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City refuses variance request
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By CHUCK CLEMENT, Staff Reporter
| 05/27/2009 |
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The city commissioners refused a request for a zoning variance on Tuesday that would have allowed a Madison couple to expand their garage.
Craig and Val Manthey had requested a variance that would have allowed them to build a two-car garage up to 3'4" to their side-yard lot line at 716 N. Catherine Ave. The Mantheys originally wanted to replace their current one-car garage with a larger structure that would have brought the building up to 2'8" of their property line.
The zoning in the Mantheys' neighborhood requires a 7 1/2-foot setback for a home's side yards. The municipal planning commission denied the Mantheys' variance request on May 12, saying that it did not meet the criteria needed for approval. The planning commissioners did indicate that if the Mantheys constructed a new garage with a single 16-foot door, they could consider a compromise that provided 5'6" sideyard variance.
The Mantheys appealed their variance request to the city on May 18, but the city commissioners informed the couple that they didn't have the reasons needed to overrule the planning commission's decision. The commissioner did continue the variance hearing for one week so the Mantheys could work on a compromise plan with their contractor.
After their meeting, the Mantheys submitted another building plan with a single, 18-foot-wide garage door and a 3'4" sideyard.
Commissioner Dick Ericsson told the Mantheys that he would have difficulty in overruling the planning commission's rejection of the variance because he thought they had done their work correctly. Ericsson also told the Mantheys that they had made the decision to purchase their home in that particular neighborhood in Madison.
Ericsson said the same zoning requirements existed for his current home.
"It's not that I don't sympathize with your situation," Ericsson said.
Ericsson and Commissioner Scott Delzer told the Mantheys that the city commission couldn't grant every zoning variance that was requested, because unbridled construction would make municipal zoning laws pointless.
The Mantheys had pointed out in their request that city officials had granted similar setback variances in the past, situations that both the planning and city commissions admitted had occurred. Delzer replied that those variances were mistakes and that the city shouldn't approve the same sort of zoning variances in the future.
The city commissioners would have needed a 4-0 vote to to overrule the planning commission recommendation and approve the Mantheys' request, since Commissioner Karen Lembcke was absent from the meeting. They refused the Mantheys' request with a unanimous vote.
The commissioners approved the appointment of Eldon "Red" Beukelman to a five-year term on the city planning commission.
They voted to accept a $26,600 bid from Mike Kroger Masonry & Restoration to repair part of the stone wall along a city park creek bed.
The commissioners approved a decision made by the municipal library board to convert a part-time library assistant to a full-time staff member.
They also adopted an integrated resource plan created by Heartland Consumers Power District, a major supplier of municipal electricity. The Western Area Power Administration, the other major supplier of municipal electricity, required that the city adopt the plan that includes an electrical load forecast and summaries of supply and demand resources.
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