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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes August 23, 2005 Page 3 have considered putting the egress window on the front of the house; however a gas main enters the house there. The east end has the driveway. Mark Steadman, applicant, stated they believe they have arrested the concerns of the Planning Commission and are trying to address concerns of the neighbor. He said he had a safety perspective and he is trying to address storm water problems and the aesthetics perspective. The City and Planning Staff seem to be in favor. 9 Mayor Faust asked if he lived at this house. He answered he does not, but his daughter lives 10 there with a roommate. 11 12 Motion by Councilmember Thuesen, seconded by Councilmember Gray, to adopt Resolution 05- 13 064, re: Approve variance to side yard setback to install an egress window at 2909 301" Avenue. 14 15 Councilmember Stille stated he is in favor of an egress window, but opposed to the way in which 16 we are doing this. Our hardship is that the house was built before the Zoning Code. He said he 17 does not like to rely on those types of findings. When the applicant purchased the house, he 18 knew the Code existed. The Code did not create the problem. If this variance is allowed, it sets 19 a precedence. He stated that having some sort of approval of a Conditional Use Permit would 20 make sense. Each house is different. We cannot require a fence to approve this variance. The 21 applicant made a good presentation and seems to be sincere. He said he has an issue with regard 22 to the hardship issue, given the circumstances, and the precedence being set. �+ Councilmember Horst stated in reviewing this case, it seems the Planning Commission and the 25 Fire Chief's primary concern was to have some type of egress in the house. It is now required in 26 the basements of houses by state code. He said the City should get the Ordinance changed to 27 allow these windows. The fact that setbacks have to be decided on is a problem with small lots. 28 Safety should be the concern. In newer homes this is a requirement, so we need to approve this 29 variance and get busy on the text amendment change. 30 31 Mayor Faust said he is against the variance for two reasons. One reason is what Councilmember 32 Stille mentioned regarding the fact that the owner knew the Code when he bought the house. 33 This may be for economic gain, and it causes economic opportunity when egress windows are 34 allowed. Another issue is that he said he is apprehensive about approving just one variance. If it 35 were done through Conditional Use applications, it would allow the opportunity to see how it 36 would apply to all instances. This is not a safety issue since no one is living in the basement, but 37 it could be in the future. 38 39 Councilmember Thuesen agreed with Councilmember Horst that the safety issues do need to be 40 considered. He stated that hearing the dialogue from Councilmember Stille and Mayor Faust, he 41 gets the sense that there would be a better way to go about this. If we deny this, it is not that the 42 applicant cannot come back and approach this in a different means. At this point, he said he is 43 inclined to agree with the Mayor and Councilmember Stille that we need to take a second look at 44 it. Councilmember Horst noted the Planning Commission had a lengthy discussion. Commissioner 47 Jensen confirmed. He said the Commission felt there were a number of encroachments that were