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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes <br />July 19, 2022 <br />Page 7 <br />1 Commissioner Morita stated if changes are not made, residents may be tearing down existing <br />2 homes and building very large homes. He is supportive of looking into options of expanding <br />3 existing homes. Mr. Grittman stated there are guidelines as to the height of new construction. <br />4 <br />5 Commissioner Rude stated he would not mind seeing new houses. He agrees expansion in the <br />6 rear yard would be acceptable. He is hesitant about the side yards on the more square yards. <br />7 <br />8 Chair Socha stated the total current setback is 15 feet on both sides. It would be 5 feet on one <br />9 side and 10 feet on the other side. There is a 15 foot separation between homes. <br />10 <br />11 Commissioner Hendrickson stated the corner lots are where the side setbacks are most <br />12 affected. Mr. Grittman stated on corner lots the front is supposed to be 30 feet and the side is <br />13 supposed to be 30 feet. Mr. Grittman asked if these setbacks could be more flexible. <br />14 <br />15 Commissioner Gaveske stated it would make sense to be more flexible on the corner lots as <br />16 that would make a big difference. Commissioner Morita stated he agreed. <br />17 <br />18 Mr. Grittman stated one thing that was considered on the front setback would be reducing 30 <br />19 feet to 25 feet as the minimum would not create a big impact. Most of the neighborhoods have <br />20 homes up to the 30 feet setback. <br />21 <br />22 Commissioner Gaveske stated it would be nice to allow expansion in the front as an larger <br />23 entry. <br />24 <br />25 Chair Socha stated she is not opposed to expansion in the front yard setback. She would like <br />26 to gain resident input. She would consider the front yard setback being flexible. <br />27 <br />28 Commissioner Morita stated if adjustments were made and it did not include changes to the <br />29 front yard setback, residents could make a variance request if they wanted to expand in the <br />30 front yard. Mr. Grittman stated each case would need to be reviewed. He is supportive of staff <br />31 continuing investigation of side and rear setback flexibility. <br />32 <br />33 Commissioner Rude asked why the corner lots were 30 feet. Mr. Grittman stated the codes <br />34 were developed in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The thought was all houses would be setback 30 <br />35 feet and all codes were written that way. A number of communities have softened that corner <br />36 side setbacks. Commissioner Rude believes on corners there are two front yards. Mr. Grittman <br />37 stated one is a front yard and one is a side yard. <br />38 <br />39 Commissioner Gaveske stated she appreciates the clarification on the corner lots. <br />40 <br />41 Chair Socha stated the consensus of the Commission was interest in being flexible on the <br />42 setbacks and requested staff to come back with some proposed language on the rear yard and <br />43 side yards. <br />44 <br />45 Mr. Grittman will develop some code language and show some examples. <br />46