REMEMBER–NO DECEMBER BOARD MEETING
Agenda Draft
Tangletown Neighborhood Association
Regular Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006
7:00 P.M. Fuller Park
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of Agenda—moved and approved
3. Approval of Minutes—October minutes moved and approved.
4. Variance request by Mike and Mary Garrity (details below). Neighbors have been notified and seem comfortable with the proposal. Four separate variances are involved. No one in the audience had any questions. Moved to send a letter that the Board is not opposed to the request. Passed.
4a. Council Member Scott Benson passed out his monthly newsletter. Some of the issues of interest are:
• 46th Street bus rapid transit station design planning. Four neighborhoods are being asked to provide someone to serve on a planning group, preferably who are transit users.
5. NRP report—Tom Balcom noted that an NRP committee has been formed and first meeting has been held. Planning about 10 meetings in the upcoming months. Mary Davidson is representing the Board. Board Chair Andrew Hedden attended the initial meeting as well. Committee will focus on the what, rather than the how, as that is key to the city. Next meeting is Monday 27th November, 2006. Phase 2 will have about $300,000 for Tangletown, with about 70% having to go for housing.
6. Treasurer’s Report – Supat reported that the balance in the TNA accounts is $8,179.48
7. Open Matters – Board Members or Members of Tangletown
Transit planning for 46th St station: volunteers are requested to contact the Chair, Andrew Hedden, if they are interested in serving. Please contact Andrew within two weeks.
No December Board meeting (would have been December 18th). Holiday Party for Board will be a pot luck on December 2nd.
8. Adjournment
Attendance: Sarah Cortright, Jerry Doyle, Steve Edwards, Ryan Fisher, Norman Foster, Andrew Hedden, Laura Silver, Joe Thiegs, Supat Tipayamongkol
Not present: Mary Davidson, Meredith Johnson.
2006-2007 Board
Sarah Cortright, Mary Davidson, Jerry Doyle, Steve Edwards, Ryan Fisher, Norman Foster, Andrew Hedden, Meredith Johnson, Laura Silver, Joe Thiegs, Supat Tipayamongkol
11/15/2006
Tangletown Neighborhood Association
P.O. Box 19347, Minneapolis MN 55419
Subject: Variance notification
Project Name: Garage Addition to the home of Mike and Mary Garrity
Project Address: 53xx Grand Ave So
Tangletown Neighborhood Association,
I am writing to notify you that we, Mike and Mary Garrity, the long time home owners (18 years), will be submitting a variance application. Mary and I are life long residents of Minneapolis, and would like to make our current Tangletown Neighborhood home more livable. We would like to have the opportunity to present our plan, to the Board, at the Monday, November 20th meeting. The plan involves adding a new two-car garage to the front of our existing home on 5324 Grand Ave, Minneapolis. The existing home has no alley access, with a tuck under single-car garage. The tuck under garage allows substantial cold air into the living space, and is plainly not energy efficient. As a family of four, we need more space than our current home provides us. We would like to convert the existing tuck under garage into space for family use.
We currently park one car in the garage and one on the street. We are proposing adding an appealing attached two-car garage to the front of the home with a roof patio deck above it. The home is raised a story above street level with a front yard sloped up from the street to the main level. The new garage will be mostly below grade. This plan will serve to give us shelter for our cars, as well as, stop the non-heated garage from cooling the rest of the house, in winter. The project will also eliminate a, 15 foot 30 degree, hill which slopes to our driveway. The hill is a great hazard and safety concern, as I have fallen off of the slope several times while mowing the 30 degree hill.
Modern family lifestyle, in which two or three cars are the norm, has clogged our street with cars and traffic. Clearly the neighborhood’s housing/parking schema was not built to accommodate the added vehicles of today. Our block has experienced numerous fender benders amongst neighbors. Our project would help to reduce congestion on our street, by removing one car from parking on the street. The garage will also give us added security. We have lived in the home for the past 18 years, in which time we have had our car stolen, and broken into.
We have the good fortune to live on a block in which five of our neighbors have installed patios in the front of their homes. The front of the house patios, have added a sense of community to Grand Avenue, as they have promoted neighbor interactivity. We currently have no usable front yard space because of the steep slope. We would like to join our neighbors in having a patio space in the front of our house. The new front patio deck would not be possible without this new garage. The variances needed for the project pertain to the garage and roof deck. The new deck patio will add to the aesthetics of the home while also allowing us to enjoy our neighborhood.
We will be seeking variances for the following issues.
1. A new garage to be located in front of the front yard setback.
2. A roof deck above the garage.
3. For a garage greater than 60% width of the structure facing the street.
4. For a garage protruding further than 5 feet past the habitable portion of the structure.
Sincerely,
Mike and Mary Garrity