11-19-2018 Planning Commission Packet

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,October 15,2018 6:30 o'clock p.m. people to this one-mile radius without it having a very negative impact to the area they call home. Decabelus stated she appreciates the Planning Commission's serious consideration of this project. Andy Petich,Jamestown Road, stated when he first saw this proposal, he also said,holy crap,this really can't be happening. When he moved to Orono,the big selling point was that it was two-acre zoning,and that he never dreamed there would be a 288-unit building right in his line of sight. This project is a major outlier for our community. Petich commented he is sure the applicants do great work, but that this is not the right location for this project. Lake Classen is a natural lake and people cannot boat or swim in it. It is a marsh and no one is going to want to go down to the end of a dock to a marsh because they can't really use the water. There are eagles flying around, swans, and tons of wildlife and there should not be something that looks like it belongs in St. Louis Park there. Petich stated he would be very disappointed if this is given very much further consideration. Laurel McGloughlin, 3565 County Road 6, questioned what this will do to the enrollment of the schools and whether there are plans to increase the size of the schools. With all the high-density housing going in already, Orono Schools are not going to fit all these kids very easily. Heidi Cole,Jamestown Road, stated they chose the house they did because it was a two-acre lot minimum,which is great, and that it is nice to come home from a stressful job and look at the ducks,the swans,the osprey,the beavers and the eagles. The area is very quiet. Cole stated when she got this letter in the mail, it was like, oh,my God,what is that. I'm going to look at this big apartment building. This project does not belong there. Cole stated this is not what they bought into,and that at the time they purchased the property,the realtor told them that they were paying for a million-dollar view. Looking at huge apartment buildings is not a million-dollar view. If the area is zoned for that, it is different than what their expectations are and that it will destroy the whole character of the area. Neil Riley, 3175 Jamestown Road, stated he just learned about this and that he has to image that there are other considerations, including precedent setting, as it relates to the community and allowing for rezoning on a wetland. Riley stated he would ask the Planning Commission give consideration to the precedent setting this will have on a small community whose motto is the lakeshore city. In addition,this will be a visible project from Baker Park. Riley stated in his view this will truly be changing something that decades from now will create more precedent for other similar buildings. Riley commented he would love to invest in this since he can imagine it will be a tremendous investment, but ultimately it is a business that is going to deliver 95 percent of its rental income back to its investors and not to the community. Riley stated while there might be some economic benefit to ultimately developing it,he would ask that the City not rezone it to something that the community is going to regret. Orono is a tiny community and its motto is protecting its lakeshore. Orono also bought Big Island Park to help conserve that and that they should think about putting this elsewhere. Bill Lurton, Stonebay, stated he lived for 25 years on the bluff on the east side of Lake Classen. He and his wife also owned the property across the lake consisting of approximately 40 acres. When the new highway came through,they decided that they did not want to see a lot of development on the lake and so they gifted their property to Orono for a park. Lurton stated he never envisioned hundreds of more people on the lake because they knew it was zoned for two or three homes. The only boat he ever saw on the lake in 25 years was a little boat that the Orono School used to teach biology. Lake Classen is a protected lake and is home to trumpeter swans and eagles.