning 16 Ordinance. Staff further advised Mr. O'Keefe that the City could combine these two lots 17 administratively provided, as the owner, Mr. O'Keefe is agreeable to the combination; that the 18 combination of these lots is permanent; and that this newly combined parcel will be treated as 19 one parcel for purposes of all applicable ordinances of the City. The property line between the 20 parcels will be disregarded for purposes of the City's setback, building and zoning ordinances. 21 Assistant City Manager Moore-Sykes stated Mr. O'Keefe has agreed to the administrative lot 22 combination. The City Attorney has reviewed the application and has provided a Declaration of 23 Restrictions for Mr. O'Keefe's signature. 24 25 Chairperson Stromgren commented this appears to be a housekeeping item with a public hearing 26 to be scheduled. Assistant City Manager Moore-Sykes indicated an application will be submitted 27 - to the City Clerk for publication in the City newspaper. The public hearing will be included on 28 the Commission's November meeting agenda. 29 30 Chairperson Stromgren asked if the property is owned by a contractor. Assistant City Manager 31 Moore-Sykes responded in the affirmative and indicated the contractor has buyers for the 32 property. 33 34 Commissioner Jensen stated the document presented for signature strikes him as a Declaration of 35 Undertaking, rather than a Declaration of Restriction. He stated the City is served by the ultimate 36 combination of two parcels. To have the parcel combined in torrens, rather than Abstract, will 37 make the process more cumbersome. He noted without seeing the title work, there may be an 38 underlying legal reason why the property was required to remain as two parcels at one time. The 39 City Attorney should be able to get to the bottom of that relatively quickly when reviewing the 40 title work. He pointed out that the City is not restricting anything, other than requesting it to be 41 cleaned up,provided the title allows for that. It will likely take up to four to five months in 42 torrens to recognize the combination, which would be the only reason to require the undertaking 43 be recorded in torrens. Requiring the documents to sunset upon combination would be prudent. 44 45 Assistant City Manager Moore-Sykes stated the contractor recently purchased this property, so 46 the title was likely reviewed at the time of the sale and closing. This will be verified.