11-24-2014 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, November 24, 2014 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 6 of 21 (7. #14-3691 SOURCE LAND CAPITAL, LAKEVIEW PROPERTY, 405 NORTH ARM DRIVE – PRELIMINARY PLAT WITH PRD OVERLAY, continued) Mattick stated he can tell the Council that from a Staff level it is not uncommon to be dealing with encroachments in the conservation easements. The Council needs to be aware that if the homeowners association does not reserve adequate money for those three items, there will be problems. The City’s conservation easement is very restrictive with what is allowed and that the City is asking the homeowners association to deal with those issues. Mattick stated you typically do not see those issues for the first generation of homeowners, but that in the years after that, it will amount to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix the road. Mattick stated homeowners associations can sometimes become dysfunctional and that it is a different situation when neighbors are monitoring these things rather than a governmental agency. Mattick stated Staff will attempt to craft the necessary language in the documents to deal with those types of situations but that he wanted to make sure it is a very conscious decision on the part of the City Council and developer going forward. Hiller stated on the draft resolution for the preliminary plat approval there are a couple of fees mentioned. Hiller stated he was expecting the park dedication fee but that he had no idea the stormwater trunk fee would be as large as it is. Hiller stated that item was not included in their budget and they have not been planning for it. Hiller indicated he would like to discuss that further. Hiller stated Staff has provided him with the original language from 2002 and the theory behind it and what the reasoning was for applying it on a per acre basis. The basic idea behind the per-acre fee was to create infrastructure to move the stormwater through the City. Hiller stated to his understanding the other developments that have gone through this process prior to this development have paid the fee. Hiller stated he would ask the City Council to consider all the restoration to the site that they are doing. Hiller noted this site is not the typical site that has been developed in the City previously and that massive amounts of restoration are required. Hiller noted the City has given them some relief on the trees, but that cleanup of the greens from the fungicide is also very expensive. Lab testing has already begun on soil samples. Hiller noted on the Red Oak Golf Course project, they spent $260,000 on a 9-hole golf course that consisted of 21-acres. Hiller noted the stormwater fee is approximately $545,000. Hiller stated they will need to spend more than that to clean up the site. Hiller stated those two extraordinary costs will approach a million dollars before anything else is done to the site and that he is asking the Council for some flexibility on the fee by either waiving the fee or reducing it by a significant amount. Hiller stated in the last few years the City has collected $235,000 of stormwater trunk fees, which is an average of $78,000 of trunk fees for the entire City. At $545,000, that would be seven years’ worth of fees that would be applied to this site. Hiller stated the magnitude of the number is a lot and that he realizes this is a new item but that he did not catch it earlier. Hiller stated otherwise he is fine with the document as written. McMillan asked if the City has given stormwater credit for conservation areas in the past.