04-24-2017 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday, March 20,2017 6:30 o'clock p.m. Landgraver stated given the project manager's willingness to comply with Staff s recommendations, he believes this is a good use of a difficult lot. Landgraver noted the applicants are pulling the house back, which reduces the massing near the lake even with the pool, and that he tends to be supportive of the application. Lemke commented he sees it as a reasonable request. Leskinen stated it is a reasonable request and complies with what the City requires. Leskinen noted the City has standards that the Planning Commission has to meet in order to either deny or grant a variance. Leskinen stated if someone comes in and can show the practical difficulties of a particular property and meets the criteria and intent of the code, the Planning Commission cannot arbitrarily deny it. Leskinen stated in her view it is reasonable and well presented. Lemke moved, Leskinen seconded, to recommend approval of Application No. 17-3917, James and Vicki Splinter, 4005 North Shore Drive, granting of side street and average lakeshore setback variances, subject to Staff recommendations. VOTE: Ayes 5, Nays 0. 12. 17-3919 AMIR AND ASHLEY MEHBOD, 2625 NORTH SHORE DRIVE, VARIANCE, 9:24 P.M. — 9:30 P.M. Andy Anderson and Kareem. Radom were present on behalf of the applicants. Curtis stated the applicant's home was initially constructed in the 1920s and has been remodeled over the years. The existing home is located 30 feet from the lake. The applicants are requesting a lake setback variance in order to construct a small 8' x 29.5' addition to the home 64 feet from the ordinary high water level. It would add 93.2 square feet of hardcover in the 0-75 foot zone. The hardcover property calculation is below 25 percent. The majority of the home is within the 75 -foot setback accounting for 3,700 square feet or 4.3 percent of the site's hardcover. Both of the adjacent neighbors are aware of the request and the property owner to the east has provided additional supportive comments that were included in the Planning Commission's packet. Staff finds the practical difficulties inherent to the existing home's location and its current proximity to the lake support the requested variances. Planning Staff recommends approval of the requested variances for the proposed addition with the condition that the Planning Commission should consider recommending plantings to screen the addition from the lake. Thiesse asked how old the survey is. Kareem Radom stated to his recollection the survey was done in 2015. Andy Anderson, Builder, stated the property owners are currently out of town. Anderson indicated they wanted the addition to look authentic instead of a little knob off of the side. In order to do that, the addition ended up encroaching into the lakeside slightly. Anderson noted the addition is not very visible from the lake, but in order to keep the addition consistent with the original roofline, it had to be situated this way. Thiesse noted one of Staff s recommendations was screening and asked if that is reasonable. Page 31 of 43