09-28-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, September 14, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 19 of 26 they will need to clear cut a larger area to accommodate that grading issue. He thinks this is the reason the 18% limitation is there and why dry buildable is so important. Johnson asked what Barnhart’s concern is with utilizing 22.5. Barnhart replied he doesn’t have any information to suggest that it is too much or too little, he hasn’t done the analysis. He thinks 18% is where they should go. Johnson noted to do a walk out basement, it’s typical to have 22.5% grade. Barnhart said he doesn’t know if it’s typical, it can happen, and he doesn’t know what typical is. Johnson said perhaps it’s reasonable. Barnhart clarified he doesn’t believe he has any information to suggest that they depart from 18%. Crosby said not to waver from Barnhart’s point, but if there isn’t an argument to not look at it or look into it, or the difference, why wouldn’t they. Barnhart said other than one developer or surveyor saying he has an issue in this one isolated situation, he needs more to just open up the entire code and dig into every single standard. Johnson asked of the five surveyors Barnhart sent it to, how many responses he received from the surveyors. Barnhart replied he got one response. Johnson noted it’s 100% of their response. He noted the response said a typical walkout house drops 9 feet in 40 feet, which is 22.5% slope. Johnson said if you think about a walkout and that is 22.5% slope, it seems reasonable to him to count up to 22.5% and asked what they are guarding against by using the potentially arbitrary number of 18%. Barnhart responded the 18% has been there since before they started and he’s unsure what started it. He said to keep in mind they don’t do dry buildable calculations at the time of building permit, and they’ve never used the calculation at a walkout basement. Johnson said when someone is under the zoning side, if they purchase a vacant lot, the City would exclude any slopes or bluffs over 18% in the calculation dry buildable for how much hardcover they can have, as an example. Barnhart said he’s doesn’t know if hardcover excludes dry buildable, but the City would in theory use the dry buildable calculation to determine the lot size when looking at the dry lot area variance, for example. Walsh asked if people have the opportunity to grade the area if it was 22% to bring it to 18% to get more dry buildable.