welcome We're going to start the call to order for the Planning Commission Board of Adjustment for Tuesday March 11th 2025 at 6:30 p.m Uh the first item we're going to all rise for the pledge of allegiance I pledge the algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Thank you Next we have a roll call Jerry would you mind doing the honors for us uh heirs
here Brisbane here Weaver here Zerdan here Roger Ty here All right Thank you Uh next item up is the approval or any amendments to the agenda Do we have a motion to approve
the agenda or any changes so moved Do we have a second second All in favor say I I Any opposed motion passed Next item is the open forum If anyone here in the audience does wish to
speak to something that is not currently on the agenda now is the time to approach the podium state your name and address and share with us your feedback Not seeing anyone approaching the podium we are going to close the open forum and move on to approval of the January 14th 2025 planning
commission minutes Do we have an approval to meet the minutes or a motion to approve the minutes or any changes i'll make a motion to approve Do we have a second second All in favor say I I Any
opposed motion passed The first public hearing is regarding the subdivision application S250001 Sarah Lovejoy at 7036 Nickel Road Uh this is a preliminary plat Wilder Woods zone wooded residential Uh
the first item is the public open hearing and if anyone in the audience would like to approach the podium state your name address and share with us any feedback I'm out of order Uh next up would be the applicant
presentation So if we could have somebody representing the applicant please approach the podium Hi please state your name and address My name is Sarah Lovejoy 7036 Nickel Road Breezy Point Minnesota 5647
Thank you And if you could just walk us through what your request is Um well we had requested to get it my property reszoned to the wooded residential and now that we did that we had Pat Tridier um survey it and put this where we could
divide it into two 5acre lots I think it's just a tiny bit over five acres each So that's what Yeah that's what we have up there Okay Is that Do you need to know more or Thank you That's the gist of it And I know um for anyone also uh
listening to this we did have a um presentation the previous meeting that we went through a lot of the conditions and then this went to city council to get reszoned So this uh presentation is regarding then the official split of the two properties With wooded residential the minimum lot size is 5 acres You've
had a survey done to ensure that there is five acres for each Yes And then just to kind of review that is there still the same plan as before where there would be two homesteads and then a shared access road for both or is it two separate driveways two separate
driveways too Yep We would both have I'll like sell my daughter my existing home and driveway and then we would build on the the new divided part Perfect Our own driveway Does anyone here in the commission have questions for the applicant i don't know
if this was brought up before but the existing sewer is on the new lot Yeah So we would need a ease We'll need to get a easement They said is that an easement or a variance or a variance i don't remember which We won't need a variance will need an easement
Okay So do we need to review that in this meeting Jerry or is that something separate that you would recommend i would tell you that that should be a condition of the approval of the plat that the easement be established prior
to the finalizing of the plat and and on the final plat that easement could be uh dedicated right on the plat So if they were to sell it down the road the easement goes with the with the sale right
okay Does anyone else need more time or have questions for the applicant i think so All right then we are going to close the applicant presentation You may turn to your seat and move on to staff review
Um again the application is for a subdivision It's 2025001 Uh the applicant is Sarah Lovejoy The property address is 736 Nickel Road Uh P is
10181327 The present zoning uh is wooded residential The property is a 10acre triangular shaped property located in the southwest intersection of County Road 11 and Nickel Road The zoning of the property was recently changed from urban reserve to wooded
residential The property currently hosts a primary dwelling and an outlot and an outuilding It is proposed that the dwelling and the outuilding will be housed on lot two and lot one would be sold for another dwelling unit Uh the findings
the proposed plat conforms to the definition of a subdivision The lot con the proposed plat conforms to the requirements of the wooded residential which is 5 acre minimums Um the hearing to consider the
subdivision is held March 11th 2025 and uh no proposed changes to the preliminary plat Uh we would uh add that
the easement for the uh existing septic system be dedicated as part of the final plat [Applause] Does Evan anyone have questions for Jerry all right then we're going to close the
staff review move on to a public hearing or public input Is anyone in the audience prepared to approach the podium and share with us any feedback all right we'll close the public input portion and then move to close the public hearing and move on
to our staff or our commission review Do we have any motions or questions i would move that the application be approved Would you add in the um condition for the easement for the existing septic could be dedicated to the final plot yes
Okay So we have a motion to approve the request and in as part of that to add in an easement for existing septic to be dedicated to the final plot Do we have a second to this motion i'll second All in
favor say I I I Any opposed motion has passed And moving on to the second public hearing which is variance V25001 for James and Susan Sack writer of 32601 Timberlane Point Lot 31 Trout
Cade Request is to expand the legal non-conforming use proposed addition to existing dwelling that is 24 ft from the OW This is located in zone R2 We'll open the public hearing and start with the
