09-22-2025 - Agenda Packet City Council - Regular Meeting

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To: Orono Mayor and City Council. Re: LA25-000025, 1530 Orchard Beach Place We are writing today because we will not be able to attend the Council meeting tonight. We are the second lot over to the east of the property at 1530 Orchard Beach Place. What we are writing about and you are reviewing tonight is: An Average Lakeshore Setback Variance to construct an accessory building. Please read that 3 times to make sure we are all on the same page. An accessory building and pool that will be directly viewable from the windows at the foot of our bed. I struggle to understand how a variance for an accessory building would almost ever have any sort of hardship on a lot that already is very large, not oddly shaped, and has a large, beautiful home existing. It is my understanding that variances are applied for and received when people cannot use their property the way it was intended to be used for a home. It is extraordinarily uncommon to have a pool on a Lake Minnetonka property in Orono, and it is even more uncommon to have an accessory structure with your pool on Lake Minnetonka in Orono. I am sure the Planners and the City attorney could verify for you how many average Lakeshore setback variances have been given for accessory structures in the history of the city, but my search shows none that I can find, so this seems quite extraordinary. The home that exists on the property benefited from the applied street adjacent Lakeshore setback rule in question when built because there was no structure across the street in question at that time, and the nearest home would have driven the Average Lakeshore Setback towards North Shore Dr,. where the original home that was removed was sited. Now the home would like relief from that same rule; it seems odd to have it both ways. If this variance is granted, the average Lakeshore setback for the home immediately to our West, between our property in 1530 Orchard Beach Place, will have a new average Lakeshore setback and will be able to build a new accessory building of their own with no variance. Subsequently, we will have a new average Lakeshore setback, and we too will be able to build a new accessory structure of our own, and on and on and on. This is why average Lakeshore setback variances always have a domino effect whenever they are given, and should only be given when there is a true hardship. It is obviously our opinion that there is no hardship here to grant an average Lakeshore setback variance for an accessory building on a large lot with a large home already existing. Thanks for your consideration, 142