02-24-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, February 10, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 9 of 15 Seals moved, Crosby seconded, to table LA19-000101 – Al Azad, 200 Bederwood Drive, Lot Area Variance – Resolution. VOTE: Ayes 5, Nays 0. 15. LA19-000097 – CITY OF ORONO TEXT AMENDMENT – DOCK LICENSING Barnhart said he introduced the dock licensing ordinance in January which allows the City to issue licenses for the placement of private docks on City property. It was drafted for four properties on Crystal Bay Road, allowing them to put a dock on City property across Crystal Bay Road directly in front of their house. The goal was to minimize the reach of these types of improvements. He made some minor changes based on a discussion with the Council and is interested in feedback from the balance of the ordinance. The ordinance introduces a new duty on the part of either the City Administrator or Community Development Director. As Dock Administrator, you're granting certain authority for one of those individuals to issue licenses. The City Attorney would likely draft a template License Agreement the Council could review, but it would not necessarily go in front of the Council in the future. The suggested term for the license is ten years, which would provide enough time that the property owner could retrieve the value of that improvement. The other direction the Council had was to remove the docks from City property and they would need to be stored on private property over the winter. The ordinance was drafted to include a provision for visitor dock passes, although dock rental was prohibited. He asked for direction from the Council as to whether to leave that in or take it out and any other feedback. Seals asked what the current language is for any docks on lakes in Orono properties and whether it states 48 hours or anything regarding days. In other words, someone could have a weekend visitor. Barnhart indicated that is not permitted elsewhere. Seals asked why the City Council would do anything differently here than is done for anybody else. Barnhart said the reason he suggested it is the model ordinances he reviewed -- Minnetonka Beach, Mound, and Big Lake -- have that provision because the City is allowing private improvements on City property and allowing licensing or rental of docks which is not allowed elsewhere. He felt there was some value in providing a little measure of additional protection against that concept spreading. Walsh stated this was a privilege because the City is basically doing a license, it's more the character of the neighborhood, and the City has the ability to do that. He likes that there is a lot of bite in the ordinance so if rules are not followed, the City can take it away. He suggested getting rid of lines 83 to 88 so the visiting dock permit could be up to a period of 48 hours occurring two times in one calendar year. Seals stated that's why she was asking, because it seemed different than everywhere else and she wondered why Orono was creating something else. Walsh said it is more of a privilege than anything else so the City might as well have a little more control, especially for the character of the neighborhood. Mr. Scott Brown, 3435 Crystal Bay Road, said he wanted to clarify that the 48 hours pertains to if somebody wants to visit him and tie their boat up on his dock for 48 hours.