05-15-2000 Planning Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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■1 V Variance Application 1687 Concordia St.4/16/00 Description of Request: We are proposing to remove the existing 1 Vi story cabin, and the entire sidewalk on the lake side, and build a new home in the same general area. The new home will bring the property in compliance with side setback requirements. The current cabin is just 18 inches from the property line at the structure’s northeast comer, and 36 inches from the property line at the northwest comer. We desire to build at a line denoting the average lakeshore setback of the structures on either side, for the reasons outlined in #1 and #3 below. Description of Hardship: Our variance requests are based on the following hardships: 1.If we were to build the new house starting at 75 feet from the OHW mark, the structure would be partially located in a swale which holds water mnoff from the road and adjacent properties during heavy rains and in spring. Our property is at the bottom of a hill, and plays a major role in collecting and filtering water runoff from the neighborhood before the water enters the lake. We inquired about the city ’s willingness to address the issue of water management in the neighborhood in 1995 and in subsequent years (see attached photos from 1997), but no action was taken. 2.Due to the resulting high water table, we are unable to build a basement in this home. Also, since the maximum elevation is 30 feet above grade, we are limited to the^ square footage we are able to build two stories. Given these limitations, we designed a 4 bedroom house, all rooms of relatively modest size. If we reduced the size of the house further, the resulting room sizes would be reduced to the point of being smaller than the current standard in new construction (especially bedrooms), and would possibly impact their frmctionality. 3.Building at the 75-foot line would violate the spirit of the Average Lakeshore Setback requirement, which state*^ that a house may not be built in front of adjacent property owners. Locating our stmeture at 75 feet would mean that both neighboring structures would be located forward of the front of our house. In the case of the house to the North (the Palm home), 2/3 of that house would be located in front of our house if we built at the 75-foot line. Looking at the side yards, there will be 20 feet on the North side between our house and the Palm home, and 30 feet on the South side between our house and the Belawski home. This creates privacy issues for the neighbors, a **tunner ’ location for our home and undesirable sight lines for us. // cr-'-i