Correspondence re LMCD variance application

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:� � . LAKE MINNETONKA CONSERVATION DISTRICT August 17, 2007 T0: Board of Directors / FROM: Judd J. Harper,Administrative Technician�'.r SUBJECT: Eric& Laurie Berg Variance Application BACKGROUND Eric& Laurie Berg, 2965 Casco Point Rd, have submitted a dock length and side setback variance application. Their residence has approximately 20'of continuous 929.4'shoreline and is locatetl on Spring Park Bay in the City of Orono. Pursuant to LMCD Code, the attached public hearing notice was published in the 8/7/07 edition of the Lakeshore Weekly News. The applicants have proposed; 1) a 55.5' long straight dock,which would be 3.5'wide, along the south extended side site line (zero foot setback), 2) a boat lift on the north side of the dock(presumably to store a restricted watercraft), and 3) a 3.1 foot setback from the adjusted easterly extended sitle site line. The proposed hardships by the applicant include: 1) Separate residence has been in existence for more than 50 years and has kept a separate seasonal dock since before 1970, 2) Lot has converging lot lines with riparian shoreline of 20', 3)A land subdivision was approved by the City of Orono in 1977 with issuance of a separate dock permit by City of Orono, and 4)Adjoining property owners consented to waiver of setbacks. Further details of the applicants request are outlined in the attached letter, dated 8/1l07. DISCUSSION To evaluate the proposed variance application, I believe that three LMCD Code Sections apply to it. These include: 1, Code Section 2.01, subd. 9 prohibits a person from using any area of the Lake outside an authorized DUA for docking and storage of watercraft. An authorized DUA is defined as"that area of the Lake which may be used for docks, moorings, boat storage, swimming floats, ski jump storage or diving towers, or which may be enclosetl on three sides for any of these purposes". These three sides are further defined by Code for maximum dock length and side setback requirements, LMCD Code requires setbacks from extended side site lines as follows: 1)the first 50' of the length of the DUA requires a 10' setback, 2) the next 50' in length of the DUA requires a 15' setback, 3)canopies require a 20' setback, and 4)side opening slips require a setback of the depth of the slip, with a minimum of 20'. For dock length, a DUA may extend the same distance into the Lake that there is 929.4'lakeshore frontage at the site, with a maximum distance of 100'. There are grandfathered provisions for setbacks (five feet) and dock length (four feet of water depth or 60', whichever is less)for DUAs that are 40' in width or less and were in existence in February of 1970. The applicants proposed plan is not contained within the DUA for this site for both length and side setbacks. To address this,the applicants have submitted a variance application from LMCD Code.