04-13-2020 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, April 13, 2020 6:03 o'clock p.m. 11. DOCK LICENSE FOR DOCK SITE B Johnson moved, Crosby seconded, to approve the Dock License for Dock Site B, correcting it to be 1 boat, and that the dimensions of the dock and setback should be included in the drawing. VOTE: Ayes 5 (Johnson, Crosby, Printup, Seals, Walsh), Nays 0. 12. LA19-000091— CITY OF ORONO TEXT AMENDMENT NO.243, THIRD SERIES RELATED TO GRADING AND LAND ALTERATIONS Barnhart indicated the City Council reviewed the document a month ago and directed him to forward it to the DNR for their review. The DNR found several areas where the City was slightly stronger than the State Statute and gave the City conditional approval. The condition is that once the City approves a document, Barnhart will need to send the document to the DNR so they can have a final review, primarily to make sure the City has not weakened any State Statutes. This only applies to the regulations in the Shoreland Overlay District, which happens to be a large part of the City. The goal was to address slope stabilization issues that required a Conditional Use Permit and at least a 6-week lead time. He pointed out that there are some individuals in the community that like to solve shoreland stabilization and bluff failure issues with underground structures such as retaining walls. Those types of improvements will likely still require a variance because it will often be hardcover in the 0-75. Johnson referenced language regarding no permit being required for grading activities of less than 50 cubic yards or disturbing less than 5,000 square feet, and asked if someone would require a permit if they had 200 cubic yards but disturbed less than 5,000 square feet. Barnhart said they would because it would trigger the more-than-50-cubic-yards. Johnson stated "or" should be changed to "and" or another phrase, because he would interpret that language to mean as long as someone meets either one of those, they do not need a permit. Barnhart indicated he could make any change the Council would like. He asked Mattick if he thought the wording was ambiguous or if there was alternative text that should be used. Mattick and Walsh stated that the idea is someone would need less than 50 cubic yards and disturb less than 5,000 square feet in order to not need a permit. The language needs an "and" versus an "or." Johnson noted that in the scenario of someone grading 49.9 cubic yards but disturbing more than 5,000 square feet, then you would need a permit. Walsh stated it would be conflicting at that point, so "and" would be needed rather than "or." Barnhart noted Council members were pointing out existing code language. He said he tried to illustrate in the graph what the code reads currently and referenced the current language and said if someone is grading 51 cubic yards in the Shoreland Overlay District, they need a permit. Walsh asked if Barnhart was showing them the old code earlier. Johnson said the new language is the same. Barnhart agreed and indicated 51 cubic yards would trigger grading. Page 6 of 25