03-13-2017 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES DOCUMENTATION In accordance with Minnesota State Statute 462.357, subdivision 6(2), the following is a detailed description of the demonstrable practical difficulties with the property located at 1090 Heritage Lane within Orono. The City of Orono has 12 points outlining the basis staff uses to determine if practical difficulties exist and how the variance will affect the surrounding community. Upon review of the 12 points as well as the variance request, 6 of the points pertain and relate to this variance application. The points will be referred to hereafter as Practical Difficulties Criteria # (PDC#) and are as follows: PDC2: "The plight of the landowner is due to circumstances unique to his property not created by the landowner" PDC3: "The variance, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality" PDC8: "The special conditions applying to the structure or land in question are peculiar to such property or immediately adjoining properties" PDC9: "The conditions do not apply generally to other land or structures in the district in which said land is located" PDC11: "The granting of the proposed variance will not in any way impair health, safety, comfort, morals, or in any other respect be contrary to the intent of the Zoning Code" PDC12: "The granting of such variance will not merely serve as it convenience to the applicant, but is necessary to alleviate demonstrable difficulty" The following Practical Difficulty Statement is respectfully submitted based upon the aforementioned Practical Difficulty Criteria: PDC2: The property located at 1090 Heritage Lane is not a standard shape in that the adjoining property extends 80 feet from the rear and then 105 feet to the side. There are no other lots within the Foxhill neighborhood that have such a shape or complication to them as the other lots within this neighborhood are squared off. The extension of the neighboring lot, coupled with large minimum building setback requirements and a wetland on the lot, a pinch point is created on the lot. At this pinch point, the narrowest point is 21 feet. Not only is the shape of the lot unique to this specific property, so is the pinch point in comparison to other lots within the neighborhood. These circumstances are unique to this lot so much so that a city staff member stated in an e-mail; "considering the challenges with the property some level of variance may not be out of line..." The current lot lines and associated challenges with them are pre-existing and are not a result of me as 1 did not develop the area or the lots. PDC3: With the current lot lines and shape, 1090 Heritage Ln is in fact the smallest lot within Foxhill according to the Hennepin County Property Tax website. 1090 Heritage Ln is 0.98 acres in size. With the exception of one other lot, all other lots within this neighborhood are equal to, or greater than 1.00 acre in size. If approved as is, the amount of property added to the lot at 1090 Heritage Ln will be 0.09 acres, bringing the total lot size to 1.07 acres. The proposed 1.07 acre lot size is consistent with, or RECEIVED At' 39 JAN 17 2017 ® CITY OF ORONO