03-29-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, March 8, 2021 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 9 of 23 Crosby is pulled both ways on this. He understands the mom’s concerns about the division of the property in viewing the children and that would concern him as it makes sense to be able to look outside and view the entire back yard. He is also torn because Printup’s point is correct, if they grant the variance, everyone else wants to go farther back into the setback and they have established a bad precedent. Walsh remembers an application from Crystal Bay Road where a woman wanted to add a little bump out in the back because she needed her washer and dryer inside but could not see her kids. Again, it is not the Council’s job to design what is safe or not safe…they cannot even distinguish what that is. Seals is also torn. She goes back to when someone buys a house, they buy it as is. She looks at her own lot and wonders why did they build the house where they did – if they had shifted it a certain way, she would have so much more freedom. She must stick to the rules that come with the land. Crosby said tell him about it – he lost his horseshoe driveway. Seals said not all lots in Orono are built the same, it is unfortunate, but it is what it is. She thinks of some lots really have practical difficulties but unfortunately this one does not meet that muster. Johnson is not really torn on it, because they see these and when people go out, the Council says no. It is a good plan, it is a compelling argument the Applicant is making, but those are not relevant to the decision as far as he sees it. They must meet the practical difficulty standard, which they do not. Therefore, the Council cannot approve it, not because they do not think it is a good idea or plan. Johnson moved, Seals seconded, to deny LA 21-10, 133 Chevy Chase Variance. VOTE: Ayes 5, Nays 0. 26. LA21-000014 – MARK RAUSCH AND AZIZ SADDIQUI O/B/O UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS AND DAVID WEEKLY HOMES, NW CORNER OF WILLOW AND WAYZATA BLVD., COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT, ZONE CHANGE, PRELIMINARY PLAT, AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN APPROVAL – RESOLUTION Barnhart noted there are a number of requests in front of the Council tonight. This project is proposed for an RPUD zoning (Residential Planned Unit Development) so this will be a zone change. There will be a Comprehensive Plan Amendment required because they are reducing the density allocated for this property, and are asking for a concept Master Plan approval and also the preliminary plat. This is a 37- unit townhome development in 9 separate buildings at the northwest corner of Willow Drive and Wayzata Boulevard, north of the project is Kelley Parkway, and there is a large regional pond to the west. All the access will be located off Kelley Parkway, there will be no accesses off Wayzata Boulevard or Willow Drive and it is consistent with the original development plan for the Stone Bay Development. All of the buildings will be shared by municipal water and sewer; storm water management plans have been developed and will be managed on site, and will ultimately feed to the regional pond to the west. There will be a number of rain gardens along Kelley Parkway and another rain garden at the southwest corner of the site and eventually all the storm water will go into the pond. The City Engineer has provided some comment on the storm water and the utility plans. The expectation with all developments is that the City Engineer must be satisfied with the utility plans at the time of final plat so these are working plans and documents and further refinement from a utility standpoint will be coming. The Applicant proposes each unit to have a front door sidewalk to provide a pedestrian route through the community. Ultimately those