05-18-2020 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION Monday,May 18,2020 6:00 o'clock p.m. McCutcheon said he lives close to the area and thinks when he looked at the area it was the first time, he has been down that road.He cannot imagine there is a lot of activity. He asked Mr. Erickson if he talked to any of the neighbors and got their opinion. Mr. Erickson said he talked to several of his neighbors, although not all of them.A neighbor he has not talked to is at the extreme north end of the street; he is the only neighbor that does not have his own lakeshore or dock rights. He said at one time the neighbor had an access easement across the lot from where his house was built and that was the only place he could put the house. When Mr. Erickson tried to buy the land,it created a title problem, so between the seller and himself as the buyer,they contributed $25,000 and bought out the easement. Everybody else on that street owns their own lakeshore.Every other parcel on Westlake Street is less than two acres.The house he had was a lot line rearrangement, approved by the City Council in 1999, and has 1.2 acres in a two-acre zone. The lot next to it,which he sold and has a house now, is 1.4 acres. Both lots are relatively generous compared to many of the other lots, including one north of that which is .6 or .7 of an acre. If the variance is approved at 1.19 acres, that's just above average for Westlake Street and would follow the precedent that was set in 1999. McCutcheon agreed that one lot is more preferable than three. Mr. Erickson said when he bought the property it had three houses on it. He removed two of them the past summer, and his proposal is to create one new lot for one new house. When he received approval in 1999 for the two lots,there were four residential units on the property.He removed two rental cabins and two older houses, and now they have been replaced with two relatively new houses. Libby noted Staff mentioned the cul-de-sac would aid in the service of some of the facilities,but he wanted to mention there is a lift station in the northwest corner where the cul-de-sac would come and curve into the west. Since that needs maintenance from the City,the cul-de-sac would serve a highest and best use,because the City maintenance vehicles that service the lift stations are fairly substantial in size and it would be much easier for a City maintenance vehicle to turn around with a cul-de-sac and then back out again, so he sees the practical aspects of it. When looking at old plats and seeing 50-foot lots, putting the lots together to make an actual real lot is the highest and best use in the area. He likes the change and thinks it makes sense. Oakden noted she was displaying an infrastructure map showing the lift station in yellow and the green line indicating sanitary sewer. Ressler told Mr. Erickson that he would be muted while the Planning Commission had their discussion. McCutcheon said right now the water dumps into the lake, so building the cul-de-sac and keeping the hardcover away from the lake helps the lake. He said if you look at the area, it makes sense. There is not a big public use of it, probably because of the vegetation, although it may be used in the wintertime. If the public has comments,the Commission can go from there. Bollis stated he agrees with McCutcheon's comments;the cul-de-sac is a public benefit. He can see the lake access is a benefit for the public,but he does not feel it is being utilized and would take some major infrastructure to make it something the public could utilize, based on vegetation growth and where it sits. He does not see any issue with the lots being combined into one large lot. Without a public hearing,he does not know what the public interest is in the access point. Page 27 of 29