07/21/2014 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,July 21,2014 6:30 o'clock p.m. that essentially for zoning purposes makes those lots one lot. Gaffron stated functionally and technically the house to the rear does define the average setback line. That line goes through the middle of the proposed house. The intent of the average setback ordinance is primarily to protect the lake views a lakeshore property owner enjoys over their neighbor's lakeshore yard and avoid the tunnel view effect of being set back further from the lake than the neighboring properties. In the current situation, lake views enjoyed by the owners of the neighboring residence to the north are potentially affected by the proposed location of the applicants' home. The house at 1135 is slightly skewed on its lot and its existing views of the lake are slightly angled across the applicants' property. The house at 1135 is set back from the lake a significantly greater distance than most other lakeshore homes in the immediate neighborhood. Gaffron stated an additional factor to consider is that the house at 1135 sits substantially higher in the topography than the applicants' proposed house. The house to the east sits at approximately 980 feet and the applicants' proposed roof peak is at 983 feet. Gaffron stated from many locations at the neighboring house,they will be looking over the top of the proposed house. Gaffron stated as it relates to the building height,the applicants are proposing what Staff considers to be a three-story building in an area that limits the height of the structure to 2-1/2 stories. The defined height of applicants' residence just meets the 30-foot height limitation as calculated by City Staff per the provisions of the Zoning Code. The proposed house is, by definition,three stories in height, because the lowest level of the structure does not meet the criteria to be considered as a basement. Gaffron noted the applicants have revised their plans by lowering the floor below the garage down to the floor level on the left side, which creates essentially a five level house. Underneath the garage, there is a fairly high ceiling situation. Per the code definition, basement means that portion of a building that is partly or completely below the existing ground level. A basement shall be considered as a story for purposes of determining the number of stories in a building, when the finished surface of the floor above the basement is more than six feet above the existing ground level for more than 50 percent of the basement's perimeter. In order to determine the height, Staff divided the house into two separate wings. Gaffron stated the house wing does not meet the definition for a basement and would be considered a story. The garage wing side also does not meet the definition of a basement and is considered a story. As a result, functionally and visually it is a house that is three stories and not two and a half Staff has discussed this issue with the applicants and their representatives on two separate occasions to discuss potential options for redesigning the house to meet the 2-1/2 story limit. Options discussed included lowering the home two to three feet deeper into the ground and/or revising the upper story of one or both wings to meet the definition of a half-story. The applicants ultimately decided to pursue a variance based on a desire to not lose substantial third-story space by reducing its dimensions and rooflines to be a half-story. It can be argued that the number of stories is a design issue that can be readily resolved by designing a smaller house for this site. The lakeshore property currently being developed to the south faced a similar predicament and resulted in their original proposal being three stories. In that situation Staff worked with the applicants and they ultimately revised their plans to 2-1/2 stories. Page 9 of 30