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I'm going to watch that.

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» Nailed it.
>> All right, [snorts] are we recording?

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» We're recording.
>> All right, well, good evening, everyone.

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Let me call tonight's um
hearing to order.

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Uh my name is Carl Grandrath. Um the
hearing examiner for tonight's hearing.

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Looks like we have one item to schedule
for tonight.

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Um so, just a quick uh overview. Um
so, as a hearing examiner tonight, the

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purpose of tonight's hearing is for me
to gather testimony and evidence um from

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staff, the applicant, and members of the
public.

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Uh and to uh create a complete record on
which I will have 2 weeks from tonight

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to submit my recommendation
uh back to staff who then will take that

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recommendation and bring it in front of
your county commissioners for the

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ultimate decision uh on this matter.
Uh as far as procedure for tonight, uh

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what we'll do is we'll start off with a
presentation from staff. And we have Mr.

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Zetter here for the county.
Uh we'll give an overview of the project

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and the staff's analysis and
recommendation on it. Um

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after that, the applicant will have an
opportunity to make any presentation

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they so desire. They have up to 30
minutes

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uh for that. Um after that, will be our
public comment portion of tonight's

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hearing. I don't have anyone signed up
yet. Um so, and there may also be people

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um
who call in on the telephone.

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Um
but uh tonight and during that portion,

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that is the public comment, will be the
only opportunity for me to receive

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public comment. So, if anybody changes
their mind, I'll give a a reminder then

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if anyone decides they want to give an
official comment on the record.

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Uh after that, there's an opportunity
for

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the applicant to rebut or address or
answer questions, anything that's been

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brought up by the public.
Uh and I can and will ask questions uh

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at any point in time uh to anyone. So,
um

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without further ado, I'd like to open
the public hearing for variance 26-0003.

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Uh I'll sit.

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Go ahead.
>> Good evening, hearing examiner. Blake

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Zetter for the record, here to present
VAR 26-0003.

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A request for two variances, one to the
rear yard and one to the side yard

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setbacks for an existing deck.
Before I dive into the request itself,

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um
I would first like to start off the

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presentation by saying uh Kootenai
County Community Development has

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received a number of inquiries and phone
calls regarding concern around beach

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access near the subject property. Um I'd
like the record to state that um

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this request and the public hearing
tonight are limited to the scope of the

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deck variance.
Um any beach access concerns along the

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Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive
um are not part of this request, nor are

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they even located on the subject
property. Um so it is uh

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it's assumed that those concerns will
not be addressed tonight.

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Moving on to the uh request at hand, the
applicant is requesting approval of a

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variance for an existing deck that was
built um by a prior owner.

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Um the first variance is a foot 14-ft
variance from the 25-ft rear variance

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setback that will allow the deck to
remain about 11-ft from the rear.

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The second variance is a 7.5-ft variance
from the 10-ft side yard setback that

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would allow it to remain about 2.5-ft
from that side yard.

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The property in question is located uh
southeast of Coeur d'Alene Lake of

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downtown Coeur d'Alene of Coeur d'Alene
Lake Drive.

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You will see here that the zone is
restricted residential that has a front

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yard setback of 25-ft. You will also
notice that the um right-of-way along

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here
um takes up a good portion of the

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property um
and creates a uh

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a significant hardship with regard to
development area.

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As far as site conditions are concerned,
these are some photos of the um deck and

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the surrounding slope. It is a little
hard to discern based on the vegetation,

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but the uh you can tell there's a
retaining wall here. It slopes pretty

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steeply up
back into the hillside.

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It should also be noted there is not a
way to access this back portion of the

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property without going through the house
and onto the deck.

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So, here is the site plan that the
applicant has prepared. As you'll

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notice, the deck here is located in red.
The stairs itself are about 11 ft from

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the
rear yard setback and the side of the

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deck here, oops,
is about 2 and 1/2 ft from the

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eastern side.

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During the public agency comment period,
all agencies approved or had no

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objection.
During the public comment period, staff

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received zero written comments, although
we did receive a number of phone calls

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with regards to the beach access.
It is staff's position that there is an

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undue hardship that exists because of
the shallowness of the site and the

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slope characteristics. In addition, the
applicant did inherit this issue and has

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now come back trying to correct it. Um
As such, staff recommends approval of

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this variance and I stand for any
questions.