applicant presentation If the applicant would approach the podium state their name address and review their request Hi Jim Sack Rider 32601 Timberlane Point Got to get my cheaters
out Uh we're looking to add 8 ft to the side of this cabin Uh to add a bathroom basically um critical document in this packet is probably the survey As you can see there are multiple issues with this lot Uh mostly it's squeezed in between Timberlane and the
OW Um I think you'll see the common sense perspective of this variance is reasonable but I understand you have legal requirements to fill up Uh I understand I'm probably biased since I am putting the request forward Uh but I think it's a reasonable request
essentially adds 8 foot bumpout to the side of the cabin Uh this change is fully supported by all my neighbors Um we fully intend to keep the same look of the cabin when it's complete I don't think anybody on the lake will really notice anything's been done Um of course
there's uh definitions to practical difficulties and there's a few things I got to uh get by you guys to to get this through Um is it is it reasonable uh doesn't impact the neighbors Uh it's a it's almost unnoticeable change from the
shoreline The runoff to the lake will be significantly better than it is now uh by improving the lot Um as far as practical difficulties go uh in and of itself this being a non-conforming lot I think in itself uh proves to be a
practical difficulty Our intent is to make this non-conforming lot quite a bit better than it is Along with that there's a driveway which serves both neighbors uh which doesn't allow me to eliminate that driveway um because the neighbors on each side use
it So what it really comes down to the main difficulty is that one bathroom for six to eight adults in 2025 and and forward is challenging and at times difficult Um I don't want to get too into the particulars but when someone
needs to run to the pelican to use the bathroom it becomes a practical difficulty especially when she doesn't quite make it in time Uh it comes gets to be even more of a practical difficulty in my life Um with the circumstances of this
property uh I think there's little to no other options If you reference the survey you can see there's a lot going on Like I said referenced already there's shared driveway There's a steep slope on the driveway from the lots on both sides The standard for impervious is 25% This was platted in the 60s There
were no standards It's right around 30 or a little over With this proposed change I will take the impervious coverage to below 25% to what's required for new buildings There are currently uh drainage issues with this lot A lot
amount of runoff comes from both my neighbors driveway In undertaking this project I'm proposing to a way to rectify the water runoff problems with an engineered water runoff plan What does this do to the neighborhood um will this alter the
essential character of the neighborhood i don't think so Uh I think you can see by the superimposed drawing that I submitted uh that it'll it really won't be very noticeable And um we also have vegetation and can put more vegetation
on that side so you won't even notice it at all We actually like having the old 60s cabin Want to keep the original look We don't want to tear it down Um we like the the nostalgia of it Um I hope you can see we're we'd like
to add this but also be good stewards to the lake and our community ultimately I hope they grant this variance Uh I hope you'll find it a reason request and I thank you very much time and for your attention Are there any questions I can
answer regarding this can you remind us how many bathrooms are in the existing home i'm sorry How many bathrooms are in the existing home without the addition one And that exist existing septic should be able to comply with an additional
bathroom then I'm assuming Um yes septic is actually based on number of bedrooms This is three bedrooms Um and when the new septic was put in I actually had them put in laterals for four bedrooms even though I'm if if it's worth building it's worth overbuilding you
know So yes is the simple answer to your question When was that septic put in five years ago Do we have a concurrent compliance for that septic system yes it it should have been in there We discussed that two years ago but yes
it's current Taking the imperous concrete out and going to pavers sure helps but it doesn't help us on the set back off the lake though We're still you're you have to be gaining more
than it's got to be less than 25 ft Just by looking at the plan what what has to be uh the new the new part uh it's parallel to the lake It is parallel Yeah
and and um if you look at the Do you have the uh storm water runoff plan in front of you or not this one I can't the one by backyard Yeah if you can if you can see there um the It's
kind of weird the way the OW Yeah it's I talked to the surveyor and said we need to square this and and he went back I don't know what he did Um but uh the
survey is 25 ft plus or minus on both those corners Okay cuz the old plan we had from two years ago was 24T So somehow or another you
gained a foot Right again I went back to the surveyor He's a professional And I said "What's the deal here why is this in why does it look like this and he gave me a bunch of mumbo jumbo about OW and how it's calculated and all kinds of
things I don't remember and then sent me the new survey It says plus minus So I suppose they cover their backside with that And if you have any questions about the storm water runoff plan I have the
designer of it here as well Mike Monster Tiger is is here to answer any questions you might have on that since that's really one of the main focuses on on this lot I think that's one of two things The
other is the setback The high water to me is a higher or as in as important as runoff Are you satisfied with the 25 ft if the server is correct on that or are you
still concerned i don't know It seems like it's closer but that's maybe optical illusion but How wide is that addition um not the length but like just the width 8 ft 8 ft
Yeah 8 ft The width is 8 ft Yeah Okay Could you have uh your associate come up and just kind of do like a twominut run through of of the storm water drain plan do you need my name and address mike Munchiger 91 or
