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 7 of 21 (7. #14-3691 SOURCE LAND CAPITAL, LAKEVIEW PROPERTY, 405 NORTH ARM DRIVE – PRELIMINARY PLAT WITH PRD OVERLAY, continued) Gaffron stated the City has not given credits for conservation areas, but that there have been two credits given recently where someone has a 10-acre parcel with a house and they are splitting off a 2-acre lot. In those situations the City has only charged for the new lot. The other credit area that is roughly established in the code talks about when the development’s stormwater system has the capacity to serve a greater area than their own development. Gaffron stated in the Stone Bay development, their holding pond was expanded to accommodate some other areas and the developer was given a small credit toward their stormwater fees. Gaffron stated in this case there is some additional stormwater that comes into the site but that it is not a huge amount. Gaffron stated perhaps some credit could be given for that. Gaffron stated he does have a graph showing what the City has collected in fees since 2002 when the ordinance was adopted. The City has consistently required the fee and the basis for it goes back to the late 1990s and the early 2000s when the City looked at a dozen different properties that were ripe for development and estimated what the stormwater needs to serve those properties would be and then established, based on that, a per acre fee for the 2-acre zone and other zones. Gaffron stated the intent of looking at that was that the City has infrastructure needs for stormwater that are outside the property as well as some downstream needs for the future that will need to be paid for in some way. The Council in 2000 thought one of the ways to help offset those costs was to implement a stormwater trunk fee and that the fee is charged on the entire acreage and not just the dry buildable. Gaffron stated if there is a credit for this, it should be initially based on the excess capacity they are creating and the fact that the developer is going over the actual need in terms of stormwater management systems on site. Gaffron stated in his view it is something the City Engineer will review and then advise the City Council as to what those numbers mean. Hiller stated he was trying to establish a different basis other than the engineering basis for there to be a credit of a more substantial nature. Hiller stated it is a fairness issue and taking a global look at the situation. Hiller stated in his view the ordinance did not contemplate this type of situation and that he is asking the Council to consider a different justification in light of the bigger picture even if the ordinance does not contemplate that. McMillan stated the one thing that is different with this application is the fact that this development is taking dry buildable land and putting it in a conservation easement on a very large scale, which likely was not taken into consideration at the time the stormwater fee was implemented. McMillan stated Orono has never had any development on this scale. McMillan stated she does not know what that would translate into as far as money, but that it is a different situation from other previously approved developments. McMillan stated the conservation land will be filtering stormwater and not adding to hardcover, etc., and that it is worth thinking about. Levang indicated she agrees that it is a unique situation and that she would like Staff to speak to the City Engineer about what the true stormwater costs are in this situation and work with the developer in a fair and equitable way. Hiller stated he did not expect it to be resolved tonight.