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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes September 27, 2011 Page 4 VA C. S Motion carried unanimouslv. 6 Planning Commissioner Heinis explained that the property owners have requested a variance and 7 garage setback permit to remove the existing garage and replace it with a garage that is 8 approximately 240 SF larger and to move the garage five feet off the rear property line and five 9 feet off the west property line. 10 11 Councilmember Stille asked if the Planning Commission considered the impact of the proposed 12 structure on adjacent homeowners. 13 14 Planning Commissioner Heinis replied that one resident opposed the garage, stating that they felt 15 the garage was too big for the area. He added that in this part of town, there appears to be no 16 consistency of garages and the Planning Commission felt the garage would fit in the 17 neighborhood. He indicated that the Planning Commission questioned whether the proposed 18 square footage was excessive, but noted that if the garage was attached to the house, the square 19 footage would not be an issue. He stated that the impervious coverage was just over 35 %, so one 20 of the Planning Commission's conditions was to require the property owner to get the lot 21 coverage down below 35% and the owners agreed to that. He referenced the revised site plan 22 showing 32.1% lot coverage. 23 24 Mayor Faust stated that the 32.1 % figure assumes that pervious pavers are used in the driveway 25 and questioned whether the Code provides that pervious pavers mitigate the lot coverage. 26 27 Councilmember Roth requested clarification regarding the sight line of the house in relation to 28 the garage. He also requested information about the materials to be used on the garage. 29 30 Mr. Glenn Bergum, 2610 301h Avenue NE, appeared before the City Council and stated that the 31 siding on the garage will be narrow lathe particle board which matches the recent porch 32 renovation on the house. He indicated that the house and garage will sit perpendicular to one 33 another, with the house east -west and the garage north - south. 34 35 Councilmember Stille provided some historical background regarding the City Code's language 36 related to lot coverage. He stated that approximately ten years ago the Planning Commission 37 received a lot of variance requests for garages to be put in the setback combined with situations 38 where the lot coverage exceeded 35 %, so the Ordinance was relaxed to allow 40% lot coverage 39 for lots under 9,000 SF. He explained with respect to the setback for garages, the setback is 25' 40 and the Planning Commission at the time said these properties do not need a variance but instead 41 need to come before the City Council to obtain the equivalent of a Conditional Use Permit to 42 allow the owner to build in the setback, with the proviso that the City Council will review the 43 request similar to a variance, e.g., material quality, impact to the neighborhood, etc. and the City 44 Council has the ability to put stipulations in place. He indicated that the request before the City 45 Council includes a garage setback permit that allows the structure to be put within 5' of the rear 46 property line as well as a variance to construct a garage that is 240 SF larger than allowed by the