4119 Sandbar Trail Brainer So um as far as uh the the impervious on the site going from 29 or 30 or 31 you know we went down to
24.99 but by doing that we put uh pvious pavers in there So those are all drained pavers They're not a hard hard paver They suck the water There is a engineered uh plan that was submitted with it uh for how it works and how it's
going to be installed Um then the county uh is nice enough to engineer the storm water management plans uh with a nice chart that says uh per square foot how depth Um if you look at our chart uh on
our on our um on our plan this top chart gives you what basin it is what depth it is what square foot it is to reach what we need for the storm water management plan And there's not another place to
put I mean it's it's connecting every single side of that house from from water runoff None of the other houses around it has a storm water management plan So you're getting all the water from them too So uh without them having it you're getting you know three times
the water that that this house can even take So by taking the impervious down to 25 which is getting it conforming that way plus stopping the water from running off If you don't allow this to go
through you're still so you got all that much more hardcape coming in and all that water running directly into the lake I did talk to Jake Free about it too I don't know if he put a if he made comments on this one or not He did not
He's uh I'm I don't want to put words in his mouth because he's going to say what he needs but he said he would not have a problem with it Uh he's not going to say "Yeah he's for it or not for it but he said he wouldn't have a problem after I
talked to through him with what we're doing." the when you say you brought the uh impervious down to 25% Um are you counting the stepping
stones that you've got in there as being impervious she counted I think everything Okay Those those stepping stones in order for them to uh be considered pvious need the same subsurface engineering as anything else
does too Correct I know Um she so a designer made the the plan and she counted all the hearts hard surfaces that needed to be counted The the bottom line is that those steppers even though they're separated by grass I get I
understand still need the uh the same base subsurface underneath drainage Yep And this is a lot of it just coming off the driveway pretty much Quite well It all funnels down to here I mean what
your buffer is seeing here is is from the driveway to the to the lake So yes And and what it does is comes down the hill this side and it comes downhill this side So those Jerry get inspected
by the city of Breezy or the county or what pardon those rain gardens Who inspects that we will inspect those So what stops the homeowner from filling them in
you can say that about a lot of things Oh you're right Yeah I mean neighbors quite frankly more than anything else right i would hope that if they do an investment in something like that that they wouldn't try to fill them up a year
later quite frankly Correct It's it's costing a lot of money to a do the pvious b to create these plans c to get it all engineered Um it's it's costing money to do this just to come up with a
plan And to your point I think anybody could go on their property and change it after it's been done I think the plan looks good It's an improvement Any other questions
does anyone have concerns or questions thank you Does anyone have any other questions for the applicant all right then we will uh close the applicant presentation portion and move
on to staff review Uh again it's a variance request and it's be uh variance 25001 Applicant is Jame James and Susan Sack Rider Legal description is lot 31 in a
portion of vacated Timberline paint troder cade The address is 32601 Timberline Point Uh P number is 1030538 and the zoning classification of this property and the adjacent
properties is R2 The applicable sections of the city code for this application are 153.007 153.032 153.0445 and 153.120 The request is to expand a legal
non-conforming use 8 by 20 8 by 32 feet addition to the dwelling unit 25 ft from the OW Property is located on Timberline Point vacated portion of the access to the property from the shared driveway on
the adjacent 32635 Timberline Point this property and the adjacent properties east is a narrow peninsula in Lake Hawana McKe The property currently hosts a dwelling two outbuildings driveway miscellaneous
concrete ground cover The existing is uh dwelling is located within 75 ft setback and the northeast corner of the dwelling is 25 ft from the OW Because the dwelling is located within
75 foot setback of the OW the dwelling is considered a legal non-conforming use The applicant is seeking a variance to expand the existing dwelling The legal non-conforming use with an addition of 8 by 32 the east wall of the dwelling
northeast corner of the proposed addition 25 ft plus or minus from the OW Uh the existing imperous coverage of the original lot is 31 is 31.24% and the applicant is proposing to
convert a portion of the existing imperous ground coverage to pvious coverage A variance is a legal permitted deviation as provided by MS462.357 subdivision 6 as it may be
amended from time to time from the provisions of this chapter is deemed necessary by the board of adjustment when the strict interpretation of the ordinance would create practical difficulty and be impractical because of circumstances related to lot size shape
topography or other characters of the property When the deviation from the ordinance with an attached conditions will still be in keeping with the spirit and the intent of the ordinance Variances cannot create a land use not permitted in the
zone Variance review variances shall be decided within a reasonable time with considerations for the following The strict interpretation of the ordinance would be impractical because of circumstances relating to lots shaped
topography or other characteristics of the property not created by the land owner The deviation from the ordinance with any attached conditions will still be in keeping with the spirit and the intent of the ordinance The land use created by the variance is permitted in
