The Cook County Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to approve a variance allowing Keith and Pam Altringer to build a residential garage at 49 Wolf Point Trail that will sit 4.5 feet from the road right-of-way where a 35-foot setback is normally required.

The decision matters because the parcel lies within the Lakeshore Residential zone on Tucker Lake, a Minnesota DNR-classified natural environment lake with a 150-foot lakeshore structure setback and overlapping wetland and steep-slope constraints that limit feasible building locations.

County planning staff presented the application, saying the 2.61-acre lot has about 367 feet of shoreline and that wetlands and steep slopes constrain buildable area. Staff reported the applicant initially proposed a garage described in staff materials as 30 by 38 feet with 2-foot eaves and about 21 feet to the peak; the applicants’ representative later described the proposal as a 30-by-30-foot garage. Staff said the proposed location is on an inside bend of a dead-end, low-volume road in the Wolf Point plat and that a right-of-way setback — 35 feet from the platted road edge — is the applicable standard for the variance review. Staff recommended approval with conditions, including a septic-system compliance inspection before a land use permit is issued and limits on use of the building to personal residential storage.

Applicant Pam Altringer told the board she and her husband have lived on the property year-round since 1997 and that the proposed location minimizes tree removal and slope disturbance. “By placing the garage at the proposed location, we minimize tree removal and preserve natural erosion controls,” Altringer said, adding that she had contacted road-maintenance and snow-plow contractors who told her the garage would not interfere with their operations.

Several neighbors spoke at the public hearing. Robert (Bob) Carrick, who lives directly across the road, said the Altringers’ request was reasonable given site constraints and urged approval: “I use every inch of that,” he said of his own 36-by-34-foot garage to explain the need for storage in the area. Written comments filed with the county included both oppositions, citing visibility from the road and safety concerns on the curve, and supports that cited limited building sites and year-round residency.

An attorney speaking for an opposing neighbor asked the board to consider postponing action until the Wolf Point Association’s architectural review process was complete; members of the association’s architecture committee who spoke said the applicants had sought committee review and that the HOA process is separate from the county’s variance review.

Board members discussed site constraints, the low traffic volume on Wolf Point Trail, and precedent in prior shoreland cases when weighing whether to require placement closer to the road rather than the lake. During deliberations the board adopted staff’s findings of fact, added a condition changing the maximum permitted structure height for this approval to 28 feet, and approved the staff-recommended conditions requiring septic inspection and limiting use to residential storage. A motion to approve the variance, as conditioned and with the amended maximum height, passed by voice vote with all members saying “aye.”

The variance approval allows the Altringers to seek a land use permit subject to the stated conditions; if a septic inspection fails, staff said a new septic permit will be required before a land use permit can be issued. The board noted that homeowners associations may impose standards that are more restrictive than county rules but that HOA review is a private contractual matter outside the county’s variance process.