9C-i - Kevin and Noelle Sheehan - Laserfiche WebLink

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c _ 19 e0l VP September 8, 2007 City of Pequot Lakes _ Potential Ordinance Violation PIN: 291270000050009 3945 County Road 168 To Whom it May Concern, We were suprised to get the complaint in the mail. The landscaping including the stairs in our back yard was completed over 2 years ago and seemed to be overwhelmingly well-received by many on Mayo Lake. We used a _ local, professional landscaper who showed us numerous photos of similar steps he installed on many of the local lakes. He did not indicate that it would be necessary for us to request a permit. We have contacted him after receiving this complaint and he assured us of the following: No soil was removed in the construction of the stairs... they were constructed to rest on top of the soil. The vegetation around the stairs remains intact and have made them very solid, with little or no chance for erosion. Again, they were constructed by a professional and were crafted with excellence and care and we were unaware that stairs could qualify as a new structure and require a Land Use Permit. The stairs were constructed to create a safer way to reach the lower part of the yard. We have 5 small children and we were concerned about the steep and irregular grade of the existing cement stairs by the boathouse. They _ have had many accidents on the cement stairs, and the new wood stairs are very safe for our children. The sand on the beach was placed on top of the grass with no cubic yards of material removed to make the beach area. Please refer to the before and after photographs to be assured that we simply added sand on top of _ the existing lawn. Our landscaper estimated we added about 4 cubic yards of sand for the beach area. Enclosed are photos supporting our case. We are hopeful that you will support our opinion that while we enhanced our property with our stairs and landscaping, we are not in violation of the indicated ordinances. If the — Board feels that we are in violation of the ordinances indicated after reviewing our case, we have included our application for a Land Use Permit after-the-fact. Thank you for your time and consideration. — Siiinc�erre�ly,C` ../J/ Ncelle Sheehan Kevin Sheehan