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D �� ' 1015 Linden Lane ��,� Maund (Drono), MN 55364 July 13, 1990 City of Orono `��''� 1 6 i�9�; Post Oftice Box 66 Crystal Bay, MN 55323 Attention: City Council Chairman Dear Mr. Chairman, I am writing this letter in the hope that you can give n�e some relief or assistance in Nhat I believe is an overly-restrictive requirement. In 1986, my wife and I maved to Orono after 23 years in Bloomington. We purchased a modest home on the shore of Lake Minnetonka's Forest Lake. We aere really excited about this move, because we had had a cabin near �nandale and wanted to 6e able to enjoy lakeside living every day, instead of just on weekends. This hoa►e had been built in 1978 or 1979 after the original building on the site had bu�ned to the ground. Hecause the lot is rather narroN at the lake, the house was positioned sideways on the lot, with the long sides (front and back? parallel to the side lotlines. The construction af this house included a concrete patio on the walkout lower level with a wood deck above it on the upper level, �th fiacing the lake. The lot slopes moderately downward trom the street to the house, levels slightly along the house, and then slopes rnore steeply froa� the house to the lakeshore. There is extremely little area on the lot that could be even considered as level, Mhere 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 patio area under the existing upper-level deck and add a small t8'x10' ) 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 firom there, so_ r� can make much hetter use of the space where it was hard to grow grass or maintain natural ground cover. My real problem is that I did not c�sider that this little open-slat wood deck would be a problem and innocently omitted applying for a permit. The construction was discovered hy one of the Building and Zoning personnel who Nas on my property for an unrelated issue. I now find out that I'm supposed to not only have a building permit, but possibly need a variance. The deck may extend into the 75� lakefront =one, but I need a certificate of su�vey to show this. A simple measurement would shoN this, but I am p�esumably not to be trusted to tell the truth, even though a City inspector would come out to verify it anyM►ay. The City of Orono has on file only a marked-up copy ofi the original plat ot survey showing "proposed house. " I have ccmtacted the surveyor who did that