05-21-2018 Planning Commission Packet

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To: From: Date: Subject: Chair Thiesse and Planning Commission Members Dustin Rief, City Administrator Laura Oakden, City Planner May 21, 2018 #LA18-000042, City of Orono Text Amendment: Notification Distance for Public Hearings, Public Hearing Application Summary: The city is considering an ordinance that would alter the notification distance for public hearings from 350 feet to 500 feet. Staff Recommendation: The Planning Commission should consider the propose changes to the public hearing notification distance. Background The Mayor requested a change to the notice requirements for public hearing, currently 350 feet from the subject property. The Mayor proposes 500 feet. State Statute requires notification of property owners within 350 feet for zoning ordinance amendments. Within the zoning and subdivision chapters, the City also requires a public hearing for all conditional use permits, variances, rezoning requests, comprehensive plan amendments, wetland and subdivision requests. The intent of the notification radii is to inform those property owners that are more likely to be directly impacted by a proposal. All interested parties are notified via the notice in the official paper, and on the city's listserve. Changing the distance from 350 feet to 500 feet would allow for more neighbors to be notified which would increase the chance for more public input. The Planning Commission should consider and evaluate the typical amount of public input they receive for public hearing applications and how the residents hear about the projects. Other items to consider include: • The increased cost for postage and mailings (currently part of the recently reduce application fee) • The impact an application might have on an abutting neighbor verses of neighbor 500 feet away. Comments To date, no public comments have been received. List of Exhibits Exhibit A. Draft Ordinance Clean Copy Exhibit B. Examples of past 350ft notification areas compared to 500ft.