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<br />Variance Nos. 05-13, 05-17 thru 05-21, <br />05-26 thru 05-47, 05-49 thru 05-52 and <br />05-57 thru 05-60 <br />August 22, 2005 <br />Page 7 <br /> <br />inter-departmental team of City staff, the neighborhood representatives <br />concluded that improving the area's streets and storm drain system would <br />begin to address their concerns. As a result of the neighborhood's <br />request, the project was added to the City's Capital Improvement <br />Program. As designed, improvements will include replacing existing <br />rolled curbs with standard curbs and gutters, and constructing new storm <br />drains, pavement, drive approaches and sidewalks. In order to allow for <br />the street and drainage improvements, the existing rolled curb would <br />need to be removed and replaced with standard vertical curbs. Vertical <br />curbs will render the secondary driveways inaccessible. Upon physical <br />inspection of the proj ect area, it was discovered that some homes had <br />two driveways and that many of these driveways did not lead to a garage. <br />In addition, there were driveways that were wider than that allowed by <br />the City's Municipal Code. <br /> <br />On May 11, 2005 a letter was sent by the City to all owners whose <br />property would be affected by the proposed street improvement project <br />(Exhibi t 2). The letter indicated that those residents whose property <br />had more than one driveway were not in conformance with the Santa Ana <br />Municipal Code (SAMC) and that the only avenue available to them to seek <br />relief from this code section would be the request for a variance. <br />Residents seeking a variance were asked to submit applications. In an <br />effort to ensure that all properties were notified, a second letter was <br />sent to property owners on August 2, 2005. <br /> <br />To date, 14 residents on West Elder Avenue and 22 residents on West La <br />Verne Avenue have submitted variance applications to keep the second <br />dri veway approach (Variance "A") and for a wider driveway (Variance <br />"B") . One resident at 2425 West Elder Avenue has submitted a variance <br />application to allow a circular driveway on their property. <br /> <br />Analysis of the Issues <br /> <br />This proj ect was continued by the Planning Commission at its July 25, <br />2005 meeting. At that meeting, six residents on Elder Avenue had <br />requested variances for a second driveway and for driveways that <br />exceeded the width of their garage. Since the July 25, 2005 hearing, <br />the City has received an additional 30 variance applications from <br />residents on Elder and La Verne Avenues requesting wider driveways and <br /> <br />31 B-13 <br />