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Stearns County board approves after-the-fact variance for Hulsingers' attached garage
Summary
The Stearns County Board of Adjustment granted an after-the-fact variance allowing an attached garage built in 1984 to remain 5.5 feet from the side property line, reversing permit noncompliance after board members found removing the structure would be unreasonable.
The Stearns County Board of Adjustment on a September evening approved an after-the-fact variance allowing Thomas J. and Diana Holsinger to keep a 22-by-35-foot attached garage built in 1984 that sits 5.5 feet from the side property line, short of the required 10-foot setback.
Board members said the hardship of forcing the owners to remove or alter the garage outweighed the county interest in enforcing the 10-foot side-yard standard under the Stearns County Land Use Ordinance 4-39. The board voted to grant the variance after staff confirmed there were two written comments in support and that the applicants had applied for a construction site permit for a separate addition that cannot be permitted until the unpermitted garage is resolved.
The issue came to the board as an "after-the-fact" request: the applicants told the board they had lived at the parcel since 1984 and believed a permit had been issued for the garage but no permit record exists in the county files. Environmental Services staff reported the garage is 5.5 feet from the property line, representing a 45% deviation from the 10-foot requirement, and that the parcel is 2.45 acres in the R-1 zoning district on Creagle Lake, a recreational lake listed for mercury in fish tissue.
At the hearing, Diana Holsinger said the property abuts a common outlot owned jointly by subdivision residents and that the error likely arose because past owners or neighbors relied on a fence line rather than the legal property line. Environmental Services Director Shelly Benson explained that the outlot is owned in fractional interests by all 14 lots in the Weekman's Farm Dale Estates plat and is typically not developed unless all owners agree.
Board members went through the required variance findings and answered each question in the affirmative, including whether the proposed use is allowed in the R-1 district, whether the variance is in harmony with official controls, whether the need is unique to the property, and whether the variance would preserve the essential character of the locality. Member Michael moved to grant the variance and Barry seconded; the motion passed and the board approved the request.
The county noted the applicants would need to add the existing garage to the construction site permit they have submitted for a 16-by-20-foot addition and likely pay an after-the-fact fee. Staff also said the proposed addition meets setbacks and could be permitted once the unpermitted garage issue is resolved. No formal conditions beyond the permitting process were recorded in the board minutes.
The decision allows the Holsingers to proceed with obtaining the required permit records and to add the garage to their current construction-permit application, resolving the county's record-keeping gap while keeping the existing structure in place.
