CC Minutes 08-12-2013Chanhassen City Council – August 12, 2013
can they do to help their neighbors and all of those type of things so yeah, I think this is an award that just
kind of re-emphasizes and shows that Chanhassen is a community, well as the mayor says for life and
we’re planning for tomorrow and trying to do everything we can to make this kind of an oasis in a very
difficult region and world so well deserved.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you for those comments. I guess just real quick, I often when I see people that
recently moved to town I ask them why, because you want to know, and the comments are very similar.
It’s the parks. It’s the open space. It’s the small town feel. It’s our downtown and some people
recognize if they’re moving to the region, to the area for the first time, these types of rankings. This
Money Magazine. The Family Circle magazine are things that they look at so they come and look at
Chanhassen to see what, you know what makes the difference. That’s important. I’ve had a few people
say, and this is to me really makes the difference for me is, you know we moved here for my job and we
came to Chanhassen because of what we saw and we came out and we liked everything but then we
changed jobs so we could stay here and when they say it’s that connectiveness that we have, and that’s a
credit I agree to others who have mentioned it, to the neighborhoods. All the people. The individuals.
The businesses. It’s not what happens at City Hall but it’s everybody who lives here because we are a
welcoming community it’s easy to get connected. It’s easy to set roots I’ve been told and I believe here
in town and so when people come here for reasons that they’ve heard and what they see and like but then
they stay here, that to me is the testament so. You know we should all be proud. We should all be
pleased and honored for this and humbled by the recognition at the same time but I think we have some
cake, do we not Mr. Gerhardt?
Todd Gerhardt: Yes we do.
Mayor Furlong: Excellent and obviously I came back from vacation just in time for the cake because if I
wasn’t here I’m sure we’d have cake anyway. Right Councilwoman Tjornhom? So with that, let’s take a
short recess and we have a number of people here in the council chambers and if anybody’s watching at
home and wants to come down quickly for cake they can do that too so, let’s take a short recess and just
enjoy this time for a little bit then we’ll resume with our council meeting in a few moments.
The City Council meeting was recessed at this point to share cake with audience members.
Mayor Furlong: Let’s go ahead and reconvene the council meeting this evening and move on with the
business before us this evening. First of all I’d ask members of the council if there are any changes or
modifications to the agenda. If not, without objection we’ll proceed with the agenda as published.
CONSENT AGENDA: Councilman Laufenburger moved, Councilwoman Ernst seconded to
approve the following consent agenda items pursuant to the City Manager’s recommendations:
1. Approval of Minutes:
-City Council Verbatim and Summary Minutes dated July 22, 2013
2. Receive Commission Minutes:
-Planning Commission Verbatim and Summary Minutes dated July 16, 2013
3. Approve Summary Ordinance for Publication Purposes for Rezoning of the Chanhassen
Apartments Site from Agricultural Estate (A-2) to Planned Unit Development-Residential (PUD-
R)
Resolution #2013-38:
4. Approve Certificate of County Board, Classification of Tax Forfeited
Lands.
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Chanhassen City Council – August 12, 2013
All voted in favor and the motion carried unanimously with a vote of 5 to 0.
VISITOR PRESENTATIONS:
None.
960 CARVER BEACH ROAD, APPLICANT: DAVID D. MOORE, INC./OWNER: ANITA
BENSON: REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE FROM SECTION 20-615 OF THE CHANHASSEN
CITY CODE TO CONSTRUCT A SINGLE FAMILY HOME.
Kate Aanenson: Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. This request is for a variance on a lot
at 960 Carver Beach Road. Applicant’s David Moore, representing the property owner Anita Benson.
The variance from the Section 20-615 of the Chanhassen City Code to construct a single home. There’s
1,888 square feet of living area and a two car garage and a 5% hard cover variance for the 25%. Again
there is a minimum standard for a home size in the city of Chanhassen depending on the type. The
location is Carver Beach. Carver Beach Road. It’s a combination of 3 lots. So the non-conforming lots
of record. There’s no variance required to construct a detached single family dwelling on a non-
conforming lot of record, excluding platted lots and outlots provided that it fronts on a public street or
approved private street and provided that the structure meets the minimum requirements. So the
requirement that this home does not meet is the impervious surface requirement. As I stated before, this
Carver Beach, this is the original plat for the Carver Beach area. It includes 3 lots. So those 3 lots are 20
feet wide, 100 feet deep for the total of the 6,000 square feet. Again a standard lot would be RSF would
be 15,000. Some of the subdivisions that we’ve been approving recently, and some you’ll see tonight are
at the 10,000 square foot lot size. So again the, it’s zoned RSF. Minimum lot size of the 15,000. The
setbacks, 30 in the front, 30 in the rear and 10 on the side which it meets. This lot meets all that. The one
deficiency then would be the hard surface coverage, the 25%. This then would be at the 30%. So here’s
how the house sits on the lot meeting the setbacks again just except for the 30% hard surface coverage.
So again the optimum house design for this would be, and this was something that was brought up in the
neighborhood before about keeping a lower profile. I think at one previous attempt that did go through,
it’s in the staff report for a variance request. There was desire in the neighborhood to have a rambler and
it was also brought up at the Planning Commission too that they would like to see a rambler but really the
optimum for this size of a lot would have been a two story because that would reduce your hard surface
coverage but in working, trying to meet the setbacks and get a reasonable sized house for the
neighborhood, this was the direction the applicant went with the coverage as proposed. Again the staff
believes it’s well suited home style for that area and believe it’s consistent with the ordinance. One of the
questions that came up at the Planning Commission meeting was that, you know there was never any
service ties to this lot. Any stub services to this lot, therefore it was never intended to be built but
throughout the city and I just focused on a couple in Carver Beach so people can split off part of their lot
and some of it with another lot. Combine certain, to make an actual buildable lot and there is the example
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on 1661 63 Street. An example where there’s not a tie put in and the owner of that lot had to provide the
sewer and water tie in as there was on Broken Arrow so it does happen in the city. Not every lot as it’s
platted comes in, particularly in this area, but there’s some other older parts of town too but I just focused
on two that were in Carver Beach. So with that when this item did go to the Planning Commission on
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July 16 they did recommend support for the variance. The reason why this is before you tonight is the
neighbors filed the petition to appeal the recommendation so that is why it is before you tonight so with
that staff is recommending that you approve the 5% hard cover and I’d be happy to answer any questions
that you have.
Mayor Furlong: Thank you. Questions for staff. Ms. Aanenson, could you go back to the ordinance that
you had at the beginning of your presentation regarding non-conforming lots. What constitutes or what
creates, what meets the condition that would be a non-conforming lot of record.
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