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09-14-94 BZA Minutes 1351 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS I September 14j 1994 The regular meeting of the Golden Valley Board of Zoning Appeals was held Wednesday, September 14,1994 at 7 PM, Golden Valley City Hall, Council Chambers, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota. The following Board members were present: Chair Mike Sell, Linda McCracken-Hunt, Paula Pentel, Herb Polachek and Larry Smith. Also present was Mark Grimes, Staff Liaison. Approval of Minutes - August 9, 1994 MOVED by Polachek, seconded by McCracken-Hunt and motion carried unanimously to approve the August 9, 1994 minutes as submitted. ------------------------------------------------------------ Minutes of the Petitions: I 489 Valley Wood Circle (94-9-41) James and Jelan Heidelberg Request: Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(B) which states that a rear yard setback shall be 20% of the lot depth. The variance is for 13.00 feet off the required 23.00 foot rear yard setback. Purpose: To construct a three-season porch in the location where an existing deck exists, which is located on the rear of the house. The petition was in order and consent obtained from adjacent property owners. Mr. and Mrs. Heidelberg were present to answer any questions. No other persons interested in this matter were in attendance. Staff Liaison Mark Grimes gave a brief staff report indicating that the proposed three-season porch would replace an existing non-conforming deck off the rear of the house. (The existing non- conforming deck was constructed after the house was built without the necessary rear yard setback variance. (The Heidelberg1s did not own the house when the deck was built.) The proposed three-season porch will be 10 feet from the rear prop- erty line -- the same distance as the existing deck. The deck would be completely removed to build the three-season porch. Member McCracken-Hunt noted that this is an odd shaped and narrow lot. Because of the shape of the lot and existing house floor plan, there is no other practicable location for the three-season porch. I It was also noted that there is a 12-15 foot high fence along the rear property line to screen the house from an existing business (tree service). Also, there is significant vegetation along the north and south side property lines of the house so as to significantly screen the proposed addition from the neighbors. MOVED by Smith, seconded by Polachek and motion carried unanimously to approve the petition for waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(B). The waiver allows the construc- tion of a three-season porch within the required rear yard setback. The variance is for 13 feet off the required 23 foot rear yard setback to a distance of 10 feet. It was noted that the proposed addition would create no greater intrusion into the setback than the existing deck and there is no practicable alternative location. 1352 Minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals September 14, 1994 Page Two 6020 Wayzata Blvd. (94-9-42) Christianson & Torgerson Partnership (Holiday Inn Express) Request: Waiver of Section 11.36, Subd. 6(C) (4) which states that one-half of the required side and rear yard setback shall be landscaped. The variance is to allow the entire west side yard to be paved with an existing driveway. I Purpose: To allow the required 10 foot wide landscaped area along the west property line to continue to be used as a driveway (as per easemenf) for 6030 Wayzata Blvd. When the driveway easement is vacated, a landscaped area will be built. The petition was in order and adjoining property owners were notified. Tom Torgerson was present to answer any questions. The property owner to the west refused to give consent. No other persons interested in this matter were in attendance. Staff Liaison Mark Grimes gave a brief report indicating that the BZA recently granted a variance to allow the proposed hotel building to be nine (9) feet higher (for a clock tower) than permitted by the Zoning Code. The hotel is not yet under construction but when doing the plans and researching title issues on the property, it was determined that there is a 10 foot driveway easement over the west 10 feet of this property. This easement is currently being used by the property owner to the west for access to the rear of his building. This 10 foot I strip along the west (side) property line is the normal required landscaped area. The developer of the proposed hotel, Tom Torgerson, is requesting a temporary variance to allow the driveway easement to remain, therefore his parking area would run up to the easement and there would be no green area. Mr. Torgerson has committed to put the green area in when the driveway easement is vacated. The property to the west is within the Golden Hills Redevelopment District and is slated for redevelopment at some unknown future date. It was also noted by Staff Liaison, Mark Grimes, that the retention pond at the northwest corner of the site must be moved off the driveway easement as shown on the plan submitted with the variance. Mr. Torgerson said that would be done. Member Smith said that he was concerned about the retention pond location within the easement. Member McCracken-Hunt said that this driveway easement is a tem- porary situation and that the landscape area will eventually be completed. MOVED by McCracken-Hunt, seconded by Smith and motion carried unanimously to approve the petition for a wavier of Section 11.36, Subd. 6(C)(4) which states that one-half of the sideyard setback must be landscaped. This variance is tem- porary in that when the driveway easement serving the property to the