Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Yeah, yeah, he's just a great guy. That was the one in the office. It's a big one. It's a great, it's a Raspberry Festival. And they went really right. Is that right? No.

Thank you. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the Eden Prairie Planning Commission meeting of August 24th to order. Please stand and follow me in the Pledge of Allegiance please. All right, we have an agenda before us. Commissioners, I would ask if there is a motion to approve the agenda for tonight.

I move to approve the agenda.

Second.

We have a motion and a second to approve the agenda. All those approval, say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, we have an agenda, thank you. Minutes from our last meeting from June 22nd. I would ask if there is a motion to approve the minutes or any changes from the minutes from that evening's meeting.

Motion to approve the minutes. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor of the minutes from the meeting please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed? All right, we have minutes from the June 22nd meeting approved. We have a public hearing before us this evening. A variance at 6633 Harlan Drive in Neen Prairie. A variance allowing the expansion of an existing deck. The applicant is requesting a variance to construct a 10 by 12 foot deck addition and associated stairs into the required front yard setback off of Edenvale Boulevard at 6633 Harlan Drive. The existing deck is allowed by a 1999 variance, which approves a six foot encroachment into the required 30 foot front yard setback. The expanded portion of the deck will increase the encroachment to eight feet and deck will be as close as 22 feet to the front yard property line. The lot has frontage on both Harlan Drive and Edenvale Boulevard. All right, does the applicant wanna come forward with their presentation for the application, please?

Although you just stole my beginning thunder.

You said everything I was gonna say. So how do I start it? Press screen. There you go.

Okay, so as she said, I want to, I am requesting a variance to add an extension to an existing deck and stairways down to the backyard. I want to do this for safety purposes The house is a Minnesota split level and the only way to get from the second story out of the building is to go down to the main entrance and there's a front door right next to a garage door that you would exit the building. If that's in any way compromised, there's no other way if you're up on the second floor to get out of the building. I mean, you can go out on the existing deck, but it doesn't have any stairs. So I am asking that I be able to have some stairs. So with that in mind, I approached the project, OK, we'll put the existing or the stairs on the existing deck. So you need to get a little bit of history or view of the property to see why that isn't practical. Okay. Well, I'm not going to read that whole thing because that's too much to read. So we're just going to go on and look at the property itself. The house is the red dot. Harlan is on the left side as you look at it. And Edenvale is on the right side. There's a walkway right past the fence line or the property line. And so that's just the visual view. The... back of the next house behind me is where that brown line is. So that's kind of the overview of it. And then this is the existing deck that is there now. It's about 12 feet off the ground, 14 if you add the rail, so there's no way I'm jumping off of that. So I tried to think about how I could add some stairs to this existing property. the way it is but then if you look at the survey map and i don't know how to can we get closer to it or can you see it We can see it. OK. I can't read any of that. But this shows you that the existing house was positioned on the property 30 feet from what I call the front, Harlan Drive, and 30 feet from Edenvale Drive. So that is the extension you've allowed for any kind of structure, in my understanding. So you have to have a variance in order to do anything attached to the building. Plus, on the narrow part of the property, there's a utility easement for sewer and water and drainage. So I can't do anything with that third of the property, which is fine. It's like a park. I'm good with that. But I still would like to get these stairs put on the deck. So what did I do? Well, the contractor and I looked at it and measured, trying to figure out a way to do this existing deck with stairs. And that's kind of on the, the southeast side, the south side, and the southwest side. And so this is what it would look like. This is the southeast side. If you see there's a fence there, that fence has a gate. If we put a stairway there, there would be a post right in front of the gate, so the gate would hit the post. So there's really no way you could do it that way, especially because there's a water spigot on the other side that gives water to the whole backyard by hose. And it would put that stairway within seven feet of the fence to the neighbor that has connection to this yard. That's the only neighbor that looks at the yard or sees the yard. Because the front, there's no neighbor. The southwest, there's no neighbor. And on Edenvale, there's no neighbor. So they're the only ones impacted. And they would be impacted if the stair was put there. Plus, the stair comes out to where you see those posts, which would make it An additional, I think it's six feet or eight feet further towards Edenvale, which doesn't make any sense to me if I'm having trouble with a 22 foot space. So that one wasn't gonna work. So then we tried doing it on the opposite side of the deck. Well, the patio door is there, plus there's a hot tub there. And bringing it out and putting it down on this side impacts getting in and out of that patio door if you're carrying anything and getting to the hot tub to clean it or to get in it. Plus, it comes out six feet from the existing deck, which, again, is even worse as far as that... needed space to the property line. So then, okay, what about if we came across the front? Well, if we did that, then we're into the grass another four feet, which again is closer than the extended patio or extended deck would be. So none of that, plus it would interfere with the hot tub getting in and out and cleaning it. So none of those stair options were really practical for this piece of property. And it's all determined by the property because, like I said, the house is already at that 30 foot limit. So anything I do is gonna come out closer to the street. And because of that easement, It's also an issue. Again, I can't blow this up, but this is what the picture would look like if we extended the deck and put the stairs there. It stays on the footprint of the patio that's there. It doesn't go beyond that. And the one front corner is the one that's 22 feet to the property line, which is an additional... I think two feet closer than the existing deck. And then the stairs would come down and they would kind of hug the side of the rest of the house and there's a little removable shed there. So this was really the only option I could come up with to get those stairs there. And then this is the view if you're looking at how it would affect your neighborhood. This is the start of the walkway towards the backyard. You can't see any of the existing deck. This is walking across the backyard. And if you look up, you can see just the top of the rail, but that's about it. And then this is at the end of the walkway. So putting the deck there isn't going to cause any kind of visual disturbance for anybody, I don't believe. The people on the My One Neighbor they can see the existing deck. And they won't be able to see any more of it. Plus, the stairs won't be visible to them either, because they'll be kind of on the other side of that existing deck. You can't see anything from the front of the house. Well, what I call the front of the house, because it's all behind the house. And you can't see anything. Even if you're driving past, you really have to turn and look, which if you're driving, you shouldn't be doing that anyway. I don't think it affects the neighborhood style or view in any way. I've talked to several neighbors, and they're fine with it. They don't have an issue. If it wasn't for the way the property is, I think maybe there would be other options. But I don't see any other option with the restrictions of the property lines. Does anybody have any questions?

