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In Merriam Park Community Council, Inc. vs. <br />McDonough, 210 NW 2d 416 (1973), a property owner applied <br />for variances from the zoning code to permit the construction <br />of an apartment building. The property owner requested that <br />the required setback be reduced from 35 feet to 16 feet, that <br />the 30 unit maximum allowed on the tract be expanded to permit <br />construction of 32 living units, that the maximum permitted <br />ground area to be covered by the building be expanded from the <br />35% maximum to 39.7% and that the side-yard setback reduced from <br />8 feet to 5 feet for the parking lot at the rear of the building. <br />The evidence showed that a 32 unit apartment building <br />could not be built on the defendant's tract if the variances <br />were not granted, The trial court found that; <br />"the required 35 foot setback, under <br />the conditions presented, was an undue <br />hardship to the development of the tract <br />for multiple-residence purposes; that <br />the tract could not be reasonably and <br />economically developed without the re- <br />duction of the setback requirements to <br />16 feet; . . . that the variances for density, <br />ground coverage and side-yard clearances <br />were minimal in nature and would have little, <br />if any, effect on the valuation of adjacent <br />property, . , and that a reduction of the <br />number of units in the proposed apartment <br />building from 32 to 30 would not materially <br />change the design and the fn.nction of the <br />building and would only cause economic hardship <br />to the applicant without any benefit to the <br />community," 210 NW 2d at 418, <br />6