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PC Minutes 06-19-2012Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 19, 2012 Colopoulos: I’ll make that motion to the attached Findings of Fact and Recommendation, development review application and racks schematic Section 20-266 of the Chanhassen City Code and public hearing notice. Aller: Can I have a second to that for motion for amendment. Thomas: Yeah, motion to amend. Colopoulos moved, Thomas seconded that the Planning Commission recommends the City Council approve Conditional Use Permit 2006-26 amendment to permit the construction of up to four non- motorized watercraft racks at the Lakeside recreational beachlot subject to the existing conditions of approval and adoption of the Findings of Fact and Recommendation. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. Aller: Passes formally. PUBLIC HEARING: 6561 TROENDLE CIRCLE: REQUEST FOR A HARD SURFACE COVERAGE VARIANCE TO ALLOW CONSTRUCTION OF A SCREEN PORCH ON PROPERTY ZONED RESIDENTIAL SINGLE FAMILY (RSF) LOCATED AT 6561 TROENDLE CIRCLE. APPLICANT: JAY DONOHUE, PLANNING CASE 2012-07. Generous: Thank you Chairman Aller and commissioners. As you stated this is a variance request for hard surface coverage on the property zoned single family residential. Planning Case 2012-07. The Planning Commission is sitting as the Board of Appeals and Adjustments in reviewing this item. The property is located at 6561 Troendle Circle. This is in north central Chanhassen. Just to the east and south of this is the Carver Beach area of Chanhassen and approximately a quarter mile north is Pleasant View Road. It’s currently these areas aren’t connected yet to come back out to Powers to get to them. Single family homes in this neighborhood developed in the early 90’s. The request is for a 6.9 percent variance to permit hard cover of 31.9% on property zoned single family residential. Our normal standard for single family homes is 25%. When this, the applicant, or not the applicant. The original homeowner came in or the original builder came in, the first approval actually allowed a house and driveway that exceeded the 25%. However at that time we did not catch the coverage because it wasn’t included on the survey. Since then the City has changed it’s review processes and for any improvements now we get those calculations so that we don’t end up in situations like this. The existing hard cover on the site is 32.7%. What the applicant is proposing is to put his porch and deck in the rear of the house over where the existing patio is, which is hard surface and that was put in by the previous property owner. With the proposed, even with the proposed expansion the applicant is looking at reducing the hard cover on the site by 117 square feet, which is just under 1% hard cover for the property. The reduction in the hard cover includes the construction of the porch so that was a pretty good. It makes the situation better from what’s existing. He can keep what he has now and so we actually will improve it. And we believe that the granting of the variance is in keeping with the intent of the ordinance. We allow people to have porches on their property. It is a reasonable use and it’s normally associated with a single family home. And the practical difficulty in this situation is that he bought the house and it’s already over and he wanted to do a reasonable improvement and he’s not permitted to. Had this been a simple non-conforming site and built before 1972 the assumption would be that it complied with ordinance and any reduction is appropriate and the staff could have signed off on that administratively. However since this was built since that 1972, our ordinances have been in place and so his only relief is to request a variance from the hard cover. Staff is recommending approval of the variance application to permit 31.9% hard cover on this property and allow him to construct his screen porch. With that, and adoption of the attached Findings of Fact and Decision. With that I’d be happy to answer any questions. 3 Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 19, 2012 Aller: Any questions? No? No question. I think it was a great report and I understand. I think everything that had occurred. Would the applicant like to come forward? Is it Jay or Laurie Donohue? Jay Donohue: My name’s Jay Donohue. I live at 6561 Troendle Circle in Chan here and my ultimate proposal here is actually reducing my hard cover I currently have when I purchased the house. It was kind of a fast learning curve for me once I applied for the, to build this porch and the whole idea right from the beginning to remove the stone patio that’s back there and put in a porch. When we applied for a permit we were turned down obviously and I’ve had several meetings with Bob and also Bob hooked up me with Terry Jeffery of the Water Resource Manager and after meeting with him and he felt it was a reasonable request on my part. After the meeting with him I decided to go ahead and try to get a variance to do this. The house was actually built at 29.9% hard cover, which is considerably over what the City of Chanhassen, so I went ahead to see if I could reduce the current hard cover and put up a you know more usable screen porch. Aller: It looks like the screen porch is actually a better use than the patio so. Jay Donohue: Yeah, well after sitting out last night. Aller: That’s a good betterment. Jay Donohue: We tried to sit out last night and we were just hoping we’d get a variance because of the bugs. Aller: Yeah, you might need heavy duty screens. And a reduction is much appreciated. I mean we’re all looking to try to make Chanhassen a little bit better and one of the ways we do that is to make sure we keep our hard cover, hard surfaces down as much as possible so you’re asking for a reduction from something that you’ve already got and it looks like you’re improving the property and it certainly was of no fault or consequence of your’s at the time that you purchased the property so it’s unique to the property. So thank you for coming and making the presentation. Jay Donohue: Sure, thank you. Aller: Any questions? I’ll entertain a motion. Aanenson: Oh, Mr. Chair can we just. Aller: Oh, let me open the public hearing. If anyone wishes to speak on the request for a variance at 6561 Troendle please step forward. Seeing no one stepping forward, close the public hearing. Don’t think there’s any need for comment. Questions. Colopoulos: I’ve got one question regarding procedure Mr. Chair. This is a variance is subject to our approval correct? This is not a recommendation we’re making. Aller: Correct. Colopoulos: Okay. Aanenson: Subject to you have to have a certain percentage otherwise it would be appealed. Yeah, somebody could appeal it. If the majority votes in favor of it it would stop here unless somebody appealed it, correct. 4 Chanhassen Planning Commission – June 19, 2012 Aller: And that appeal should be done in 4 days for those who are listening. So with that, would anybody like to make a motion? Colopoulos: In that case I will make a motion that the Planning Commission approve the hard cover variance subject to the following conditions and adoption of the attached Findings of Fact and Decision. 1. The owner shall remove the existing patio surface and stairs at the rear of the home and re-grade the site to maintain or improve existing drainage patterns. 2. Building permits are required for the construction of the porch and deck. 3. The structure must comply with Minnesota State Building Code. And I’ll also reference in the motion the attachments listed 1 through 11 on page 3 of section 3. Aller: Having a motion, do we have a second? Hokkanen: Second. Thomas: Second. Let Lisa have it. Aller: Any discussion? Colopoulos moved, Hokkanen seconded that the Planning Commission, as the Board of Appeals and Adjustments, approves Planning Case #2012-07 for a 6.9 percent variance to permit hard cover of 31.9 percent on property zoned Single Family Residential (RSF) subject to the following conditions and adoption of the attached Findings of Fact and Decision: 1. The owner shall remove the existing patio surface and stairs at the rear of the home and re-grade the site to maintain or improve existing drainage patterns. 2. Building permits are required for the construction of the porch and deck. 3. The structure must comply with Minnesota State Building Code. All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 4 to 0. PUBLIC HEARING: RESIDENTIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (PUD-R) AMENDMENTS: REQUEST TO AMEND THE FOLLOWING RESIDENTIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENTS: A. MEADOWS/WOODS AT LONGACRES. B. MINNEWASHTA CREEK. C. RED CEDAR COVE. Aller: Is it set 4? Generous: It’s group 4, yes it is. We’re on the downhill slope on these things. We actually have the research done for 6 groups so we’re moving forward and this Thursday we’re having a neighborhood meeting. 5