the zoning district where the property is located The variance will not alter the essential character of the locality The variance is not for economic reasons alone but reasonable use of the property does not exist under the
ordinance Findings The applicant intends that the practical difficulty is non-conforming lot Uh the property is a plat from a 1961 The use is consistent with the character of the surrounding neighborhood
and the impervious coverage is proposed to be 24.99% Um the following findings of fact may be used to support denial of the variance request The property pre-exist subdivision and zoning regulations
Proposed impervious coverage does not exceed 25% Proposed expansion does encroach on the OW more than the existing dwelling The proposed impervious coverage is 24.99% The following may be used to support approval of the variance request
The subdivision was created prior to the zoning and subdivision regulations The request is in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the official controls The property is proposing use that is reasonable in manner Plight of the owner is due to
circumstances unique to the property not created by the owner and the variance if granted will not alter the essential character of the locality The practical difficulty is a non-conforming lot If approved the
following conditions may be conditions of approval Minimum elevation of the lowest floor 1210 Maximum imperous coverage 25% uh develop super surface water retention and management plan Need current septic
compliance and septic compliance to be for performed every three years Uh the planning commission board of review direction The board may by resolution choose to approve deny or modify the request variance The
resolution shall clearly state the practical difficulty in the reasons for the approval denial or modifications of the ordinance of the variance Does anyone have questions for Jerry or need more time
well I had brought this along from the last time The DNR recommends denial because of the high water It's only 25 ft
And there's nothing in here on that We did submit the the application and the the proposal to the DNR We did not get any uh official written responses from them I have had basic
conversations with with them They have not given me a recommendation one way or the other uh we did the conversations I had with with them were about the impervious coverage and the fact that uh when I brought up the issue of the
stepping stones that were there the stepping blocks that were there that need to in order to qualify they need the uh subsurface engineering that was was done for the rest of the uh imperous coverage and those transfers
But that's the extent of the the conversations that I've had with them Uh there is no official letter regarding this specific application like we got like we got received the last time Right
And I I think there's a there's a big difference in the proposal today versus what when it was here uh two years ago right it then impeous is much better Yeah I think there was I think there's been some planning done to and and I
think there's been some uh some work put into it rather than just saying I want this and I can't do anything about the impervious coverage I think there's I quite frankly I think anytime there's a variance request on Lakeshore and and
that uh those properties are over the impervious coverage I I think if you're going to approve a variance you should at least make the condition that they have to bring the property into compliance with that impervious coverage I I I think going forward I
think that's something that you should really be thinking about Um I think that's going to be your only chance to make the situation better than it is and and preserve the the lake shore and the water
Um hell that's the major value that you have in those properties is the the lake shore right they did say in their letter two years ago of course or a year and a half ago that there is other places the
addition could be put in on the house Yeah I guess which would be an inconvenience I know Yeah I I guess that's a that's a question for the applicant It isn't a question for me I
I'm not I'm not a builder and and I don't know if they've looked at other uh uh options right i know it it lays out really good this way I mean can I ask what the setback is
mhm So you put that on any side of the house and you're still in setback Correct Right So if and just a thought if you pulled this addition back
2 feet didn't even instead of 34 ft deep or whatever it may be made it 32 feet it goof up your master or your main ba bedroom Here's here's the deal They're improving
the lot Correct But they're not improving the back set the the high water They're that's not getting improved But it's not getting worse Uhhuh Still the same as what's existing there That's why they're here because it's
non-conforming Right And there isn't either they put the addition on or they don't put it on at all No Either way they're what you're saying If they don't even put the addition on Mhm they're still within 25 ft They can still put the edition on And they're
still within 25 ft right that's what's so confusing that this dead is this way and the land is this way How does that both 25 ft the surveyors are human and make errors Ow OW isn't a isn't a straight line right it it is an
elevation and it's based on the elevation that that they they determine where that OW line sits Okay Um Right So it may have changed It it it could change Okay It's not necessarily the way the house is laying
on the lot No not well If you would if you were to take this lot today and that lot was a vacant lot today there's a there is a very distinct chance that you would take the look at that lot and say it's not buildable at all the way it
is as a vacant lot Um you're you're dealing with you know you're talking about getting it to conform I don't think there's any way you can get it to conform No I don't Yeah Uh to not conform You're going to
