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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO PARK COMMISSION <br />Monday, November 4, 2019 <br />6:30 o'clock p.m. <br />As it relates to safety, Birches is not a safe place to access the water given the slope. The club has to <br />continually put mulch down in order to provide a safe walking path down to the lake. In terms of <br />environmental impacts and the other issues that were raised, those are things the club will take into <br />consideration. The club is not proposing coming into the park as a sole use. While this would be the <br />club's boathouse, the club wants to improve the park and make it more useful for the community. They <br />also want to keep the park as natural as possible and they are trying to make the structure as less intrusive <br />as possible. <br />Burrell noted they are just in the beginning phases of their plan and that they will be addressing the <br />residents' concerns as they go through this process. It is not their intention to cause disruption to the <br />neighborhood. <br />Norm Hammond asked whether they are looking for public funding. <br />Burrell stated they would conduct fundraising of their own to help build it. <br />Betsy Johnson asked what type of impact the traffic would have on the neighbors. Currently people are <br />forced to turn into private driveways and turn around. Johnson asked how many actual rowers will be <br />there on a daily basis on top of the people who drive into the area and live there. Johnson indicated her <br />driveway hooks right into the beach and that her children are not allowed to ride on the road due to the <br />number of cars. Johnson stated the neighbors have concerns with the traffic and the noise. <br />Burrell stated in the summer months they do a couple of practice sessions with the juniors and the masters <br />are only in the evenings three times a week. The junior rowers practice more often and there will be <br />approximately 20 to 25 rowers per session, with some of them carpooling. Currently their cars are parked <br />in the back row of Birches, which will provide some idea of the number of cars. Some of the rowers get <br />dropped off. The proposal is to keep the lot small, and if the City ever wanted to expand it, that would be <br />their call. The rowers are not there on Sunday. <br />Meyers noted if this goes to the next level, there will be other opportunities for the residents to comment <br />on the application. <br />Rachel Feldman stated she does not know if going to the extent of a big two-story building is necessary <br />and that perhaps they could cut down a few trees at Birches and construct a smaller structure. Feldman <br />stated she would like to see the parking area stay the same as what currently exists. <br />Meyers asked whether the Park Commission could table this. <br />Edwards stated that is up to the Park Commission, but at some point the applicants would like to go <br />before the City Council. <br />Hudson noted the comments expressed by the public were similar to the comments raised by the Park <br />Commission at their work session and that the Park Commission is interested in something that would <br />have the lowest environmental impact as possible. <br />Roath stated this has been a healthy, productive discussion and that he appreciates everyone's viewpoints. <br />The Park Commission had the benefit of meeting with the rowing club during their work session and that <br />he knows how the neighbors feel because they had a lot of the same concerns. <br />Page 7 of 15 <br />