07-13-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION Monday, June 15, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Mr. John Daly, Revision, LLC, 153 East Lake Street, Wayzata, said he has been working with the Gormans on the design and layout of the structure. He stated if the Commissioners had any questions regarding the construction or design, he would be happy to answer them. He pointed out that the house being original to 1960 and the Gormans being interested in keeping the home, the existing garage width is just under 22 feet. It does not work very well to get two vehicles into the garage. When they were designing the plans of what should be done, they were trying to capture some of the existing garage space for the new garage space but realizing they needed some of the width to be able to store their everyday vehicles. From a design standpoint, a sideload was a way of reducing hardcover. It was also consistent with other homes on the street; the four properties to the east all have sideload garages. They reduced hardcover but allowed for off-street parking. He noted Gormans are on a curve of Frederick Street. He said the first time he pulled up to the property, he wasn’t quite sure if he could even park in the street. Chair Ressler closed the public hearing at 6:45 p.m. Ressler stated some things to note is they are meeting other setback requirements, they are reducing their hardcover by 900 square feet, and they are not going lakeward. Their rear setback is 99 feet where it is required to be 30; that definitely identifies the long driveway which is demonstrative of the pie-shaped lot. Kirchner said some additional things he appreciates in the application is that the Applicants are reducing their hardcover. Not only are they reducing it, but the proposed addition is over an already-existing hardcover, and they are taking it a step further and removing additional hardcover beyond that, about 4 ½%. He thinks they are getting as close to compliance as possible without the City saying part of their house would have to be taken down. He does not know how else the City would get them in compliance. Bollis stated he agreed that it is a thoughtful plan, perfectly placed hardcover put over existing hardcover, and remove what is not necessary to get it as conforming as possible. He also likes that they went a step above and considered the neighbors and the back side of the garage and made sure it doesn’t look like the back side of a garage. He is in favor of the variance. Erickson noted there are two factors that he thinks speak very positively for the variance: first, they are making a significant step in the right direction in reducing what was previously existing; second, the Applicants have unique factors that speak strongly for the variance, which is the triangular lot. Libby said he tends to agree with the other Commissioners, in particular Erickson’s observation of the quickly narrowing triangular lot to the lakeside. Unless there is something that would be egregious to its eventual decision by the Council, he is also in favor of approving the variance. Gettman stated he is in favor of the proposal for all of the reasons stated. Ressler said with Orono being so heavy with lakeshore property, pie-shaped lots are almost textbook situations for a lot of the applications. He thinks this is not as unique per some of the other applications; they have approved them under similar circumstances. As noted, they always like to see the improvement of conditions which has been demonstrated in the application. He supports the application.