03-09-2020 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, March 9,2020 6:00 o'clock p.m. 15. LA19-000091—CITY OF ORONO, TEXT AMENDMENT RELATED TO GRADING AND LAND ALTERATIONS Barnhart said in September 2019 the Council directed Staff to prepare an Ordinance to address an issue with slope failures. It was also an opportunity to clean up the process and reduce time in granting land alteration permits. The DNR will also need to review and approve the Ordinance because of the location of some of the property, after which the City Council will approve the final document. He noted the Planning Commission has reviewed the document. Staff is looking for approval by the City Council subject to review by the DNR. Barnhart said the process was started because of a slope failure issue. The Ordinance corrects the grading part. The City still does not permit structures in the 0-75-foot setback;that would still require a variance. He stated Staff changed the grading and land alteration about 16 months ago. At that time,they realized most activities that involve hauling triggered an Interim Use Permit(IUP).As a result, in 2019 there were nine IUPs; in the previous four years there were two. When looking at an import/export type of permit, the main issue is impact to streets: damage being caused to the streets and haul routes being adjusted to minimize impact to residents. He stated Staff established haul route standards and tried to encourage people to use City streets at a minimum, instead using State and County roads as much as practical. The Ordinance also introduces stockpiling standards. Currently it addresses the amount being stockpiled; however,the bigger issue is how long the stockpile is there. Changes were introduced to address that. Johnson and Walsh said they thought the new language was good, giving a quicker reaction time to some of the failing slopes. Johnson commented that while growing up on a lake, any trees over six inches in diameter were untouchable. He asked why the City would give people a vehicle to get rid of big trees within the 0-75 feet, excluding diseased or damaged trees. Barnhart displayed the current regulation as it applies to vegetative alterations, explaining that none can be removed without a permit. When a permit is requested,the question is why, with the exclusion of diseased/damaged/dead trees. Live trees are removed if they are on a building site, encroaching an existing building and causing foundation damage, creating a hazard to a building, etc. Staff provided a schedule of what needs to be replaced because the Code does not give guidance. He noted the City is in the Shoreland Overlay District section, which the DNR looks at, so he wanted more definition in what is looked at for replacement. Johnson noted the document would be a tool for Staff to help people decide how to replace trees and how many to replace and the guidelines related to size of trees. Walsh agreed that it is a tool to help people regarding vegetation. Barnhart indicated there would possibly be tweaks from the DNR when it comes back from them. Crosby moved to direct Staff to forward the draft to the DNR for review. Planning Commissioner Chris Bollis, 210 Kintyre Lane, referenced adding a column for all other lots above 5 acres and thought the minimum/maximum numbers would also be changing, the 50-5,000 cubic yards. Page 9 of 18