05-28-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETEING Monday, MAY 13, 2019 7:00 o'clock p.m. The plan proposes a hammerhead. There is approximately a 450 -foot long roadway. The code defines in Section 82.2 that a cul-de-sac means a local street with only one outlet and having an appropriate terminal for the safe and convenient traversal of traffic movement. The fire chief is in agreement with a hammerhead design. Instead of a 100 -foot outlot, being proposed is a hammerhead that is 20 feet wide and 70 feet deep. A comparison that was pointed out at the Planning Commission meeting was if they were to do a normal 80 -foot wide clump of circular pavement around the property, that would impact the wetland in the corner. The impact on the wetland is 83 percent less if a hammerhead is done. Stickney noted they got into a long discussion at the Planning Commission meeting about how buses were going to be able to go down the road. Stickney noted in any of the developments that he has helped out on, he has never had a bus go down to one of the cul-de-sacs and instead the buses park at the end of the street and the kids walk to the end of the road. Stickney stated he has not seen a school bus go down to a cul-de-sac in the time he has lived in Orono. According to state code and the Long Lake Fire Chief, a hammerhead is an appropriate turn -around, even given the fact that a fire truck is harder to operate than a school bus. Walsh noted drivers of fire trucks probably practice how to back up and that they cannot say a school bus or other delivery vehicles will never go down that road. City Code states that unless there is some overriding issue, it needs to be a cul-de-sac, which is the issue he is struggling with. While the hammerhead may work for a fire truck, everybody else will be going down that road and that he cannot envision somebody backing up a school bus with 30 kids on it. Stickney stated the private roads are built to city standards and that he does not know of one private road that allows a school bus to go down there due to the impact on the road and the future maintenance. Walsh stated if a road is being built, it needs to be built to code unless there is some overriding issue. While a wider road might wipe out more pine trees, those can be replanted but the road will never get any bigger. From a safety standpoint, if people are going to park on the road, there also is a need to be able to have cars go both ways. Walsh stated he would rather see the road built correctly up front with a cul-de- sac. Stickney noted these are 25 -foot pine trees. Walsh stated he has never seen a true survey of the width of every tree in the correct location. Stickney pointed out the grade is higher on the north side so the road cannot be wiggled through. Johnson stated he did visit the site and that he measured from the middle of the existing road to the base of the trees, which was 25 feet. Johnson commented he can understand what Mr. Stickney is saying about other private roads, but that when he looked at this situation, it appeared there was adequate room to put in a 24 -foot road and that he does not see a reason why it cannot be done here. Johnson noted when Irwin Jacobs did his development off of Heritage, the City made him put in a full-size conforming cul-de-sac, which is just what the City has done in the past and is what the code requires. Johnson stated he does not see a reason for not conforming with the code. Walsh noted the applicant needs a practical difficulty, and if trees are considered a practical difficulty, there will be a lot of practical difficulties in Orono.