NarrativeThank you for considering our variance
We, Jim and Jean Way purchased the home at 6641- Minnewashta
Parkway about 25 years ago. What we purchased was a lake front lot
that included a house. A fixer upper. The house was built in about 1962.
We gutted the interior and totally remodeled the house with the
exception of the small attached garage. We also put an addition in the
back of the house.
We are applying for a variance to build a larger garage which would put
our home with the garage about 5 feet from the lot line. We would like
to replace the existing garage with a normal/average 2 car garage.
From we have determined is our 19 foot wide garage is the smallest
garage in this residential area. Many have a 3 car garage.
The new garage would be 34 feet from the closest neighbor home just
to our South. We believe that with the new garage we would be
bringing our home closer to the quality of the surrounding homes. We
have discussed our building project with the neighbors. They do
support our plan for a larger garage. lt is our opinion along with others
that our garage project would have no negative effects on the
neighborhood. Only positive effects.
These are the problem with existing garage.
1. Poor original workmanship.
2. The roof sags in the middle.
3. The Span Crete floor has deep cracks across the full length ofthe
floor. The garage floor is endangered of collapsing and falling in
the storage space below.
4. The width of the garage is only 19 feet on the inside. You can get
2 compact cars in the garage which is a tight fit. lf you have a
passenger, the passenger needs to exit the car before it can be
driven into the garage.
We would like to replace the garage with a garage with adequate
space for 2 cars and some storage. The footprint of the new garage
would be about 5 feet wider and about 5 feet deeper.
Thank you very much for your consideration of this variance request.