31B - 2000 BLKS W. ALDER & W. LA VERNE AVE.

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Variance Nos. 05-13, 05-17 thru 05-21, 05-26 thru 05-47, 05-49 thru 05-52 and 05-57 thru 05-60 August 22, 2005 Page 13 The final variance request is to allow a wider driveway and a circular driveway for the property located at 2425 West Elder Avenue. The City's design standards state that all single-family residential development shall have only one driveway curb cut except when the property has more than 60 feet of frontage and the front setback is more than 25 feet. In such case, a circular driveway is allowed provided that an adequate turning radius and reasonable front yard setback and landscaping is incorporated. The property in question does not exceed 60 feet of street frontage and does not meet the front yard setback requirement of 25 feet. The purpose of the 25-foot setback requirement is to provide additional front yard landscape area to offset the additional pavement that would occur with a circular driveway. Since findings can not be made to support a circular driveway, staff recommends that the Commission deny the variance request. On August 17, 2005, senior staff from the Planning and Building Agency and the Public Works Agency met with the Board of the New Horizons neighborhood association to discuss this matter. This meeting resulted in a productive discussion that lead to the development of staff's recommendation to allow the widening of the primary driveways. The representatives of the board indicated at the meeting that this solution represented a good middle ground and would address their concerns about providing for adequate off-street parking, as well as facilitating the desired street improvements. Based upon the above analysis and findings (Exhibits 4, 5 and 6) staff is recommending that the Commission approve the variance request for a wider primary driveway, as conditioned (Exhibit 7), deny the variance request for a second driveway that does not lead to a garage and for a circular driveway at 2425 West Elder Avenue. Staff has also prepared two alternative actions for the Commission to consider: ALTERNATIVE 1 Approve the variance request for a second driveway and deny the variance request for driveways exceeding the width of the garage. Should the Commission choose this alternative the variance would allow those owners who have applied to construct a second driveway while denying the variance request for a primary driveway wider than the garage. This would be permitted even though many properties do not at 31 B-19