10-12-2020 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, October 12, 2020 6:00 o'clock p.m. a blind road and if someone got hurt and she didn't say something she would feel horrible. Second, she knows the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District has looked at the wetland issue and she wants to make clear there is significant flood plain drainage that runs off of the topography both North and West of that land and streams right in between 4280 and 350 North Arm Drive. She noted a culvert onscreen based on where a creek will run into the Lakeview Golf Course is not really where the creek opens, rather it is closer to the future driveway on the property. She said the drainage really floods out there and starts to move East to the culvert and fills in the creek that runs into Lakeview Lake and puts a lot of moisture into that wetland area in the spring. She requests that someone walk the property and look at it, as some people don't even realize there was a one-room schoolhouse on the property. Mayor Walsh stated he did walk the site and with that huge ravine there, he was amazed to see that the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) said there is no watershed there at all, it's not a creek, it's just a drainage ditch. Ms. Johnson said the MCWD said it is a flood plain but they did not send anyone to the site to look at it because it is not a development but rather a single family home and it is on the City to take a look at that. Mayor Walsh said regarding the speed issue, he would like Ms. Johnson to follow up with Rief and Edwards to see what the options are. Ms. Johnson noted Misty Brady who lives next door to 4280 North Arm Drive wrote a very eloquent letter and gave to her to read to the Council tonight but she botched it by being late. She noted Ms. Brady emailed it to Mr. Barnhart tonight and she hopes the Council gets a chance to look at it as it is thoughtfully crafted and has some interesting points of view that are worth looking at. Finally, she wants to say regarding practical difficulties, is it in keeping with the neighborhood, and .497 acres is not in keeping with that neighborhood and with the exception of one neighbors at 1.7 acres, everyone else is around 2.6 acres or 5.5 acres. Mayor Walsh stated that is found throughout Orono and gave the example of Crystal Bay, as it is a 2-acre zone, and everything is .25 acres or smaller and that lends itself to the fact that everyone gets a variance for lot width size because of those issues as that is inherent to the practical difficulty of the zoning district they are in. He noted there is not a lot of wiggle room on that. Rief responded to a couple of the comments and noted Staff had a discussion on the differences between a creek and a drainage swale, noting there must be water running in it year round in order for it to be a creek. That is when the Watershed District steps in as jurisdiction for managing a buffer, so in this capacity it does not require any buffer. As far as the traffic component, Rief will pass it along to the Police Chief and do some monitoring there and will also engage the County because from the time he started three years ago until now, the traffic has increased due to development. He noted it has created more of a danger at that intersection and they can evaluate and look at changing it to a 4-way stop or slow the speed limit to 45 miles per hour or something similar. Page 23 of 24