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06-13-95 BZA Minutes I I I 1.383 Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Golden Valley Board of Zoning Appeals June 13, 1995 The regular meeting of the Golden Valley Board of Zoning Appeals was held Tuesday, June 13, 1995, Council Conference Room, City Hall, 7800 Golden Valley Road, Golden Valley, Minnesota. Chair Swedberg called the meeting to order at 7 PM. Those members present were: Chair Mahlon Swedberg, Mike Sell, Gary Prazak, Bob Shaffer and Herb Polachek. Also present was Mark Grimes, Staff Liaison. I. Approval of Minutes - May 9, 1995 Moved by Sell, seconded by Polachek and motion carried unanimously to approve the May 9, 1995 minutes with the following corrections: - Approval of Minutes. Motion made by Sell not Swedberg. - Page Three, 6839 Medicine Lake Road. Motion made by Sell not Swedberg. - Page Six, Para. 1. Change Member Swedberg to Qhgk Swedberg. - Adjournment. Change Chair Sell to Chair Swedberg. II. The Petitions are: 420 Field Drive (95-6-16) Marvin D. Cook Request: Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(B) rear yard setback - 7.25 feet off the required 42.7 feet to a distance of 35.45 feet for the existing house. Purpose: To make the house legally non-conforming so the owner can construct a conforming garage (20' x 30') to the rear of the house. The petition was in order and surrounding property owners were notified of the request for the variance. Mr. Cook was present to answer any questions. Staff Liaison Mark Grimes gave a brief summary of the request commenting that the existing house is nonconforming because it does not meet the rear yard setback of 20% of the lot depth. This is an unusual corner lot because the lot is quite deep (about 213 feet) and the house was placed far to the rear of the lot. The proposed garage will be built in a conforming location to the rear of the house. Mr. Cook commented that the detached garage is for storage of recreational vehicles and equipment. There will be no driveway to the garage from Field Drive. Mr. Grimes noted that the garage will be built 5 feet from the property line adjacent to Brookview Park. Member Sell stated that the proposed garage is tucked away in the corner and would have minimal impact on the area. Member Shaffer asked about the row of bushes next to the park. Mr. Cook said the bushes are on his property and will not be disturbed with construction. MOVED by Sell, seconded by Shaffer and motion carried unanimously to approve the waiver for variance, Section 11.21, Subd. 7(B) for a rear yard setback of 7.25 feet off the required 42.7 feet to a distance of 35.45 feet for the existing house. The BZA noted the configuration of the lot and that due to the location of the house on the lot, this is the least intrusive location for a garage. 1.384 Minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals June 13, 1995 Page Two I 4501 Elmdale Road (95-6-17) Leslie and Caroline Holmberg (Please Note: Because no representative was present for this item,at the time it appeared on the agenda, it was MOVED by Polachek, seconded by Shaffer and motion carried unanimously to put this item at the end of the agenda. The petition was in order and surrounding property owners were notified of the request for variances. Caroline Holmberg was present to answer any questions. Staff Liaison Mark Grimes gave a brief summary commenting that there have been similar variance requests in the immediate area. He also noted that this is a corner lot where the house was built (in the 1950's) in a manner that does not meet the City's current street setback requirement of 35 feet. It was also noted that the deck will be a platform deck -- 6 in. to 1 foot off the ground. It will be built around the large birch tree in the yard. There was some discussion about the overall size of the deck and the height of the deck. MOVED by Sell, seconded by Shaffer and motion carried unanimously to approve the following requests for variances: Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(A) for a front yard setback (east side of house) of 17.6 I feet off the required 35 feet to a distance of 17.4 feet; and Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(A) for a street yard setback (north side of house) of 7 feet off the required 35 feet to a distance of 28 feet; and Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(C)(2) side yard setback (south side of property) of 2.13 feet off the required 13.30 feet to a distance of 11 feet. The Board noted that the deck will have a low profile and therefore, little impact on adjoining properties. 1511/1521 Xerxes Avenue North (95-6-18) Lisa and Doug Parks The petition was in order and surrounding property owners were notified of the request for variances. The Parks were present to answer any questions. Staff Liaison Mark Grimes gave a brief summary of his memo commenting that this matter was reviewed by the Planning Commission the previous night. The Planning Commission recommended rezoning the property from Residential (s-f) to R-2 (two-family). This recommendation will be sent to the City Council in July. Without the rezoning, a nonconforming use cannot be expanded. If the BZA approves the variances, they are contingent on the City Council approving the rezoning. Mr. Grimes states that I the two garages are proposed to be located next to the house rather than behind the house because of the steep slope to the west. The proposed garage to be built for the Parks is 28'x 35' It requires a 5 foot side yard setback variance. I I I 1385 Minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals June 13, 1995 Page Three Mr. Parks said that he needs a large garage because he has two large vehicles and needs a workshop. He also has a lot of stuff to store and would like to get rid of the old storage shed in the . back yard. Chair Swedberg was concerned with the size of the garage. If it was reduced to 23 feet wide it would not need a variance. Mr. Parks felt that the additional size was important. If it could be built in the rear yard, it could be built wide. The steep slope will not allow for the con- struction of the garage to the rear. The 28 foot width allows for only one 16' or 18' wide door. Member Prazak said that the location for the garage next to an institutional use rather than a residential use will have a minimal impact. The garage will also eliminate the need for the deteriorating shed in the rear yard. MOVED by Polachek, seconded by Shaffer and motion carried unanimously to approve the waiver of variance (Section 11.22, Section 10(A) which states that detached accessory buildings shall be located wholly to the rear of the main building) to allow the construction of the proposed garage and the moving of the existing garage to within 35 feet of Xerxes Avenue. The garage shall be placed in a manner acceptable to the Building Department because of the retaining walls west of the garages. This location is reasonable due to the severe slope of the property to the west which would make locating the garages in the rear yard impossible. MOVED by Polachek, seconded by Sell and motion carried unanimously to approve waiver of variance of Section 11.22, Subd. (6)(C) side yard setback for 5 feet off the required 15 feet to a distance of 10 feet. 5221 Olson Memorial Highway (95-6-19) Trevin and Mary Hartung The petition was in order and surrounding property owners were notified of the request for variances. Mr. and Mrs. Hartung were present to answer any questions. Staff Liaison Mark Grimes gave a brief summary of the request commenting that the old garage will be torn down but the screen porch to the rear of the garage will be kept and expanded. The proposed garage is 20 feet in width in order to maintain a 10 foot setback. Mr. Grimes stated that the garage would only work on the east side of the house and it could not be added on the west where there is space. The Hartungs need extra space to store cars and other equipment. They are also proposing to go into the front setback by four feet in order to get the garage depth to 24 feet. Chair Swedberg suggested adding two feet, to the width of the proposed garage, to allow for a standard 22 foot garage -- the Board agreed. MOVED by Sell, seconded by Polachek and motion carried unanimously to approve the following waiver for variances: Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(A) front yard setback for 4 feet off the required 35 feet to a distance of 31.3 feet; and Waiver of Section 11.21, Subd. 7(C)(1) side yard setback for 7 feet off the required 15 feet to a distance of 8 feet. 1.386 Minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals June 13, 1995 Page Four III. Other Business No other business was presented. IV. Adjournment Chair Swedberg adjourned the meeting at 8:10 PM. }(~-eu.~ Mahlon wedberg, Chair . ~L Mark W. Grimes, Staff Liaison I I I