05-18-1998 Planning Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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H Discussion - Related Code Section - Dry Buildabic Contiguit>’ Section 10.55 Subd. 15 (A)(2) allows the minimum area of a sewered lot to be 'divided' by Flood Fringe land, i.e. to have non-contiguous pieces of buildable land separated by a Flood Fringe area, as long as the proposed building site has at least 1/2 acre of contiguous otherwise buildable land and has legal access to the building site without encroaching the Flood Fringe lands. For example, in a l-acre zone, 0.6 acres of dry land on one side of a stream or wetland and 0.4 acres on the other side, could constitute a legal lot if the 0.6 acre side is the building site and has legal access. This example begs the following question: Q. Under the current code, if an existing 1/2 acre lot in a 1/2 acre sewered zone has sewer available and consists of 1/4 acre of dry buildable and 1/4 acre of wetland, and the dr>’ buildable is contiguous (sa> the wetland is in the middle with dry land all around it)... does this lot meet the 1/2 acre area requirement? A. With the current zoning code wording, I think it probably does. However, staff has long perceived that the intent of the code was that even with Flood Fringe credit, the area of actual dry buildable must not fall below 1/2 acre for a conforming lot. This is because the subdivision code definition of Minimum Lot Area (Exhibit C) states that: "In urban areas served by sanitary sewer, each lot must contain contiguous dr>- buildable land equal to the minimum areas prescribed in the Zoning Chapter of the City Code or half-acre, whichever is less, (exclusive of public and private rights-of- way, vehicular or pedestrian easements, surface areas below the OHIV of any surface water wetlands or areas at or below the floodplain elevation for a specific property) and have legal access to the building site without encroachment of a wetland or floodplain area". This wording points out a conflict noted below, but also suggests that any lots being created via subdivision could not have less than a half-acre of dry buildable. Conflict Behveen Code Sections The subdivision code. Section 11.31, Subd. 3 "Lot Area, Minimum" states distinctly that "surface areas below the OHW of any surface water or wetlands or floodplain areas may not be used in order to meet any portion of the minimum lot area requirements". This wording suggests that the Flood Fringe portion of a wetland is creditable, i.e. the area between its OHW and its 100-year flood elevation. This conflicts with the w ording in 10.55 which defines the entire area of a wetland as Flood Fringe, not just the portion of it below its OHW elevation. The City has never defined the OHW of its w'etlands, and staff has always treated the entire area of a wetland as its creditable area when using this section of code, rather than just the donut-shaped border area between the OHW and 100-year