09-14-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Thursday, August 24, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 4 of 13 Barnhart asked to hear feedback from the Council, noting the Applicant is here and can address any questions. With the Council’s feedback they will come back and the Applicant will decide whether or not to move forward with the project. Don Gamble, 10704 Water Lily Lane, Woodbury, addressed the Council and noted it’s been a long, strange time since March but they have endeavored to move forward while addressing everything that is possible. Two years ago, this process started with the City and they were looking at lots on the North side having different half-acre zoning and were looking at something entirely different. He stated they’ve been following the guidance to subdivide the lots and noted the driveway services two homes but it runs across a third property to get to the road and that is part of the problem, which is kind of an unchangeable problem. He also said until the first meeting in March, they didn’t realize they could use land North of the lagoon to satisfy the one-acre and that is what they’ve attempted to do here. Mr. Gamble said they have talked about the wetlands with the District and they responded that 400 feet is no big deal. They also talked about vacating all the wetlands and offsetting and other things and the District said that is a little bigger process. Therefore, this is the process to see if they can even subdivide the lots, and if they can, they will certainly work hard with the Watershed District to see what they can do right and the best way to offset if needed. He noted one of the things found in looking at records was when a culvert was put in under County Road 15, it changed the routing of water off of this property – water does not flow across it, but instead flows through the neighbor’s yard. Regarding the little inlet that goes up and hits the lagoon right on the property line, he said he’s gone out and stood there and it has been a rainy season and he has not seen water flowing across it. He said they will address the water flow, the wetlands with the Watershed. He stated again, they moved forward because they would like to see what the outcome will be, and this is the far simplest layout they’ve come up with. He stated they and are looking for some feedback for the owner. Walsh asked Mr. Gamble what he thinks the Council’s biggest challenge is to make a decision on tonight. Mr. Gamble answered, to him - and he has been before this Council and many others - it sounds like the challenge is: is the Council setting some kind of precedent by allowing this or not. He said the idea of grabbing a chunk of land from across the bay never would have occurred to him and noted he is not sitting in front of issues like the Council is all the time. He clarified that until after the March meeting and after talking to the attorneys, did they even find out that it was possible to do use land across the bay, and for two years in talking to Staff he was told they couldn’t use land North of the lagoon at all. He said the benefit of this is the City is getting one-acre lots in an area where they will be the only ones. Mr. Gamble said the fact that there are some funny parcels North, the actual parcels they are creating are actually very viable, very usable and a benefit to the community, noting it is half-acre zoning up there and he was a little surprised that they couldn’t just subdivide them off but he has learned a lot. He said he can understand the challenge for the Council; however, it would be a shame not to figure out how to utilize these lots because if there isn’t some way of configuring it, then that parcel of land is basically locked up until something is allowed. He said he hasn’t pursued anything else and thought he’d put it before the Council last time asking what they would like to see. He noted the owner is trying to come up with something the City will allow, stand behind and that is of value. Mr. Gamble stated they’ve worked within the confines to make it as good as they can and the reason they’re still discussing it is because it’s a sketch plan review and they are still open, but want to move forward with what the Council thinks they can allow.