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RELEVANT LINKS: <br /> C. Neighborhood opinion <br /> Neighborhood opinion alone is not a valid basis for granting or denying a <br /> variance request. While city officials may feel their decision should reflect <br /> the overall will of the residents, the task in considering a variance request is <br /> limited to evaluating how the variance application meets the statutory <br /> practical difficulties factors. Residents can often provide important facts that <br /> may help the city in addressing these factors, but unsubstantiated opinions <br /> and reactions to a request do not form a legitimate basis for a variance <br /> decision. If neighborhood opinion is a significant basis for the variance <br /> decision, the decision could be overturned by a court. <br /> D. Conditions <br /> Minn.stat.§462.357,subd. A city may impose a condition when it grants a variance so long as the <br /> 6. <br /> condition is directly related and bears a rough proportionality to the impact <br /> created by the variance. For instance, if a variance is granted to exceed an <br /> otherwise applicable height limit, any conditions attached should <br /> presumably relate to mitigating the effect of excess height. <br /> V. Variance procedural issues <br /> A. Public hearings <br /> Minnesota statute does not clearly require a public hearing before a variance <br /> is granted or denied, but many practitioners and attorneys agree that the best <br /> practice is to hold public hearings on all variance requests. A public hearing <br /> allows the city to establish a record and elicit facts to help determine if the <br /> application meets the practical difficulties factors. <br /> B. Past practices <br /> While past practice may be instructive, it cannot replace the need for <br /> analysis of all three of the practical difficulties factors for each and every <br /> variance request. In evaluating a variance request, cities are not generally <br /> bound by decisions made for prior variance requests. If a city finds that it is <br /> issuing many variances to a particular zoning standard, the city should <br /> consider the possibility of amending the ordinance to change the standard. <br /> League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 11/15/2017 <br /> Land Use Variances Page 5 <br />