05-24-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, May 10, 2021 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 17 of 34 14. LA21-000017 – JOSEPH & SARA THULL, 480 BIG ISLAND, PERMIT FOR DOCK ON CITY RIGHT-OF-WAY (BAY PLACE) – UPDATE – Continued Walsh said a 20 foot dock should fit just fine; he went out and looked at it. Just because their property goes at a diagonal does not mean they can draw a diagonal across the front of Orono’s property and say one cannot put a dock there. Ms. Farnes said that is true but she also sees that Mr. Thull is the only one who wants that request and this entire room would prefer another arrangement. There are offers of people to rent a dock to Thull and she does not know what the going rent would be but is sure it would be much less than a permit. She does not know how the City can justify collecting money and permits and lotteries when there is no maintenance of docks. Walsh said no one stops Ms. Farnes from renting a spot from one of the neighbors, either. She has the same opportunity. Ms. Farnes said if one does not pay for them, they do not maintain anything, and are not responsible or liable for anything, and not paying for the dock…she questions if that is a viable solution in a situation that really is not a hardship – they have access. Walsh stated Ms. Farnes’ situation was just to deny them and have no one have a dock there. That does not seem to work very well. Ms. Farnes said that is correct and it has worked fine for 50 years and she is not going to argue. Walsh noted every 50 years starts with year one. This is going to be year one of the next 50 years. Ms. Farnes said should the City choose that option, the value will go down to $30-$40,000. Walsh said they have already heard that is not the case. He clarified Ms. Farnes never had guaranteed access to begin with, she is making up something that she did not have. Ms. Farnes is not going to argue this as they have already had this discussion. Johnson agreed and thinks they should move forward. They have all learned a lot but at the end of the day, the City Council must make choices. Ms. Farnes said at the end of the day on her permit, if the Council is doing that, she would like a survey and would like them to take care of all the soil-filling from the erosion of the roads and grounds, and there are snakes there to go up to the house, and all the trees, and the encroachment, and all of it. Johnson said to be clear, what the City Council is providing is right of access to a dock access point.