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2. Flood Plain, Wetlands, and Easements <br /> <br />The proposed structure is outside of any flood plains, wetlands, or easements. <br /> <br /> <br />3. Additional Review <br /> <br />a. 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 1830 Noble <br />Road. <br />b. The Building Official and Residential Inspector have reviewed the plans for the <br />project and had no additional comments. <br />c. The City Engineer reviewed the proposal and had no comments relative to the <br />placement of the proposed structure on the lot. A Grading and Erosion Control Permit <br />would be required for this project. <br /> <br /> <br />Variance Evaluation Criteria <br /> <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 /> <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 with the purposes and intent of the ordinance? <br />• Is the variance consistent with the comprehensive plan? <br />• Does the proposal put property to use in a reasonable manner? <br />• Are there unique circumstances to the property not created by the landowner? <br />• Will the variance, if granted, alter the essential character of the locality? <br /> <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 /> <br /> <br /> <br />City of Arden Hills <br />Planning Commission Meeting for September 3, 2014 <br /> <br />P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2014\PC 14-026 - Variance - 1830 Noble Road\Memos_14-026 <br /> <br />Page 5 of 9 <br />