Laserfiche WebLink
4300 Watertown <br /> December 2, 1999 <br /> Page 3 <br /> relatively flexible building sites with proven septic capability. Johnson's originally platted 2-acre lots, <br /> if they had proven septic capability,would be less attractive due to location adjacent to County Road 6; <br /> have less acreage and therefore less flexibility of building site; and would have to be provided with a <br /> private road in Outlot A,since Hennepin County is highly unlikely to approve new curb cuts directly to <br /> County Road 6. The value of Johnson's 3 original 2-acre lots must be significantly less than the 5-acre <br /> lots being sold in the same zoning district. And, the base value of those lots would be reduced by the <br /> cost of providing a new private road in Outlot A. <br /> The value of the three original lots,if they had proven septic testing and had not been combined,is likely <br /> less than$100,000 each.Under the same(contested)premise,the value of the property has been reduced <br /> by at most the value of one lot,since it is now proven that there could be two lots with viable sites if the <br /> lot lines are rearranged. <br /> Final Thoughts re: Legal Combination <br /> The premise that the legal combination is invalid as to buildability for Lots 1-2-3 poses some problems <br /> for Johnson. If he built his home at its current location with the idea that he would someday sell off Lots <br /> 1-2-3 as individual building sites, he would not have placed it only 15' from Outlot A,which he would <br /> have known was going to be developed as a road. Further, he would have not located his house in a <br /> location where it would become nonconforming even to the 35' front setback standard in effect at the <br /> time of the original subdivision. Clearly, Johnson had no intent to sell off the other lots as buildable. <br /> The premise under which we proceeded with septic testing was that we wanted to determine what actual <br /> value Johnson has lost as a result of the taking. The testing shows he has lost at most the value of one <br /> 2-acre lot in the 5-acre zone. However,the City will continue to assert that the legal combination(which <br /> occurred after the 1975 zoning change) invalidated any right to build on Lots 1-2-3, and that Johnson <br /> asserted his discharge of those rights by placing his house in a location that would not have been legal <br /> except by his acceptance of the combination as functionally making his properties into a single parcel, <br /> so that he could ignore the pre-platted lot lines. <br /> It is curious that we haven't required a survey yet to verify the actual setback of his house from the lot <br /> line of Outlot A; so far,we have relied on an old survey with the proposed house drawn in,and our City <br /> topo maps showing house locations with the plat overlaid at the same scale. Neither accurately shows <br /> us where he built in relation to the lot line, but it may be critical to know this at some point... <br /> Attachments <br /> 2 septic reports from S-P Testing <br /> City topo map with original plat overlay <br /> City topo map with original plat overlay, right-of-way taking depiction, and berm plan depiction <br /> Advertisement in Lakeshore Weekly News 11-24-99 for 5-acre lots in RR-1A zone 3/4 mile away <br />