12-09-2019 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,December 9,2019 6:30 o'clock p.m. Mr. Howard Mcmillan, 1275 Lyman Avenue, stated he would not like to see the present proposal pass. He asked if a turnaround and new trail connection within the existing Right-of-Way could be drawn so the two options can be compared side-by-side and the issue of public good could be better ascertained. Walsh said the Council is looking at what the applicant brought forward. If the proposal does not get approved,the Council may have to look at something down the road. There could be some type of hammerhead at the end, which is not perfect. If that didn't happen,the Council would have to work with the Parks Commission about the possibilities of getting access not going through the Bonnett property. He said he has walked it and it is steep. The brush can be cleared out, but it would definitely be a project. He did not know what the cost would be,which is always an issue when you're dealing with very steep land and you have to build access and decide whether it has to be handicap-accessible or not. Johnson noted it also has to be maintained. Walsh added it would probably have to have stairs because it is steep. He uses "clean it up" because there are a lot of fingers of land and there's a street that dead ends into nothing. Since the City is doing the road, it is a good opportunity to get a couple of things done at the same time and get a trail that can work well and get an easement through that which would be on Mr. Bonnett's title so he could never get rid of it. Everybody would win. As far as equity, Right-of-Way cannot be sold. This is a long finger of land heading down in the woods that was planned for a street maybe 100 years ago. But if somebody today said,"We want to do a new development and we want to put in a road with a hammerhead,"the Council would say no, it needs to be a cul-de-sac. The City is trying to do a few different things, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Mr. Mcmillan said he understands the City is responding to the Bonnett application and the City's been providing counsel for how he might make adjustments that could pass. He thinks the application has created a need for the City to address an issue that has always been there. He has lived there for over 30 years, and the access onto the Luce Line from Smith always existed and was maintained by previous homeowners. When the Bonnetts moved into the house is when a"No Trespassing" sign went up,which has made it more challenging for neighbors to understand where they should be. Walsh noted the sign said "Private Property" but that it's still a very nice lined pathway. Mr. Mcmillan agreed that it says "Private Property." To him, the easiest solution for the path would be to go straight off the end of Smith and develop that trail. He is not keen on the idea that he has to thread his way through private property to get to a public easement. He asked what the City policy is regarding vacating public Rights-of-Way. Walsh said the policy is,the Council is willing to listen to anybody if they've got those types of pieces of property next to them, because there are lots of different types of easements throughout the City.There was one on Forest Lake. They had an entire road circulation system that they put in place 130 years ago, and 90% of all the little fingers of the road easements have been vacated over time. There were one or two small pieces left which were next to houses that were tiny, and it made sense to say, "This has no public use anymore because it's not going to be a Right-of-Way for a road anymore,"because it would never be put into place today, but 100-130 years ago it looked really good. The City is always willing to reason. The City probably has a 50/50 track record of things that make sense, some that don't make sense, but having the conversation is always a good thing. Page 16 of 34