04-25-05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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March 7, 2005 . To the City of Arden Hills, The reason for this variance request is to enable the construction of a new 2 story single family home, The house that is currently on the property is very old (85 yrs.) and doesn't represent the nature or standard of other homes in the neighborhood that were built more recently. The proposed building will more closely match the homes directly adjacent to 1137 Edgewater and also throughout most of the neighborhood. There are several reasons that prompted the need for a variance, The small 50 ft. Jot sizes make the 40 ft. setbacks impractical. The property at 1137 Edgewater is 1 '/, lots or 75 ft. by 124 ft. A smaller building plan will be needed to fit this size lot but a variance would also still be needed, Another feature that is unique to this lot is the location on Edgewater Ave and Shoreline Lane. Because of the recent pavement improvement project, Shoreline lane is now a city street making 1137 Edgewater Ave, a corner lot. Prior to the project, Shoreline lane was just a driveway to the single family home to the north of 1137 Edgewater. Even now that it is a city street, it still only serves the 1 home and is only 20 ft. wide and is a dead end, Arden Hills zoning code for corner lots requires a setback of 40 ft. from both Edgewater Ave, and ShoreJine Lane making this an undue hardship on the property (1137 Edgewater) which otherwise would have had a smaller setback if it were not considered a corner Jot. The final reason for the needed variance is the location of the mature trees on the property, In order to preserve a large Silver Maple and 6 or 7 Spruce, White and Red pines the variance would allow the building to be placed 10 feet closer to Edgewater Ave" giving these trees the space they need to grow, The granting of this variance would provide several things to the Edgewater Ave, neighborhood and to the City of Arden Hills. First it would provide a safe, modern, up to current standards home that would add to the value of all the neighboring properties, It would also solve the problem of how to build on a difficult to build on lot, due to the unusuaJ street layouts and the differing lot sizes. It would aJso preserve the natural features and trees on the lot. And finally it would enhance the character of the neighborhood by precisely locating and buiJding a modem single family home that would closeJy resemble the style and features of the other nearby homes and also provide enough space for new trees and landscaping for future growth in the Edgewater/Lake Josephine area, I hope to make this home my permanent residence and perhaps retirement home and look forward to working with the staff at the City of Arden Hills to make this home a reality. . Thank you for your consideration, /UJ1I~, .