3.1. BASR 09-24-2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Memo to Board of Adjustments September 24,2002 Page 2 • Existing Conditions The subject property is approximately one third-acre. Corner lots within the City of Elk River have two front property lines. The parcel is flat and has no trees. Overview The applicant hired a professional custom homebuilder to construct their home. It is quite possible that the designer of the home was not aware of the setbacks on this property as the north wall of the house,which contains the patio door,is six inches from the setback line. The deck will be located on the"side" of the house and will be 14-feet wide by 17-feet deep. The proposed deck would be encroaching approximately 17-feet into the setback. The applicant suggested moving the stair location which would then bring the encroachment down to 14-feet. This would put the deck edge approximately 35-feet from the curb edge. With this particular house, the graphic floor plans that were submitted were reversed to what was actually built. This may or may not have contributed to an oversight of the placement of the patio door. Also complicating this issue is that the property is a corner lot,which has two front property lines. If this had been an interior lot,the deck would not be an issue as the side yard setback would then be 10-feet. During a typical site plan review,the planning staff verifies with the survey that the proposed • house meets all required building setbacks. Once the site plan review is approved, the building permit application is then turned over to the Building and Zoning Department. They review all applicable building code issues and construction matters. It is not city staff's responsibility to review or approve house designs/layouts. If certain problems are noticed, staff will try to bring it to the attention of the builder or owner. For the applicant to be given the right to enjoy a deck, they will need to be granted some form of a variance. Analysis Staff has looked at alternatives to the deck placement to limit the amount of setback encroachment. The applicant does have the option (Option A) of placing some type of circulation deck (a"catwalk") along the north side of the house to a bigger deck on the rear of the house. The applicant did state they chose the lot so they could have the deck directly out the dining room on the north side of the house to have views to the park across the street. In order to grant a variance from the literal interpretation of the ordinance, the following five conditions must be met: 1. Literal enforcement of the ordinance will cause undue hardship. • Literal enforcement would not allow the applicant to build a deck wider than 6-inches. S:\PLANNING\Case Files\V 02-06 Olson\V02-06.DOC