west is vacated, the landscape strip will be constructed. Also, the variance is condi- tioned on the moving of the retention pond away from the driveway easement. I 1~3 I Minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals September 14, 1994 Page Three 4610 Golden Valley Road (94-9-43) Kristen Larson Rieser Request: Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 12(A) whieh states that detached accessory buildings shall be located wholly to the rear of the house or main building to which it is incidental with at least 10 feet of separation between the main building and the accesso~ building or buildings. When so place, the accessory building or buildings shall be no less than 5 feet distant from any lot boundary line other than a street line which shall be 35 feet. Purpose: To construct a garage to the front of the home. The petition was in order and consent obtained from adjacent owners. Ms. Rieser was present to answer any questions. No other persons interested in this matter were in attendance. Staff Liaison Mark Grimes gave a brief staff report. He said that Ms. Rieser had been before the BZA at the August 9, 1994 meeting with a slightly different request and it was denied. City Code permits a property owner to submit another application at any time after a denial. Ms. Rieser choose not to appeal the August 9th decision of the BZA to the City Council. I Ms. Rieser's current application for a variance was different than the previous request. The proposed garage to be built in front of the home would be 16 feet from the west (side) property line and have its door facing to the east. Ms. Rieser said that the garage will have vinyl siding with a window on the south side facing Golden Valley Road. It will have a gable roof slanted toward the south (Golden Valley Road). The garage will appear to be a part of the house from the street. The garage will be setback farther (63 feet) than the houses to the east and west. She is planning to plant additional trees and bushes to screen it from Golden Valley Road and the neighboring properties. In particular, there will be added plantings near the driveway at Golden Valley Road. Ms. Rieser was asked about a variance that was granted a couple of years ago and never used. She said the previous plan from two years ago was to build a smaller garage east of the house. It was not built because of concerns regarding drainage on the property to the east and the limited size of the garage proposed at that time. She now plans to add a porch and addition to the east side of the house in the next two years. Member Smith is concerned that no hardship has been shown to warrant this variance. Member Smith also commented that the proposed garage would be 63 feet back from the street and will be residential in design with additional landscaping. I Member McCracken-Hunt said she feels landscaping is necessary to screen the garage from the street and the landscape plan submitted by Ms. Rieser should be made a part of the variance request. Member McCracken-Hunt was pleased that the garage was moved further from the west property line than the August proposal. Chair Sell said that making the garage door facing east is a good idea and that the proposed design is residential in character. 1354 Minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals September 14, 1994 Page Four MOVED by Smith, seconded by Polachek and motion carried unanimously to approve the petition from waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 12(A) which states that detached accessory building must be located wholly to the rear of the house and at least 10 feet from the main building. The landscape plan submitted and signed by Ms. Rieser shall be made a part of the approval and be completed by November 1, 1995 per Chair Sell. 2711 Lee Avenue North (94-9-44) Darlene Lamker Request: Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(A) and (C)(2). Subd. 7(A) states that the required front setback shall be 35 feet from the front property line and 7(C)(2) states that lots having a width greater than 70 feet and less than 100 feet, the side setback shall be 15% of the lot width. The front setback variance is for .4 ft. off the required 35 feet to 34.6 feet. The side setback variance would be for 6.25 feet off the required 12.75 feet to a distance of 12.2 feet. Purpose: To construct an attached, second stall garage onto the north side of the home where there is now an existing single stall garage. The petition was in order and consent obtained from adjacent property owners. The contractor for Ms. Lamker, John Austin, was present to answer any questions. No other persons interested in this matter were in attendance. Staff Liaison Mark Grimes gave a brief staff report indicating that this proposal is for a single story garage addition. The contractor said that a similar siding will be placed on the garage addition. It will have a flat roof with the potential for a deck on it. It will have an entry door and single car garage door on the front. Member Pentel asked if the shrubbery on the north side of the lot adjacent to the garage addition will stay. The contractor said it would because it provides a good screen. Member Pentel was also concerned about a large truck parked on the property. Staff Liaison Grimes said that he will ask the Police Department to check and see if it is too large to remain in the residential area. MOVED by Polachek, seconded by McCracken-Hunt and motion carried unanimously to approve the petition for waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(A) and Subd. 7(C)(2). Other Business No other business was presented. Adjournment Chair Sell adjourned the meeting at 8:10 PM. .,~~ Chair, Mike ~e I I I