05/19/2014 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,May 19,2014 6:30 o'clock p.m. John Wooden, River Valley Power& Sport, stated the only point he would like to make is that the City of Orono has been very receptive to his dealership and that he has been able to work with Staff to make their boat dealership work on a small piece of property. Wooden stated they have been working with the boat club, and with the implementation of managed parking, there were very few complaints about the parking or the operation of the businesses last year. Wooden stated in terms of the volume and the complexity of his business, he does sell a number of boats at three other locations. Wooden indicated ninety percent of the sales come out of Red Wing and Rochester and that the Orono location is retail only. Wooden stated this site is very important to him and has been well received. Schoenzeit asked if the dock is compliant. Greg Nybeck, Executive Director of the LMCD, stated approximately one year ago prior to the boating season it was brought to the LMCD's attention that the south dock may not be in compliance. The approved variance from 1985 defined the dock use area from the south of the property where the building is to the north side of the parking lot dock on 1444. It was communicated to the applicant that as part of the LMCD's dock inspection, the LMCD would go out and check to see whether it did comply. Nybeck stated the dock on the south side is supposed to parallel the dock by the parking lot, and that he is guessing that what probably happened at some point is that the dock may have been put in at the correct location but the inner slips were having problems with access and so it reverted back to a different location so the boats could access on the other side. Nybeck stated once it became known that the dock was out of compliance, one of the challenges the LMCD faced was how to communicate that to the owner of the property. Nybeck stated at that time the bank owned the property. Once EOF purchased the property, it was brought to their attention after they closed on the property. Nybeck stated the LMCD is attempting to set some guidelines to get the dock into conformity with LMCD's code. Nybeck stated he is not here advocating for approval of the rezoning since the rezoning is an issue the City will need to decide based on their planning process. Nybeck indicated the two south properties that are currently zoned commercial will have the ability to redo the dock within that area. Nybeck stated he was hopeful going into this year's boating season that this issue would be resolved but the LMCD is not at that point. Nybeck indicated the current property owner is willing to resolve the issue and the LMCD Board wants to work with all parties to come up with a reasonable solution. Nybeck noted the LMCD has not issued a multiple dock license for the 2014 boating season for the property on Tanager Lake. Schoenzeit asked if the proposed dock is in compliance. Nybeck stated with regard to the dock use area, if it were expanded to the two rezoned properties, because those slips on the current site plan are 20 feet opening to the south, LMCD code says they would need to be equal to the depth of the slip. Nybeck stated since it is abutting a multiple dock, it has a single side setback requirement. To the north with the 28-foot long slips opening, because that is a multiple abutting a non-multiple,the code requires a doubling of the side setback. Nybeck stated if there is 55 feet between those slips, there may be some compromise on that in order to bring the north dock further to the south. Page 19 of 31