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Home My WebLink AboutRe: zoning status . , O � � O O ,� � �� CITY of ORONO ti Municipal Offices �� ' ' G~ Street Address: Mailing Address: �`4$�Hp4'� 2150 Kelley Parkway P.O. Box 66 Orono, MN 55356 Crystal Bay, MN 55323-0066 Septeinber 15, 2004 Steve Coddon 5867 Bartlett Boulevard • Mound,MN 55364 Re: Zoning Status - Property at"1741" Shadywood Road (PINS 17-117-23 21 0002/0003/0009) Dear Mr. Coddon: This letter is in response to yotu letter of August 9,2004 requesting an indication of whether City staffwill support the variances necessary to allow the property listed above to be considered as a buildable residential lot.The property consists of three small tax parcels. As you are aware,the property would require a tiuinber of variances in order to be usable for dwelling purposes. Approximately one year ago,I believe I provided you with a copy of my letter to Dorothy Finkelstein, former owner of the primary portion of the property,dated October 18,1990. That letter included a brief history of the zoning status of the property,and an indication of t11e level of information needed to determine the extent of variances that would be needed to allow th.e lot to be considered buildable.I advised you verbally that the likelihood of buildability was minimal. You proceeded at your own risk to take the steps necessary to determine the extent ofnonconformity of the lot based on City requirements.After you assembled substantial information,you submitted a variance application on June 6,2004,requesting variances for lot area and 0-75'zone hardcover. On June 15, 2004 you submitted a request for withdrawal of that application,based on new information that the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District would require a 35'buffer from the wetland,which would have significantly reduced your akeady severely limited potential buildable envelope.You noted that you had chosen to not provide the additional corrected information needed for your variance request due to financial and timing considerations. A refund of your fee was subsequently processed and mailed. Telephone(952)249-4600 • Fax(952)249-4616 www.ci.orono.mn.us � Steve Coddon September 15, 2004 Page 2 Your current request for staff consideration of the merits of your application after it has been withdrawn, is somewhat out of the ordinary. However,in the interest of reaching closure on this property,we have given it some consideration and would offer the following comments: 1. Significant changes in the depiction of the 929.4 contour line are apparent in the submitted survey dated June 21,2004 as compared to the June 2,2004 survey submitted with your application.The later survey removes the man-made ditch from the areas shown as below 929.4'. There is no text on the survey indicating why or how this change occurred. The location of the 929.4'elevation is a critical element in defining the usable area of the property. For purposes of this analysis I will assume the ditch is above the 929.4'elevation;if it is actuallybelow 929.4,the 75'setback would reduce the usable area of the site to nothing. 2. On the June 21 survey,the calculation of"area above 929.4'elevation contour line excluding wetland area"apparently also excludes the required 35'buffer required by the MCWD. City ordinances do not exclude required wetland buffers from the drybuildable area calculation. My rough estimate ofthe actual contiguous drybuildable area for Cityreview purposes based on the June 21 survey is about 9,700 s.f. or 0.22 acre. 3. Based on the June 21 survey,the area of the lot meeting all required setbacks for a principal structure(i.e.meeting the 75'setback from the 929.4'elevation;meeting the City's 30'setback from Shadywood Road and 15'setback from Fagerness Point Road;and not encroaching the MCWD's required 35'wetland buffer) is approximately 490 s.f. 4. Based on the June 21 survey and the information shown above,the variances that would have been needed from City code standards in order to make the lot buildable for the 440 s.f.footprint home, 200 s.f.detached garage and 600 s.f.driveway you proposed in your August 9 letter and submittal, include the following: a) Drybuildable lot area(0.22 acres available,minimum requirement is 80%of 0.5 acres,or 0.4 acre) b) 75-250'zonehardcovervariancetoallow34%or1240s.fofhardcoverwhereon1y25% or 900 s.f. (25%of 3600 s.f. 75-250' zone area)would be allowed. 5. Your survey work also showed that the area proposed for construction is within the defined Flood Fringe(the area between the 929.4'OHW and the 931.5'100-yeax flood elevation)and would have required not only a conditional use permit for filling,but would have required a specific approval bythe City Council to allow a principal structure within the Flood Fringe District under zoning code/floodplain ordinance Section 78-1114(2)(h). , Steve Coddon September 15, 2004 Page 3 The extremely small size house a�id siiigle stall detached garage you proposed would be completely out of character with the surrounding neighborhood. Wlule the need for variances to make the lot even minimally buildable is clearly related to the nature ofthe land,the magnitude of variances needed,coupled with the fact that the City in the past refunded the sewer assessment on this property and declared it not buildable, are factors that make it a virlually certainty you would not receive staff support for the variance request had you chosen to go forward. The final step for full closure would be the variance and CUP process,which you have chosen to forego. Sincerely, � ,� ��I �� y J /� Michael P. Gaffron Planning Director cc: Zoning File#04-3028 (withdrawn)