06-11-2018 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday, May 21, 2018 6:30 o'clock p.m. Council LA18-000042 Exhibit E 6. LA18-000042 CITY OF ORONO, TEXT AMENDMENT — PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE DISTANCE AND SUBDIVISION REQUIREMENTS, 7:34 P.M. — 7:45 P.M. Oakden stated Staff was requested to look at changing the notice requirements for a public hearing. Currently notices are sent to property owners 350 feet from the subject property. The Mayor proposes 500 feet. State Statute requires notification of property owners within 350 feet for zoning ordinance amendments. Within the zoning and subdivision chapters, the City also requires a public hearing for all conditional use permits, variances, rezoning requests, comprehensive plan amendments, wetland and subdivision requests. The intent of the notification radii is to inform those property owners that are more likely to be directly impacted by a proposal. All interested parties can learn about the project through the City's official paper or through the City's listserve. Having a larger notification area would increase the change for more public input. The Planning Commission should consider and evaluate the typical amount of public input they receive for public hearing applications and how the residents hear about the projects. Other items to consider include the increased cost for postage and mailings and the impact an application might have on an abutting neighbor versus a neighbor located 500 feet away. Oakden noted she did include some examples in the packet depicting the current notification area and the expanded notification area. Landgraver asked how this change would impact Staff. Landgraver asked how likely it would be that Staff will be receiving more calls. Oakden stated it is likely Staff will get more calls and that the Planning Commission will receive additional input but that she is not sure of a specific percentage. 6. LA18-000042 CITY OF ORONO, TEXT AMENDMENT — PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE DISTANCE AND SUBDIVISION REQUIREMENTS, 7:34 P.M. — 7:45 P.M. — Continued Seals asked if there is any expectation for increased processing time. Oakden stated the notice mailing is provided by the applicant at this time and that there will be some Staff time to print the additional postcards as well as the postage. Libby stated considering lot sizes, in his view the 500 feet would be more inclusive. Thiesse commented he has some difficulty with expanding the notification area and that the City tries hard to get people involved but that it does not always work. Thiesse stated in his view people in the neighborhood have an obligation to know what is going on in their neighborhood. Thiesse stated he likes getting people involved but that he does not like going beyond what the state statute requires. Thiesse noted the City just backed off of their wetland ordinances for that very reason.