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MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br /> Tuesday,January 19,2021 <br /> 6:00 o'clock p.m. <br /> Barbara Burwell of 1100 Millston Road approached the podium. She looks back at the August meeting <br /> and thinks boy,has she gotten a lot smarter than when she was first before the Planning Commission. At <br /> that time, she did not even understand what an ALS line is and the ALS line is certainly of importance to <br /> this whole project. She said there are challenges and it has been said that there was no challenge back in <br /> August and the vote was unanimous; they will have to forgive her,but she said she was pretty ignorant <br /> and very wet behind the ears at that time and did not know what she was talking about. Ms.Burwell <br /> noted the Planning Commission educated her and she thinks there are some very serious problems with <br /> this parcel and she asks that they take a serious look at the concerns Mr.Dean has brought forward. Not <br /> the least of which is the traffic and as she mentioned before,she believes Mr. Erickson lives on Heritage <br /> and she noted they have had a couple of serious accidents since that time and noted she is the mother of <br /> three grown sons. She asked the Planning Commission to take into consideration the traffic issue <br /> regarding a school bus and the fact that they don't make left hand turns coming out of Ms.Burwell's <br /> driveway or the Breck school;then children are standing on Highway 15. She made a comment regarding <br /> the little Outlot D which she did not notice until tonight and stated she has a little bit of a parcel that goes <br /> down to a dock on an outlot and it is very skinny. Ms.Burwell knows from living there for close to 40 <br /> years that Outlot D is not a parking area or a place for a pedestrian picnic table; it is not a sliver of land to <br /> put a car or a golf cart without it falling into the lake as it is not a level piece of land. She thinks they are <br /> looking at a ridiculous application of those outlots. They could wish that it would work but she says that <br /> is a serious challenge and an accident waiting to happen,especially in lots 3,4, and 1 of outlots. Mr. <br /> Burwell concluded by saying Mr. Dean has brought up some important points as to why she is standing <br /> before the Planning Commission and that is because she needs to protect her property. She has lived <br /> there for almost 40 years and the house has been there for 83 years; she needs to make sure that she has a <br /> sound,appropriate neighbor that is not of such a high density and trying to put a square into a circle. She <br /> noted she is not very articulate as this is not what she does for a job but she said she has lived there a long <br /> time and thinks the changes being proposed are not appropriate and do not necessarily fulfill what the <br /> vision of Orono is representing. Ms.Burwell does not believe that Barnhart is a resident of the Orono <br /> community and she appreciates the fact that he is doing his job and advising the Planning Commission <br /> but noted that she lives here,works here,and raised her children here and she is against this plan. <br /> Steve Burns, 1025 Heritage Lane, approached the podium and noted he was watching from home and did <br /> not realize it was an in-person meeting so he came in late. Fortunately, he was able to get to the meeting <br /> quickly. He said this has been a project going on for many years and they have had many discussions <br /> about this as well as Tanager Estates. As a representative of Fox Hill,the road right past this property,he <br /> wants to be clear and go on the record saying they strenuously object to using Heritage Lane as an <br /> entrance point for construction. In the August 2020 letter from Hennepin County,they suggest using <br /> Heritage Lane as the entrance point and Mr. Burns has been in conversation with Mr. Whitten, Mr. <br /> Stedman,members of the Planning Commission over the years and again said they are very much <br /> opposed to Heritage Lane as the entrance point. When Tanager States was developed, he believes Mr. <br /> Gronberg is on record as stating access to that property up above would not be admissible because of the <br /> bluff. The Hennepin County recommendation in August 2020 caused them concern and as he listened <br /> from home tonight about the turn lane—and he completely respects Ms. Burwell's position and agrees <br /> with her position—they do not want to see that turn lane but they also do not want to see access through <br /> Heritage Lane. That is a statement from one citizen on Heritage Lane that would also be impacted. <br /> Michael Kuhlman, 1760 Shoreline Drive,would like to thank the Planning Commission for the time <br /> tonight and also has serious concerns about the way this is laid out and a lot of the points raised by Ms. <br /> Burwell's attorney, including traffic and trees. <br /> Chair Ressler closed the public hearing at 6:56 p.m. <br /> Page 8 of 28 <br />