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MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING <br /> Monday,July 15,2013 <br /> 6:30 o'clock p.m. <br /> 5. #13-3614 FRED JOHNSON, 1565 ORCHARD BEACH PLACE,VARIANCES AND <br /> CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT,7:02 P.M.—8:10 P.M. <br /> Gaffron stated the applicants are requesting the following variances: <br /> 1. Lot area variance to allow construction on a lot of 9,641 square feet where 43,560 square feet is <br /> required. <br /> 2. Lot width variance to allow construction on a lot of 83 feet defined width where 140 feet is <br /> required. <br /> 3. Rear setback variance to allow rear(north) setback of 12.9 feet where 30 feet is required. <br /> 4. Side street setback variance to allow east side street setback of 25.4 feet where 35 feet is required. <br /> 5. Average lakeshore setback variance to allow the proposed residence to be located 75 feet from <br /> the lakeshore, an encroachment of approximately 50 feet lakeward of the average setback line <br /> defined by the adjacent residence at 1555 Orchard Beach Place. <br /> 6. Conditional use permit and variance required for grading within the 0-75 foot zone in excess of <br /> ten cubic yards. <br /> Gaffron stated this lot was platted as a"commons lot" in the plat of the Saga Hill in 1885. It was not <br /> dedicated to the public. Staff has found no information to date regarding any special legal status that is <br /> attributable to a commons lot and the City sees common areas within PUDs regularly. However,there is <br /> no special designation or definition of a commons lot that establishes what it was supposed to be used for. <br /> Gaffron stated the fact that they designated that area as commons strongly suggests that this was <br /> originally platted as a neighborhood amenity rather than a building site. <br /> Staff has not been able to determine exactly when the property became individually owned rather than <br /> owned by some community association. Staffs assumption is that it was not individually owned in the <br /> beginning. A family by the name of Vedeler owned the site as early as 1926 and Staff is aware that there <br /> was a summer home on the property in the 1920s,which burned down in the late 1930s or early 1940s. <br /> The summer house was never rebuilt. There was a small detached garage that remained on the site until <br /> 1981. <br /> Gaffron stated there was also a community beach located at the end of Orchard Beach Place that existed <br /> in the 1950s and 1960s and perhaps earlier. Staff has been told that the property at 1565 Orchard Beach <br /> Place was used as an informal picnic area next to the beach. In 1962,the adjacent properties along the <br /> west side of Orchard Beach Place were regrouped into two building sites resulting in the current lot <br /> configurations for 1555 and 1535. The Planning Commission at that time recommended the City Council <br /> consider purchasing the 1565 property which was for sale at that time for$7,500. The City did not <br /> purchase it. <br /> Gaffron noted that in 1967,the owner at that time applied for a building permit for the property,which <br /> was recommended for denial by the Planning Commission due to the size of the lot and lack of sewer <br /> connection at that time. The Planning Commission again in 1967 recommended the City Council <br /> Page 8 of 23 <br />