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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL-July 27, 2009 9 Submitted Plans, as Amended by the Five Conditions in the July 279 2009, Report to the City Council City Planner Beekman stated that the applicant, Linda Nelson, is the trustee of the family that owns and manages the property at 1126 Benton Way, which is located in the Hunters Park Second Addition and part of the Hunter's Park Homeowners Association. The applicant is proposing to construct a 585 square foot addition on the south side of the home between the existing home and detached garage. The addition would be located entirely on the main floor of the home and would consist of a bedroom and bathroom. The proposed addition would stay in line with the existing building line to the rear of the property and step back slightly from the existing building line in the front. With the proposed addition, the applicant is requesting three variances: Encroach four feet into the front yard setback; Encroach eight feet into the rear yard setback; and Increase the structure coverage to 26 percent. The existing detached garage would remain unchanged. The Hunters Park subdivision was approved via a PUD and as such has smaller than usual lot sizes. The PUD also created a significant amount of shared open space. When the PUD was approved the setbacks that were approved were not adopted as blanket variances. As a result all the properties are legal non-conforming lots. Almost any addition to any of the properties requires a variance. Councilmember Grant asked for more detail on the blanket variances that City Planner Beekman mentioned. City Planner Beekman stated that Hunters Park was approved via a PUD and typically in this type of development through the review and approval process, the City Council would approve blanket variances for the entire development. This reduces the amount of setbacks on all the lots such that they are all in conformance. At the time this PUD was approved this was not done and it is unclear why this was not done. Because the City's current regulations apply to all the homes, rather than blanket variances approved through the PUD process, the properties are legal non- conforming. Councilmember Grant clarified that it is not clear if the City or the developer are at fault in this development for not providing a blanket variance. City Planner Beekman stated that this was correct. Community Development Director Lehnhoff stated that the City Council looked at this development in the early 1990's and at that time they decided against proposing standards because there is so much variance in each lot and setbacks that they were unable to establish a standard.