No.

Commissioners, do you have any questions for Ms. Ray?

No.

Good explanation.

No. Thank you for all your work. You've done a lot of work on this. Thank you.

Thank you. Well, I care about it, and I care about your rules. I'm trying to work with you, but I tried, and I couldn't come up with anything. You did a great job.

Thank you. Jeremy, I will turn it over to you if you have any staff additions before we open the public hearing.

Yeah, I can just kind of summarize a little bit. I do appreciate the applicant really going the extra mile to try to look for other options. Too often we get people asking for variants just because it's more convenient, and that's certainly not the case here. So I have a couple of pictures I can kind of illustrate. These were both in your staff report. As you may or may not know, the state establishes the criteria for variances and the city must find, there's basically four different criteria that the city has to find when granting a variance. That the improvement or the variance is a harmony with the purpose and intent of the ordinance. It's consistent with the comprehensive plan and there's a practical difficulty associated with the application. And the practical difficulty is kind of broken down into three different kind of questions. Is it a reasonable use? Is the property unique and the granting of the variance won't apply to every other property in the city? And then also, will it alter the essential character of the neighbourhood? And we kind of work these questions into our application and then the applicant spoke to them in her narrative in a little bit tonight. In our review of the variance application, we find that there are justification for granting the variance. The improvement, while it does encroach into the required front yard setback off of Edenvale, doesn't detract from the intent of the open space goals of a setback. It's a relatively modest improvement, it's not a lot of mass, and while we recognize you could put a three season room on there, again, not a lot of visual impact to the neighborhood or against the goals of the ordinance. The question is, is the improvement consistent with the comprehensive plan? Property used residentially, a deck is a typical or a common addition into a residential neighborhood, so consistent with the comprehensive plan. Frankly, the comprehensive plan doesn't get into that level of detail in terms of open space regulations in a yard by yard situation. The question about practical difficulty, that's usually the strongest kind of argument for or against a variance. In this situation, the applicant, the deck that they're asking for is reasonable in the sense that there was other options considered and discarded because of the a variety of reasons that were highlighted by the applicant. Impacts to safety, egress from the existing structure, impacts to access to the rear yard on the gate on the other side. The deck is reasonable, it's not a huge deck, it's a modest size deck, even the addition is a modest size improvement for this property. So Steph sees the reasonable use being satisfied. In terms of not altering the essential character, and the applicant spoke to that a bit. The deck, and you get the luxury of seeing the deck partially constructed. The applicant often, ideally, will get a permit before an application, or before construction started working. In this instance, the applicant didn't, but recognized that they needed one, so they stopped work immediately. And frankly, we appreciate that. Ideally, everyone would get the building permit first, but sometimes that just doesn't happen. But they stopped work, went through the process to get the proper approvals. So you get the luxury of seeing the impact of that deck on the character of the neighborhood. And I'd argue kind of going out there, you can't really see that improvement as you're driving through the neighborhood or coming on either direction. It's not an obtrusive impact. So you don't really notice it as being out of the ordinary. So certainly not altering the essential character. In terms of the uniqueness of the property, and often that's our strongest argument for or against the variance, because if it's a pretty common situation that can apply to other properties, maybe the variance is inappropriate here. In this situation, pretty unique parcel. You don't see a lot of three-sided lots, and you certainly don't see a lot of three-sided lots with two of them being public roads. Further, you don't usually see a large drainage and utility easement as shown on the screens here, which is about a third of the parcel. So a lot of detractions from the ability to build on this property without impacting easements or setbacks or anything like that. And as demonstrated earlier, the applicant really sought the minimal amount of improvement necessary to meet their needs without impacting the goals of the city and the goals of the ordinance. So with those reasons, staff is supporting the variance as drafted and we've written an order to that effect. And I'd be happy to answer any questions. And the applicant obviously is here as well.

