08-26-2013 Council Work Session Packet

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MEMORAN DUM TO: MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS FROM: ORONO MANAGEMENTTEAM SUBJECT: INFORMATION UPDATE DATE: AUGUST 02, 2013 Information Update—08/02/13 • The Orono Police will be attending 20 Night to Unite parties on Tuesday, August 6th. 13 in Mound 6 in Orono and 1 in Spring Park. • The word is out that Lakeview Golf Course will be closing at the end of this season. Staff was contacted by owner Grant Wenkstern and a potential purchaser/developer about the possible options for development of the Lakeview acreage, which totals about 145 acres. The property is zoned RR-1B Single Family Rural Residential, 2-acre minimum lot size, and guided in the 2008-2030 Comprehensive Plan for Park, Recreation and Open Space. The property is not in the MUSA. They indicated they wanted to explore the possibility of developing at a higher density than 1 unit per 2 acres. Staff described to them the existing zoning standards and issues they would have to overcome. They are now exploring a number of issues prior to making any kind of a conceptual proposal to the City, include, among others, City sewer capacity and the use of community water systems. They realize that there are a number of hurdles to overcome: whether the City will approve a rezoning to higher density; whether there is adequate capacity in Orono's downstream sanitary sewer lines, which would be necessary in order to have higher density; and how Met Council might react if a MUSA addition was proposed that doesn't meet the 3.0 units per acre threshold for additions to the MUSA. At this point we don't know what density they might propose, but they are paying the cost of having Bolton & Menk analyze the sewer capacity issue before they decide on a concept proposal to present to the City. With the current 2-acre zoning and being guided for Park/Rec/Open Space use, a conversion to residential would require a Comprehensive Plan Amendment. Any density greater than 1 unit per 2 acres would require a Rezoning. It's also a possibility that they would be subject to an EAW (Environmental Assessment Worksheet) process due to the conversion from golf course residential use.