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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes March 10, 2020 Page 4 1 Mr. Tom Brama, applicant, addressed the City Council. He noted this would not be out of 2 character with the other fifteen houses in the neighborhood. He indicated there are already four 3 houses in the neighborhood that are ten feet apart from each other so it that would not be a 4 unique circumstance. He would further like to point out that if the garage were actually a 5 detached structure that would be allowed to be five feet off the property line but because it is 6 attached to the principal structure that is where the five and ten feet come in. He is trying to do 7 this in order to avoid disturbance to the existing single car garage and putting a detached 8 structure in the backyard which would result in a loss of tree coverage and increase impervious 9 surface. 10 11 Councilmember Randle asked if Mr. Brama's intent was to purchase the property. Mr. Brama 12 explained he did have a purchase agreement on the property. 13 14 Mr. Jim Roth, 3400 Roosevelt Street NE, stated at the Planning Commission meeting he did not 15 think it was relevant to mention that he has been on the City Council, but the applicant sent him a 16 letter indicating it might be, so he was making the disclosure now. He explained he has served 17 with two of the Councilmembers. He did not want this, in any way, to influence a decision that 18 would be made tonight. 19 20 Mr. Roth stated he would like to address the Planning Commission meeting and comments made 21 by Commissioner Neumann during the comments section. He indicated he had a problem with 22 how the commissioner implied that the reason why he might have a problem with this is that he 23 did not like change. For that he would say that the only constant in the world is change. That 24 has absolutely nothing to do with why he would oppose this. In the Planning Commission 25 meeting, it was brought up that the reason the current owner might not have sold the building is 26 because it did not have a two car garage and yet looking at the records online the owner bought it 27 in 2006 and was already being rented when he moved in next door. He stated the owner bought 28 the house in the height of the market and no way would he get his money back in a five-year 29 span once the housing market crashed. 30 31 Mr. Roth explained other comments made in the Planning Commission meeting were when 32 looking at the photo it was implied that the cement surface goes a little bit beyond the structure 33 and yet the cement on the property is actually even with the actual structure and does not go 34 beyond the structure. He explained the builder has moved windows and doors on the house and 35 cannot find the same siding as what is on the house so if he does not do something he will be 36 upside down on the house so a two car garage is going to sell for more than a one car garage. 37 38 Mr. Roth indicated right now the distance between the homes is nineteen feet and he thinks it 39 changes the character of his house in that his main bedroom on the first floor and second 40 bedroom on the first floor and the main bedroom on the second floor, instead of having a 41 structure that is nineteen feet away has now gone to ten feet away. They live in St. Anthony 42 because they are not in Minneapolis. Minneapolis houses are stacked on top of each other. To 43 him, it changes the character of the neighborhood the more we start to squeeze houses together. 44 45 Mr. Roth stated for him he found it to be solely economic because he is not going to live there, 46 he is going to sell the house and the current owner has not lived there for at least ten years. He