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» Hey, great. Thanks for the presentation
and your staff report. Um I guess just

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maybe half curiosity, how did this come
across the county's radar?

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» Yeah, so
this The applicant has actually applied

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for
solar panel permit. And so, in doing

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research on the property, as we do for
all permits, we found that there was an

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unpermitted structure built from the
last permit to this permit. It should be

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noted that there is a variance that was
approved for the existing house

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back in 2012 and then the subsequent
house permit was built in 2013. It is

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assumed, based on aerial imagery, that
the deck was built about 2014, about a

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year after the house was built.

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» I think that's all the questions I have
for you this time. Thank you.

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Mr. Paulson, I presume?
>> Yes.

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» Go ahead, sir.
>> Thank you, sir. Yes, my name is Dan

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Paulson and I'm
here hoping to request a setback

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variance for both my for my back deck
and its attached stairs.

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The
the deck was built or extended expanded

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by the the original owner in 2013 2014
right after building the house.

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The second owner was unaware of the
undocumented or unpermitted deck as well

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as I was unaware of it until applying
for the solar permit.

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Um
the pain that I feel is due to

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the narrowness of the lot. The lot as
you could see from Blake's picture that

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he showed of the lot size that just is
the house itself was designed in a very

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unique shape only because it had to be
fit onto that small lot. And so there is

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absolutely no place
um around the house where a a deck could

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be placed and be within the setback
requirements.

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There just simply isn't an area there.
Um

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so I'm not trying to expand the deck or
change the deck in any way. I'm just

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trying to legalize the deck
um that is existing in its current

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condition.
Um

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both my adjacent neighbors I have a
neighbor that owns the land behind the

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house as well as a neighbor that owns
the land to the east of the house.

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They both have signed a statement in
full support of the variance application

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and I have that with me, sir, if you'd
like to view it.

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» Uh I did see that in the record um when
I was reviewing it unless it's different

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than
there's like four signature blocks in

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the statement. I can see that.
>> Um

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my deck I I believe maybe the house
itself is not even visible from

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the neighbor's house is as I live below
them in very steep terrain and so you

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can see the
to the right there on the images the

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the land spot where the neighbor is now
building his house and the other

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neighbor who has the land behind my
house is up above and he he can't see

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the house at all I don't believe from
his vantage point. He surely can't see

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the deck.
From the roadside uh just the very

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corner of the deck can be seen from the
roadside

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on the on the east side and that's only
after looking through the the blanket of

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trees. So it's very difficult to see. I
don't believe there's any

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impact to the public and definitely not
to my neighbors with the visual aspect

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of the deck.
Um

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As Blake said, all review and agencies
have

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uh
not found any problems with the the deck

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and those agencies are extensive
Lakeside Highway, the Idaho

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Transportation Department, Panhandle
Panhandle Health, Avista as well as

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Kootenai County Fire.
Um

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In summary, I am trying just to bring my
existing structure which has been in

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existence for 13 or 14 13 years
into uh becoming a legal structure. And

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uh
I'm not trying to change it in any way

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or improve it in any way. I just want to
make it legal.

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Thank

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» All right. So that does move us to our
public comment portion of tonight's

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hearing. Um so I'll check real quick to
see if there's anybody who's connected

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via telephone or online however it's
being done today.

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Um I don't know if
Okay. Well, if there's anyone who can

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hear my voice who's connected versus on
the telephone,

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um you can go ahead and speak up now.

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Okay. And I'll repeat for anyone else
who's here in the audience. Uh

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uh this is your one and only chance to
enter a public comment on the record. Uh

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so I'm just giving a last chance to do
that. Seeing none so eager.

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Okay. I'm going to move this on
from the public comment portion.

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I guess I'll just ask if there's
anything else from staff or the

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applicant they would like to say during
tonight's hearing.

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» I have nothing further.

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» Okay,
I have no further questions. As I said

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well maybe I didn't say this part
before. I did receive the file from from

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the county staff and so that's that in
tonight's testimony is going to be the

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bulk of the record tonight.
Um

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but with that I am going to close the
record for variance 26-0003

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and we are adjourned. Thank you.
>> Thank you.

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Thank you. Good job.
Nice job.

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» Nice job.