01-21-2020 Planning Commission Packet

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday, November 18, 2019 6:30 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 42 of 46 McCutcheon noted the Commission is hesitant to put a cul-de-sac in when the Commissioners don't know the end plan. Normally when there's a subdivision there's an entire picture put out so the Commission knows if there's a unique opportunity for a common area, etc. The Commission does not have all the pieces of the equation, so it is hard to give an answer. He did not know what would be wrong with dictating that the Commission needs to see the full plan. Barnhart indicated the City cannot require somebody to plat, which is kind of what is happening when requiring them to include that in the plat. McCutcheon said he cannot, in good conscious, subdivide a lot where the Commission knows there will be future problems. Ressler said it is not a perfect situation with that road, with the congestion and as narrow as it is now. He agreed that 30 feet at a minimum should be the width, not 20. He stated a substandard lot is a substandard lot, and the Commission is generally opposed to that for a subdivision. The Commission seems to say the same thing as far as feedback goes but continues to not see what is being asked for. Erickson stated this is virtually the same thing that was shown a couple of months ago. Ressler noted there was an addition of a cul-de-sac. Erickson said there was a cul-de-sac at that time, too, which in his mind is the only good feature of the whole thing. Gettman indicated there was no cul-de-sac. Erickson said there are other features which are out of the question, and he agrees that the road right-of- way should be 30 feet. He is willing to concur with the City Council that the cul-de-sac could be as far as 1,300 feet rather than 1,000. He pointed out that the 18-foot road is right next to the lake, it doesn't give a measurement but it's within inches of the lake, and asked if there was enough room for a good guardrail. It should be riprapped, there should be a guardrail to keep people from driving in the lake when you're only 6 inches away from it. By the time a better job is done of centering that 30-foot right-of-way some distance from the east side and also some distance from the floodplain on the west, then it will go right through the middle of the property and there will be no room for any house, which is how it ought to be in his opinion. The Commission's job is to respond to what's in front of it. Ressler said the ongoing feedback is the Commission does not feel that Lot 2 is a buildable lot. Barnhart stated that was fair.