01-08-1990 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• MINUTES OF ORONO COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 8, 1990 PARR COMMISSION COMMENTS: PARR DEDICATION FEE REVIEW Mr. Phil Bradley, Chairman of the Park Commission, said "Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, you have the report of the Park Commission recommending change in formula and an increase in the Park Dedication fee schedule. The Park Commission has worked on this for over a year. They have studied other communities' methods of assessing this fee and we have come to the conclusion that the Orono formula ought to be changed so that we have an indexing system for inflation and a system that will generate funds. We are beginning to see the need for park improvements, park programs and development forthcoming ". Mr. Bradley introduced Dick Flint, the author of the report, and Mr. Jim Gilbert who drafted the language of the amendment. Councilmember Goetten said, "I certainly appreciate the efforts of the Park Commission in this direction. We have needed something like this for a long time ". Goetten had questions concerning the multi - residential figures. Bernhardson replied, "The current ordinance has a ratio of unit per 5 acres, which is the .20. The new formula uses a per • building basis ". Councilmember Goetten asked if the Park Commission would give the Council some direction or improvement plan for parks and bike /hike trails with the money generated from the Park Fees? Mr. Flint replied, "There is no plan today, it needs a comprehensive, overall plan. There is not enough money in the City of Orono to put the whole bike /hike trail that you have seen in the conceptual stages. Our plan would be to come up with a specific proposal and do it step by step. We definitely will do that, and couldn't, if we wanted to, go ahead without Council approval ". Councilmember Goetten said her only other concern is that she believes the 10% figure is a little high. Goetten asked about phasing in the increase over a period of years. Mr. Flint replied, "We don't have a projection as to how many dollars the 10% would raise. That (the 10% figure) came from looking at other ordinances in different cities. It was clear from an early evaluation that we were woefully inadequate, compared to what other cities are doing. We looked at what the norm was and it runs from 7% to 10 %. We picked the high side which seemed to be the most common among the cities that we looked at; 5% would be a vast step forward from where we are now and it would be possible to phase it in at 5% the first year, 6% the second year, etc. We are less hung up with the specific 10 %, than we were with the need to change and to have a higher fee than we have now ". 2