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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br />Monday, October 21, 2019 <br />6:30 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />Page 1 of 8 <br /> <br /> <br />1. LA19-000074 WILLIAM GRIFFITH ON BEHALF OF TJ BONNETT, 40 AND 45 SMITH <br />AVENUE, RIGHT-OF-WAY VACATION AND VARIANCE, 6:33 P.M. – 7:44 P.M. <br /> <br />William Griffith, Attorney-at-Law, and TJ Bonnett, Property Owner, were present. <br /> <br />Barnhart stated the property owner is requesting the City vacate a portion of Smith Avenue and <br />additional, unimproved rights-of-way adjacent 40 to 40 and 45 Smith and to the Luce Line State Trail. <br />The property owner owns 40 Smith Avenue as well as 45 Smith Avenue located across the street. The <br />desire is to vacate the rights-of-way adjacent to these lots, which consists of Smith Avenue, Almo Place, <br />and Almo Lane. The ultimate desire is to subsequently subdivide or rearrange the lot lines. <br /> <br />Part of the challenge that Staff has in these types of applications is that the Council must find that there is <br />no public interest in the right-of-way. Staff does not support the vacation at this time primarily due to the <br />utilities that are located in the rights-of-way. If Smith Avenue is vacated as proposed, 40 Smith will not <br />have the requisite lot width and a variance would be required. The applicant is deferring the variance <br />application until the Council decides on the vacation request. <br /> <br />If the Planning Commission finds that the unimproved Almo Place and Lane serve no purpose, the <br />Planning Commission should recommend it be vacated. Without plans for the provision of a cul-de-sac, <br />an approved method to accommodate the lot width issue and a plan to accommodate existing public <br />use/improvements within the right-of-way, Staff does not support the vacation of Smith. Staff could <br />support to vacate portions of Smith as part of a larger development plan, subject to the following: <br /> <br />1. Provision of a cul-de-sac city standard turn-around for users of Smith. <br />2. Inclusion of sanitary sewer improvements within retained right-of-way. <br />3. Inclusion of a trail easement from Smith Avenue to the Luce Line. <br /> <br />The City has received a number of written comments from the residents in the neighborhood, both in <br />support of the request as well as against. <br /> <br />The City must find that Smith serves no public purpose in order to vacate it. <br /> <br />Ressler asked if Staff would still support the vacation if only one of the three items are completed. <br /> <br />Barnhart indicated it would need to be all three before Staff would change their recommendation. <br /> <br />Ressler stated also part of the consideration is the fact that there are municipal services that are located in <br />the area proposed to be vacated. <br /> <br />Barnhart illustrated the location of the manhole that the City would like to be protected for future <br />maintenance. <br /> <br />William Griffith, Attorney-at-Law, stated he is here tonight representing the property owners, and that he <br />would like to point out that they agree with Staff’s three conditions, which would then support the <br />vacation request. This request is not about eliminating access to the Luce Line. Currently someone has to <br />go over private property to access the Luce Line, and the property owner is offering to dedicate a public