03-20-2003 Planning Commission Meeting

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February 26, 2003 Charles Marohn, PE Planing and Zoning Administrator City of Pequot Lakes 31108 Government Drive, Pequot Lakes, MN 56472 Re: Cease and Desist City of Pequot Lakes Dear Charles Marohn, I am returning an answer to your letter of February 20, 2003 and have attached the amended drawings as you have requested. The general contractor pulled the permit and subsequently had a number of conversations with Dawn, at city hall, concerning the project. A copy of the "revisions to date" drawings were dropped off during one of these meetings so I was surprised to discover that you were unaware of the changes. As the explanations of the changes are most likely long lost due to the passage of time, (as are the drawings it appears), I will briefly run through the sequence of changes. Shortly after the permit was issued, based on the plan submission, it became clear that the �-- project was coming in over the intended budget and a number of changes were looked at. The second floor storage area, totaling about half the square footage of the first floor, and the interior stairs serving this area were eliminated. Two major dormers in this area were also eliminated along with a smaller dormer and two skylights. The result was a building with an enormous expanse of roof as seen from the road. Therefore I decided to move the main bay to the middle of the building and use a gable roof perpendicular to the street to break up this expanse of roof and improve the aesthetics. A much smaller second floor space, accessible only from the exterior of the building, was created by the use of storage trusses over the small garage stall to the right of the main bay. (The stairs to this space to-be-built later by additional building permit). Due to the loss of the second level storage space it seemed to make sense to eliminate the other small garage door and to access a shop/work/storage area by conventional pairs of doors from both the exterior and the main bay of the garage. The pairs of doors were used for maximum flexibility for moving large items. Extensive windows were used in both designs to enhance day lighting to optimize the use of the spaces. Vaulted ceilings were also used for lighting enhancement and for tasks such as working in the boat in the garage. While this was in process it was discovered that my boat and trailer was too long to fit in a 28 foot length. Storage of our boat was one of the primary reasons for building the garage and you will see during your site visit that indeed we had a problem. As the original building placement was two feet back from the minimum street setback, I