be you're going to be dealing with topography and and those type of issues I think uh the the real concern here is the fact that there there has been some some or there will be some attempts made
to control the water runoff to control that and to manage that water runoff There's also an attempt being made to minimize the um impervious
coverage which needs to happen and and I I think the other thing that we need to uh stipulate if you're if you're going to approve or whatever is that that
there needs to be constant uh compliance with that septic system I think kind of taking off what you're saying what I what I like about this request is that we can't change the existing structure and how far it is from like it's already
non-conforming Um but the applicant is doing some in my opinion some significant improvements because the reason why we have those conditions are to protect our lake And so by having some rainwater um drainage plans I think
that's improving the situation And then the impervious coverage at least we're taking a non-conforming lot improving it trying to bring it up to code as much as possible And in my opinion adding that little bit of 8 ft as long you know it's it's very similar even if it's 25 or
slightly less I don't know that it's going to have any more of an impact than it already the property already does on that high water mark but it is improving the drainage It is improving the ability for water to have someplace to go
instead of the lake which is what we're ultimately trying to protect as much as possible True and to the point if we don't do it then we really haven't improved their distance from the lake We've just not approved eight more feet and then we
haven't done anything to help with the the drain water and um the impervious coverage piece So I think there's kind of a win with improving the pieces that are going to impact the lake the most So the 8 by34 or whatever that is part
of the impervious I'm assuming Yes Okay Do we have more questions discussion anyone want to make a motion i would um be willing to make a motion to approve the variance Uh the findings to support it would be that um
number one strict interpretation of the ordinance would be impractable because of the current lot size shape topographic and other characteristics of the property that weren't created by the land owner Um number two the requirement for the deviation from the ordinance with any attached conditions would still
be within keeping the spirit intent of the ordinance I would say yes it is um in the spirit intent of the ordinance Um the land use created by the variance is permitted in the zoning district where it's located and yes it is Number four the variance would not alter the
essential character of the locality and yes it's a residential area surrounding it um with similar properties Number five the variance is not for economic reasons alone but reasonable use of the property doesn't exist under the current conditions ordinance Um and then as far
as other items to consider for approval on that I would say that we would um add a condition that the current septic is um maintained and and how would you word that Jerry what would be the best
compliance uh inspection every 3 years and with a condition that the septic is compliant with an inspection occurring every 3 years I'll second We have a motion and a
second All in favor say I I Just before you before you get there I I I think uh I need to to say this only because I've seen it happen before I think we've we've seen you've got a
pretty picture plan here and I think the expectation of the of the board would be that this plan be initiated and and kept up That means the plantings and the the
all those things that are presented in this plan would would happen Um I only say this because I've seen pretty pictures presented to this board before and then after the building
permit is issued well I don't want to do that and and we go through holy hell to make it happen So I I think um maybe this plan be part of the variance approval
I will amend my motion to in to specif to specify that the current drain water management plan would be implemented as part of this approval Do we have a second i will second All in
favor say I I I Any opposed no Motion has passed All right moving on the agenda Any other items that need to be brought up to the commission at this point hearing none Uh any staff reports
i really don't have anything other than uh good to see you back again I don't know how long this is uh this arrangement's going to be around but uh I I would tell you that we are interviewing
uh city administrator candidates next Wednesday Um those interviews will be here I started I think 8:45 in the morning or 8:30 I think someplace around then They are open to the public
Two people Jerry four three three And then um after that point for the position for here would that be advertised or Jerry are you planning to stick around
um I don't know how that's going to work quite frankly I um they we've held off even thinking about the planning and zoning position until the new person comes on board and and he or she can
determine uh who the team's going to be Uh I I only suspect that I may or may not continue on a part-time role for a
while Uh that said I don't think I'm a long-term solution to the problem but uh uh I'll be here to help Put it that way Any other reports anything
all right Jerry you said you we should talk about some of this variance stuff you know is that something we can do now or is that actually what I my you and I after you and I talked this this morning I I uh
I'm going to put together a little package that I'm going to send out to you folks and and give you some material about variances and and and what practical difficulties are and some of the things that you need to think about
um in in most cases um actual practical difficulties I don't think are are in tune with the spirit of the the law quite frankly Um I think mo in most cases they're I just want this and I don't like the rules in a lot of
cases Um so I'll put together some information for your um bedtime reading enjoyment Thank you Do we have any commissioner reports any other updates on the team
all right then we will adjourn meeting at 7:15 Wow