02-08-2021 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday,February 8,2021 6:03 p.m. 19. LA20-000048-TIMOTHY WHITTEN O/B/O I.JACOBS/A.JACOBS REVOCABLE TRUST, 1700 SHORELINE DRIVE,PRELIMINARY PLAT-RESOLUTION—Continued said there were some comments about ditch being required but in looking on the plans there is a culvert about 200 feet north of the start of the road that goes under the existing Jacobs driveway and all the drainage goes there, so there is no ditch required on that. Johnson noted at the Planning Commission they also talked about having an acceleration lane coming out and going the other way. Mr. Gronberg said they did talk about that but there is not enough room there to do it. Johnson said they were talking about if they made a right-hand turn out of there,a mirror image of that. Mr. Gronberg said they did not determine there was enough room there with the wetlands. Johnson asked who is"they." Mr. Gronberg replied the County. Walsh welcomed any other commenters to the podium. Attorney Aaron Dean,representing Barbara Burwell,approached the podium and said he has been before the City Council at least once before and the Planning Commission. He noted the City Council is being asked to make a hard decision because they are being asked to do things out of order. The Applicant has not done the engineering to show that what they"think"will happen,can happen,and that is leading the City Council in a bad position. He has provided the City Council with the Kemper survey and the Applicant has provided the City Council the Gronberg survey. Attorney Dean said they used the two surveys so they will be identical and have an apples-to-apples comparison with just the 4 foot shoulder, even though that is not the right width of the shoulder. He stated the problem with where this road is,it is in the most congested part of Shoreline Drive. He gave the City Council the MnDOT information and said 15,600 vehicles per day and the City Council is being asked to overlook all of the health and safety problems inherent with a really dense development. The problem is not the City Council;the problem is that this should be a 2 or a 3 lot development. They can talk around in circles as much as they want,a 5 and 6 lot development does not work but a 2 or 3 lot development does-he does not think a 4 lot development would work, either. Attorney Dean wants to go through the reasons why it won't work. First of all there is only a 66 foot right-of-way and in that right-of-way they have to have Shoreline Drive. If they put in a 12 foot turn lane,they have to have a shoulder to the side of that,then they have existing power lines and he has provided the City Council today with two videos—he hopes they were able to review them. Think about those videos taken today at 10:00 in the morning on a Monday in February with COVID and there shouldn't be any traffic at all...yet there is heavy traffic every day of the year. It really illustrates the problem as it exists today which will be infinitely worse if they allow a dense development to be built. He asked the City Council to imagine the construction traffic and how they will even get into the Jacobs property. What he is showing with the MnDOT traffic application mapping service was that they cannot even fit the turn lane that they say they will put in there. Mr. Gronberg's survey just shows that it is possible to put a 12 foot turn lane but as pointed out there is no acceleration lane because there is no room. Attorney Dean said they do not even consider the fact of the existing power lines;they cannot have the power lines where they are, as they will have to move them out and Page 11 of 26