Agenda - Council - 09/08/2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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There are no customers or clients coming to the property. Mr. Lofgren anticipates vehicle trips from his residence to be roughly four (4) per day, Monday-Friday, and occasionally on Saturdays (between himself and his son). Even if there was an additional round trip factored into the vehicle trips per day calculation, this would not exceed the standards outlined in City Code Section 9.11.04 (Home Occupations), which states that two vehicle trips per hour per standard eight (8) hour business day or sixteen (16) vehicle trips within a twenty-four (24) hour period are permitted. The parking, maneuvering and storage area where the equipment is stored will be surfaced with con bit and is fairly well screened by existing vegetation. Additionally, Mr. Lofgren intends to install a six (6) foot tall wood privacy fence to provide even more thorough screening of the equipment. There may be some storage of materials on the property, such as forms, wheel barrows, etc, but they would be stored inside the small detached accessory structure onsite. Also, occasionally there is excess soil from a job site that Mr. Lofgren brings back. to his residential property until such time that it can be disposed of properly. Due to the irregular shape of the lot, the transition point from front yard to side yard is not readily identifiable. However, since this property is not at the intersection of two streets, Staff considers the location of the storage area as side yard, which does comply with the standards outlined in City Code Section 9.11.08 (Residential Development Off-Street Parking) in terms of storage/parking of commercial vehicles and equipment. City Code Section 9.11.04 (Home Occupations) restricts home occupations to no more than twenty percent (20%) of the floor area of the dwelling unit. Activities such as accounting, sales (via phone), filing etc. will be conducted in one room of the home. The home is roughly 3,200 square feet and the room in which the business related activities will occur is roughly 100 square feet (10' x 10'), which is within the allowable threshold. The Planning Commission met on August 6, 2009 to hold a public hearing concerning this request. Several written and verbal comments were received and are reflected in the attached minutes. The Planning Commission raised several concerns regarding this request, most notably whether this type of use is really appropriate for a residential area. Recommendation: The Lofgrens have resided at this address for twenty-six (26) years. Eagle Ridge Services, Inc has been in operation for about six (6) years now. However, it wasn't until last fall that the Lofgrens began using their residential property to store the equipment. Prior to last fall, the equipment had been stored at their son's place, but that property went into foreclosure, which prompted moving the equipment to its current location, the Lofgrens' property. The Lofgrens have stated that they consider this as a temporary solution until such time that their son is able to acquire another property and resume storing the equipment there. While the Planning Commission recognized the difficult situation the Lofgrens are in, they did recommended that this home occupation permit be denied due to incompatibility with the surrounding lot sizes and the proximity of the parking and maneuvering area to the road.