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Building Hei^t <br />June 13.2002 <br />Page 2 <br />the portion of it with headroom 5' or lower is at least 40% of the floor area of the story below <br />(refer to Illustration A); and <br />the roof intersects with the building outside wall at a point no more than 3' above the floor <br />of the upper story. <br />This definition was generally accepted as a reasonable definition for determining a half-story. This <br />definitfon is consistent with definitions used by other cities to determine a half-story. The following <br />definition is an example taken from the City of Edina Municipal Code. <br />Half Story. The uppermost floor of a building in which (i) the intersection of the exterior <br />wall and the roof is not more than three feet above the floor elevation, and (ii) not more than <br />60 percent of the floor’s area exceeds five feet in height as measured from the floor to the <br />rafters. Floors not meeting this definition shall be deemed a story. <br />Potential Issues <br />Current City policy on building height treats a space meeting the proposed definition of half-story, <br />as a full story if it has windows. This could be problematic from an administrative standpoint if, for <br />instance, a half-story without windows and used as living space later had windows added and <br />became a full story. A defined 2-1/2 story building would then become 3 stories by definition, <br />without expanding the building envelope. The defined height in feet can also become greater than <br />30* by adding such windows, which changes the upper measuring point under current policy...see <br />illustrations B-1 and B-2 attached... <br />Does having a window in the half-story give the house the visual appearance of being a full story? <br />What are the City ’s goals in regards to limiting height of buildings? Should the same building <br />^hsU be defined at difTerent heights based merely on the presence or absence of windows?