Planning Commission OKs front-yard setback variance for Lake Ridge properties

The Edina Planning Commission voted Jan. 15 to approve a variance that will allow a new house on a combined lot at 5115 and 5121 Lake Ridge Road to be set about 30 feet from Lake Ridge Road, where the block-average setback requires 46 feet.

The variance request would allow the demolition of an existing house on the northern parcel and construction of a new home on a newly combined lot. City staff told the commission that the house to the south (with a much larger setback) and the block-average method of calculating the lakeshore and street setbacks created a practical difficulty that justified a variance under the city’s criteria. The staff report recommended approval subject to the findings and conditions in that report.

Commissioners emphasized that the applicant is keeping the lakeshore setback. “The developer is choosing to really maintain that 75 foot setback from the lake, and I think that’s really important,” Commissioner Smith said during deliberations. Commissioners also noted that the proposed 30-foot street setback would be consistent with neighboring houses to the north and therefore would not alter the essential character of the block.

No members of the public testified at the hearing. The commission closed the public hearing and, after brief deliberation, voted in favor of the staff recommendation. Chair Bennett called the motion and the public record shows the motion carried.

The approval is subject to the conditions and findings listed in the staff report, and additional tree-preservation review will occur during building-permit review to confirm compliance with the city’s tree-preservation ordinance.

Procedural note: this matter was heard as the first public hearing on the commission’s Jan. 15 agenda; the applicant’s design team and the property owners attended and stood for questions but offered no extended presentation during the hearing.