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4.Flood Plain, Wetlands, and Easements <br />The proposed addition is outside of any flood plains, wetlands, or easements. <br />5.Additional Review <br />a. <br />The Rice Creek Watershed District reviewed the plans for this request and determined <br />that a RCWD Permit would not be required for the proposed project at 3441 Lake <br />Johanna Boulevard. <br />b. <br />The Building Official reviewed the plans for the project and had no additional <br />comments. <br />c. <br />The City Engineer reviewed the proposal and stated that a Grading and Erosion <br />Control Permit is needed for this project. <br />Variance Evaluation Criteria <br />On May 5, 2011, the Governor signed into law new variance legislation that changed the review <br />criteria City’s must use when evaluating variance requests. The new law renames the municipal <br />variance standard from “undue hardship” to “practical difficulties,” but otherwise retains the <br />familiar three-factor test of (1) reasonableness, (2) uniqueness, and (3) essential character. Also <br />included is a sentence new to city variance authority that was already in the county statutes: <br />“Variances shall only be permitted when they are in harmony with the general purposes and <br />intent of the ordinance and when the terms of the variance are consistent with the comprehensive <br />plan”. <br />Therefore, in evaluating variance requests under the new law, in order to find a practical <br />difficulty, cities should adopt findings addressing the following questions: <br />Is the variance in harmony withthe purposes and intent of the ordinance? <br />Is the variance consistent withthe comprehensive plan? <br />Does the proposal put property to use in a reasonable manner? <br />Are there unique circumstancesto the property not created by the landowner? <br />Will the variance, if granted, alter the essential characterof the locality? <br />As was the case before the new legislation took effect, economic considerations alone cannot <br />constitute a practical difficulty. Furthermore, the new law clarifies that conditions may be <br />imposed on granting of variances if those conditions are directly related to and bear a rough <br />proportionality to the impact created by the variance. <br />City of Arden Hills <br />Planning Commission Meeting for July 9, 2014 <br />P:\\Planning\\Planning Cases\\2014\\PC 14-017 -Variance 3441 Lake Johanna Boulevard\\Memo_Reports_14-017 <br />712 <br />Page of <br />