Letter from Ed & Peggy Bennet 10-14-2014
October 14. 2014
Re: Zoning Variance Request
7015 Sandy Hook Circle
Chanhassen, MN 55317
Dear Members of the Planning Commission:
We are the immediate neighbor to the North of the above property and request that you
refuse this variance.
As citizens, we rely on the reasoned judgment of the planning commission to evaluate the
necessity of approving these types of variances. The desires of property owners to make
changes to their property to accommodate their personal preferences are understandable,
but must be balanced against the zoning restrictions enforced by the city. These
restrictions are rooted in established, common agreement among the residents of the city
through their representatives, and exist for many good reasons.
The owners’ stated purpose in requesting the variance to the hardcover limit is that the
owners’ intend to park more vehicles externally and along the side of their garage
(enclosed letter and email) and in direct view of our property, rather in their garage and
driveway as they do today.
Thus, granting a variance will result in creating a ‘parking lot’ appearance as viewed
from our front yard and home entrance (enclosed photos), as well as from other
viewpoints, which does not exist today.
While the hardcover limit is not a limit on vehicles directly, it is a limit on the acceptable
ratio of hard covered parking surface to lot size, and therefore related.
Our home is set back further from the street than the 7015 property, so the visual effects
of this variance would be even more pronounced from our entry and windows.
Moreover, the posted plan shows a ‘gravel parking space’ in addition to a requested
variance for hard cover. This too, by itself and with more vehicles, will detract from the
norms and home values of this community.
The burden of necessity should fall on the variance seekers, not the other property
owners. If their lot is not suitable for their needs, it should not be made so at expense of
others.
Sincerely,
Ed and Peggy Bennett
7017 Sandy Hook Circle.
Chanhassen, MN 55317
Dear Peggy and Ed,
Enclosed is the survey we submitted to the City of Chanhassen for the variance
request. The parking /garage spot is proposed to be 12' wide with the driveway
angled into our existing driveway for access. The set back from your property line
should be 13'.
We now have four vehicles and will soon have four drivers and we feel an extra
spot will be better for both safety and aesthetics. To mitigate additional water
runoff we have proposed adding a rain garden to the north side of the new
driveway which we would maintain. The grass has always been difficult on that
side so the garden should be an improvement.
As part of our addition the excavator will also be creating a swale to the north of
our garage so the water doesn't flow into your yard.
We hope and believe these improvements to our property will help to increase
the value of the houses on our street.
Thank you so much for your consideration and if you have any questions please
let us know.
Thanks,
Julie and Rick
Page 1 of 1
Ed Bennett
From: Peggy Bennett [bnntt2003 @msn.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 9:00 AM
To: edb @impacticx.com
Subject: Fwd: Kolbow Variance
Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
From: Julie Kolbow <iuliekolbow(&Pmail.com>
Date: September 23, 2014 at 9:27:19 AM CDT
To: Julie Kolbow <luliekolbowggmail.com>
Subject: Kolbow Variance
Dear Neighbors,
You will soon be receiving notice from the City of Chanhassen that we have applied for a
variance to add a parking spot next to our garage. We have a two car garage and hope to add
a third stall in the near future. In the mean time we would like an extra parking spot.
Chanhassen has a hardcover limit of 25% of property square footage. We need a hardcover
variance because adding this parking spot plus a driveway exceeds the allowable property
hardcover by 4.8 %. It is about 600 square feet over.
We are also in the process of adding a small addition to the back of our house which is 260
square feet. Because our lot size is small we would still be applying for a variance
regardless of the addition.
To mitigate the extra runoff from this additional hardcover we plan to install a rain garden
next to the driveway.
We hope you will be supportive of these improvements to our property. If you have any
questions or concerns, please let us know.
Thanks,
Rick and Julie Kolbow
10/15/2014