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. they can show precedent that this has been approved with not only existing but also new remodels. He stated the reason for the improvement is for his family: when they built the home they had two children and now have three; they also take care of his wife's father who is a disabled Vietnam Veteran and when he comes to the Cities to receive treatment, he is unable to get to the guestroom on the upper floors. The bedroom they are building will allow for wider doors, have a new bathroom for his father-in-law and it is important to the family to meet those requirements. Mr. Briggs understands variances are tough but in this case he feels it is consistent with the neighborhood and that they have done a lot to solve the questions and concerns the Council has had. In closing, he stated the entire neighborhood supports them, noting three letters of recommendation including the direct neighbor who would be most impacted by this. He said it is truly a practical difficulty for the family not to have his father-in-law stay with them. Mayor Walsh appreciates all the neighbors input, but like the previous application, there is no practical difficulty; it is a new property that was built that met everything and the rest of the houses are grandfathered in. He noted not having Mr. Brigg's father-in-law stay with them is not a practical difficulty for building a property and it gets back to the rule again. The homeowner may perceive it as arbitrary and capricious but it is a real rule and unless there is a real practical difficulty there aren't many places to go with this. Michael Miller, 1987 Fagerness Point Road, the adjacent homeowner noted he has been there 22 years and in looking at the corner of where Mr. Miller's existing house and garage are, he is about 4 feet from the road, but someone had foresight early on and he owns the road now. The house that was there before Mr. Briggs tore it down to build new had the garage exactly even with Mr. Miller's—4 feet from the road. He noted he is one of the grandfathered properties, but it seems that it serves no purpose and will not affect anything regarding Mr. Miller or his home, or the immediate neighbor on the other side, who has also said it's going to be a great addition to the community. Mayor Walsh appreciates the comments but noted that is not the issue. He asked, does the Council just get rid of the setback rule. Mr. Miller understands that and understands the rule but noted this seems to be an extraordinarily different neighborhood and there is another additional garage about 6 feet back further down. Crosby asked if there have been any rebuilds in the last 10 years which the Council has allowed. Ms. Oakden replied there has been a lot of reconstruction of existing structures where the Council has granted variances in small and encroached ways, and noted 1973 Fagerness which was referenced in the design was an existing condition of an attached garage where it was moved farther back from the road by 4 feet but were allowed to go wider by 6 inches to accommodate a new footprint of a garage. Mr. Briggs stated they should take it farther to find out if any of those variances have been granted. He said there is a garage being built right now on Casco that is closer to the road. Page 9 of 24