Detroit Lakes city council denies couple’s variance for taller-than-allowable separate garage

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – One Detroit Lakes couple is growing more frustrated with members of the city council who voted to deny their variance for an accessory structure larger than 14 feet tall during their meeting on Oct. 10.

Scott and Kelly Shank, who live on North Shore Drive, told members of the council their separate garage is in a state of disrepair and is too small to fit their large conversion van that they use to travel to and from Texas, where the spend their winters.

“The foundation is crumbling and the building needs to be replaced,” said Kelly Shank. “We have an asphalt driveway and parking area that takes quite a bit of our lot. So our plan was to remove all of the driveway and replace it with a shorter one that would actually give back 249 square feet. The reason for the height variance request is because we have a seven-and-a-half-foot tall conversion van that we use to drive back and forth from Texas … we’d need an eight-foot garage door for that. We currently have a seven-foot, so, obviously, the van can’t fit in there.”

The couple said they grew frustrated when the variance for their slightly larger accessory garage was recommended for approval by the city’s planning commission, however, a city staff report and city’s community development committee recommended denying the variance based on no practical hardship for the applicant and the feeling that more residents would want variances for taller structures, if the council approved the Shank’s permit.

Ron Zeman, alderman first ward, said he was concerned that the garage plans also included a bathroom and a bonus room for a possible art studio or exercise area. He also echoed that it would be a slippery slope if they approved the Shank’s variance since other residents would want the same treatment.

“In the current house you have, your house is only 1,300 square feet, so you’ve really increased it with the size of your garage and this bonus room,” said Zeman. “And the practical difficulty you have is you have this conversion van and you want to take (the garage) from 14 feet up to 16, 18 feet … and one of the concerns mine is that if we go ahead and allow this for you, we could having everybody in Detroit Lakes wanting to take their current garages and make them into bonus rooms.”

The Shank’s also said their neighbors both endorsed the garage replacement plan.

“Our neighbors both submitted recommendations for the garage,” said Shank. “So the people that are living around us really like the idea and they want to see improvements on North Shore Drive and they thought it was a great design.”

The chair of the city’s community development committee, Matt Boeke, alderman third ward, said he wants the height-limit policy to be addressed by the planning commission before they consider approving individual variances for projects.

“What I would like to see is a denial on this, not because I’m against the project, but because I think we need to look at that policy,” said Boeke. “If we could deny this now and look at getting this back to the planning commission to see if that 14 feet is actually where it needs to stay. Look at other communities. Is it 14 feet? Is it 16 feet? And really kind of dive into that to see if the 14 feet is still relevant, or not.”

The Shank’s permit was denied on a 7-1 vote with Aaron Dallmann voting to approve the variance.

The accessory structure height requirement policy is expected to be discussed by the Detroit Lakes Planning Commission on Oct. 26.