08-13-1990 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Iidl5 Linden Lane Mound (Orono), MN 55364 July 13, 1990 City of Orono Post Office Box 66 Crystal Bay, MN 55323 •' ?An Attention: Ci^y Council Chair-nan Dear Mr, Chairman, I am writing this letter in the hope that you can give me some relief assistance in ►nat I believe is an overly-restrictive requirement. In 1986, my wife and I moved to Orcno after purchased a modest heme on the shore of Lake 23 years in Bloomington, Minnatcnka*a Forest Lake, We Ue were really excited about this move, because we had had a cabin near finnandale and -wanted weekends. to be able to enjoy lakeside living every day, ’nstead of just on This home had been built in 1978 or 1979 after the original building on the site had burned to the ground. Because the lot is rather narrow at the lake, the house was positioned sideways on the lot, with the long sides (^ront and back) parallel to the side lot lines. The construction of this house included a concrete patio cn the walkout lower level with a wood deck above it on the • raper level, both facing the lake. The lot slopes mcoerately downward from the street to the house, levels slightly along the house, and then slopes more steeply from the house to the lakeshore. There is extremely little area on the lot that could be even considered as level, where one could place outdoor furniture and be able to set a beverage container without spilling the contents. This Spring, in order to more fully enjoy our property out-of-doors, we decided to screen the pat ip area under the existing upper-level deck and add a small (8»xl0») wood deck extension on the lake side of the concrete patio. The edge of the patio is almost two feet above the ground and the ground slopes sharply down from there, so we can make much better use of the space where it was hard to grow grass or maintain natural ground cover. My real problem is that I did not consider that this little open-slat wood deck would be a problem and innocent../ omitted applying for a permit. The construction was discovered by one of the Building and Zoning personnel who was on my property for an unrelated issue, I now find out that Pm supposed to not only have a building permit, but possibly need a variance. The deck may extend into the 75’ lakefront zone, but I need a certificate of survey to show this, A simple measurement would show this, but I am presumably not to be trusted to tell the truth, even though a City inspector i^culd come out to verify it anyway. The City of Orono has on file only a marked-up copy of the original plat of survey showing "proposed house." I have contacted the surveyor who did that