Thank you, Jeremy. Are there any questions for Jeremy?

Madam Chair?

Go ahead.

Just a real quick historical question. I note that the house was built with the sliding glass patio door already facing the deck and they got a permit for the deck construction after the house was built. And so, may I assume that the patio door was built originally with the house and if so, do we check for design construction plans for homes that have a sliding patio door entering out into a future deck area that would never comply with the setback on the property?

Yes and no. While we don't individually check house plans for each individual lot that we create, we do anticipate the need for decks and the need for egress and the need for egress windows, for example. So we do anticipate those when identifying the building site. It's really not so much an issue normally, but when we're talking sometimes with narrow lots, when we talk about waivers for narrow lots or reduced side yard setback waivers, those are the type of things that we look into and look at. But we don't approve house plans for each individual lots that would catch that type of detail that you're asking for. But we do anticipate that as a question coming forward.

Yeah, I can see that. Okay. Thanks, that's all.

Thank you, Commissioner. Anyone else? All right, we will open the public hearing. If anyone is wishing to speak, please come forward and state your name and address for the record. Public hearing is now open.

Ronald Whitman, WHITMAN 6617 Harlan Drive, Eden Prairie. I'm gonna first address Mr. Farr's question. The homes in our neighborhood were built by HIP construction And he was notorious for cutting as many corners as he could. And that is evident in just about every house in that block, including mine. In 1999, I stood before a similar panel and recommended that variance be granted to the previous owner so that they could build a deck to complete the sliding door that was already there. And we have no problems, though, that we live two houses down from Sue, and we can see her when she comes out on her deck to enjoy it. We enjoy our deck. I had never thought before of having a second egress out of the house as a safety issue, but I can understand her concern. because both her access to the garage and her main door are right across from each other in kind of a little alcove, almost like a little tunnel. At any rate, my wife and I have no objections to having this variance and new construction, enlarging her deck and adding the stairs.

Thank you. All right, seeing no others in the audience, I would welcome a motion to close the public hearing. So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and a second to close the public hearing. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say nay. All right, we have a closed public hearing. Any commissioners have any comments, questions, thoughts regarding this application?

I got a comment.

Go ahead, Commissioner Taylor.

I just wish some of our project managers would put this much rigor into their projects as you did, Ms. Ray, and you did a nice job explaining that. In addition to the safety factor of the second egress, I think that's one of the biggest factors also, this being able to have that second egress to get out in case of emergency. So I think it's a good project to move forward with.

I concur with that. I think this is an obvious reason why we have the variance process, because there are circumstances that require it. And the homework that the homeowner did and the logic behind it all make great sense. So I very much support it.

Other commissioners, otherwise I'd look for a motion.

I too concur with the commissioner's comments. It seems very well laid out and Jeremy did a great job of laying out the findings that are important for a variance review and I think those findings are solid.

Is that a motion?

It can be. Let me articulate that properly. if I find it.

I got it. Madam Chair, move to recommend approval for a variance as recommended by the staff and represented in the August 24th, 2026 staff report. Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second to approve the variance in front of us. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? All right, that is approved. Thank you for your work on this. As everyone mentioned, there's a lot of work that you put into this and it very much was appreciated, so thank you. All right, moving on in our agenda for this evening, we have Planner's Report. Jeremy, do you have anything for us?

Nothing tonight.

Thank you, Jeremy. How about members? Any commissioners have anything for the good of the order? All right, moving on to an adjournment. Do I have a motion to close the meeting?

Motion to close the meeting. Second.

We have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Meeting adjourned. Thank you, everyone.