Forest Lake planners approve front-setback variance for 780 Woodland Drive, deny impervious-surface increase

The Forest Lake Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a variance shortening the front-yard setback at 780 Woodland Drive to allow an existing detached garage to be relocated onto the primary parcel, but it denied an increase in the property’s allowable impervious surface and attached a lot-combination requirement before a building permit can be issued.

City planning staff described the request as two related variances: a front set‑back reduction (from 30 feet to roughly 9 feet) and an impervious-surface increase from the district standard (about 30 percent) to approximately 35 percent once the driveway is added. Staff told the commission the lot is nonconforming (about 4,700 square feet) with a roughly 680-square-foot house and a 320-square-foot detached garage currently located on an unaddressed adjacent parcel. Staff recommended approval of the setback and the impervious‑surface variance subject to standard conditions (site to match submitted plans, required permits, certified survey and driveway permit).

The property owner, James Johnson, told the commission he owns the three adjacent tax parcels and said his immediate goal is to relocate and repair the garage, not to build a new home on the vacant lot. "My intention is to move the garage over to the other side where it looks like that's where it should be," Johnson said during his testimony. He also said he has considered lot line adjustments in the future but expressed concern about potential tax consequences of an immediate consolidation.

Several commissioners said the commission’s past decisions favored minimizing additional impervious surface and that the small lot size and historic configuration justify strict scrutiny. Commissioner Steeler (long‑time member) recommended requiring the owner to combine the separate unaddressed lot with either 780 or the neighboring parcel so the resulting configuration would reduce or eliminate the need for an impervious‑surface variance.

After discussion the commission adopted a motion to approve the front setback variance and to deny the impervious‑surface variance, with the condition that the owner combine the unaddressed lot with the subject property (or otherwise reconfigure the lots) before a building permit for the relocated garage will be released. The commission directed staff to prepare a revised resolution documenting those conditions and the denial of the impervious variance; the motion carried.

Staff clarified that the variance approval itself will be recorded against the property and remains valid, but the city will not release a building permit for the relocated garage until the lot-combination requirement is satisfied. Officials also said the administrative 120‑day deadline mentioned during the meeting pertains to the city’s procedural timeline for acting on the variance application, not to when construction must start.

The commission’s action resolves the immediate code nonconformity by permitting the garage’s relocation while preserving the commission’s policy preference for limiting new impervious surface in the Forest Lake watershed. The applicant may pursue the administrative lot‑combination process through Washington County and return to staff for permit issuance once the condition is met.