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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, April 13, 2015 7:00 o’clock p.m. __________________________________________________________________________________ Page 19 of 40 (7. #14-3686 JOHN BESSESEN AND TOM WASMOEN ON BEHALF OF DAVID DELANEY, 2500 KELLEY AVENUE continued) Cornick stated the Council has also received information that appears to be disconnected. Cornick stated the neighbors do not believe the comments about the size of the house and the number of homes. Cornick stated in his view the applicant needs to sit down and gain the confidence of the residents on Kelly Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood. McMillan stated she would like the Council to provide as much feedback as possible on this application and then have the neighbors provide input. McMillan asked if the applicant would like the application to be tabled. Wasmoen stated he has been working with Mike Gaffron and that they have been taking direction from Staff in regards to the development. Wasmoen stated the past Community Development Director encouraged them to have the neighborhood meeting and that he ended up not attending. McMillan stated she would like to apologize for that and it was an unfortunate miscommunication. Wasmoen stated they have been taking direction from Staff on this development and that he is not trying to force anybody to do anything. Wasmoen stated he is attempting to come up with a scenario that best works for this site with the least amount of disruption. John Bessesen stated he does have a developer who would like to construct the four single-family homes. Bessesen indicated he did talk to Mike Gaffron, who indicated that in his view there can only be three homes built, which would create a hardship. Bessesen stated they have discussed removing the conservation easement and that he has spent quite a bit of money delineating the site. The other delineation was completed in 1981 and was eyeballed. Bessesen stated they are going to pursue deleting the conservation easement and then come in with four single-family homes. Bessesen stated it has taken them too long to get to where we are, but that they felt the twinhome project would be successful. Bessesen indicated the first level has to be big enough for a large master bedroom, a family room and a kitchen. The basement does not have to exist since it will primarily be for guests. Bessesen indicated their plan was somewhat modeled after Wake Cliff. Mound also has some houses that sit right on the water that look cute with no parking and no driveway. Bessesen stated he did not believe those homes would sell but that they have all been sold. Bessesen indicated they can sell these lots and that they just have to figure out how to create four lots. If the lots are sold, they would not be able to control how big the homes will be. Bessesen indicated they have to be able to get their money out of the site if they are going to build on it. Bessesen stated they really felt a twinhome project would be workable, but a twinhome development costs a lot of money since there has to be a homeowners association and other documents created. Bessesen stated he thought the neighborhood would like the twinhome concept. Bessesen indicated they will be pursuing commercial on the other site and that they will probably line up the driveway for that property directly with the driveway for the Freshwater Biological Institute. Bessesen indicated if apartments are constructed on that site, a stoplight will be needed at that corner and that they would tie the church in, which would be a way to slow the traffic down at the intersection. Bessesen stated if this site has to be sold off as single-family homes, he would like to start the next development on the other side of the hill. City Council Meeting April 27, 2015 Page 21 of 257