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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br />Tuesday, February 16, 2021 <br />6:00 o'clock p.m. <br />district is 35 feet and the existing home is sitting 69.5 feet back from the front yard; the existing home <br />does sit pretty far back meeting that front yard standard. <br />A representative from Chamberlain Fine Custom Homes approached the podium with the home owners. <br />He looked at the lot as being substandard because it is in a 1 -acre zone and has a 30 -foot setback in the <br />rear yard, based on an acre. This is now a %2 acre lot so it is a little bit incumbent on this property to have <br />to have 30 feet. As opposed to being shoved up towards the street like the previous Applicant's house <br />was, this house is pushed back. It was 35 feet from the front setback, so it is way back in the back and is <br />turned slightly to make it difficult to utilize that yard given that the topography in the back includes a hill <br />and a boulder wall. The difficulty is really the fact that the house was built so far back on the property. <br />The setback on the back being 30 feet seems to be onerous on a property that is only 11/2 of an acre. <br />Michael Nelson, homeowner, noted he has lived at 102 Chevy Chase on the same street for the last five <br />years and has a growing family with two small children. With that, they outgrew their rambler and <br />upgraded to a 2 -story home. They purchased the house in September and since then have been in the <br />planning phases of the next remodel. Between the two 1950's homes, they have significantly invested in <br />this neighborhood and the community in hopes of finding their forever home. He said they absolutely <br />love the area and couldn't be more excited about raising a family here. Mr. Nelson said they have made <br />some very close friends and have become acquaintances with almost everyone in the neighborhood. He <br />hopes their letters of support are a testament to the Nelson's place in the community, including the <br />approval of Chad Olson, previous member of the Orono Planning Commission. Mr. Nelson said they <br />have explored many options over the course of this remodel and have always come back to this exact <br />same spot for two reasons: one, to safely monitor their children while they are in the backyard, and two, it <br />is in the best interest of neighbors because it is not visible to most of them. He noted their youngest <br />daughter has a skin condition which does not allow her to be in the sun. Having a screen porch like this <br />will allow her to still be with the other kids when playing in the backyard for recreation. The screens can <br />be opened and she can still feel that she is part of the action; this is the main reason they would love it to <br />be there to watch the whole back yard and safely monitor their kids while they play. Another reason is <br />for neighbors, and both neighbors have given letters of approval. As mentioned, there are other places it <br />could go, one being on the side of the house, but that would basically be sitting on top of the neighbor's <br />driveway. As mentioned, this is not a Lakeshore or waterfront, they are not encroaching any structure and <br />he asks for the approval of this variance with the community's support, to safely monitor their children as <br />they use the backyard. <br />Ressler noted Mr. Nelson illustrated some other proposed options inside the building envelope, he asked <br />to understand a bit more, as typically when the Planning Commission entertains these applications there is <br />just nowhere else for it to go. As noted in the other application, they were not adding additional footprint <br />but just going up from existing footprint. <br />Mr. Nelson said one area they looked at, which looks like an obvious area, is right in the middle of the <br />house. That effectively splits the backyard in two and does not allow them to monitor safely, and there is <br />also a retaining boulder wall right there. For future recreational purposes of homeschooling, there is not <br />enough room for their physical education and activity. It would also block the view of the kitchen to the <br />backyard. He noted the garage is on the left side and cannot really access the porch from the back of the <br />garage. Another practical difficulty is that the buildable land is on the right side and the non -buildable <br />land is on the left side where they actually could build something. <br />Page 13 of 38 <br />