03-08-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION Tuesday, February 16, 2021 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ and a boulder wall. The difficulty is really the fact that the house was built so far back on the property. The setback on the back being 30 feet seems to be onerous on a property that is only ½ of an acre. Michael Nelson, homeowner, noted he has lived at 102 Chevy Chase on the same street for the last five years and has a growing family with two small children. With that, they outgrew their rambler and upgraded to a 2-story home. They purchased the house in September and since then have been in the planning phases of the next remodel. Between the two 1950’s homes, they have significantly invested in this neighborhood and the community in hopes of finding their forever home. He said they absolutely love the area and couldn’t be more excited about raising a family here. Mr. Nelson said they have made some very close friends and have become acquaintances with almost everyone in the neighborhood. He hopes their letters of support are a testament to the Nelson’s place in the community, including the approval of Chad Olson, previous member of the Orono Planning Commission. Mr. Nelson said they have explored many options over the course of this remodel and have always come back to this exact same spot for two reasons: one, to safely monitor their children while they are in the backyard, and two, it is in the best interest of neighbors because it is not visible to most of them. He noted their youngest daughter has a skin condition which does not allow her to be in the sun. Having a screen porch like this will allow her to still be with the other kids when playing in the backyard for recreation. The screens can be opened and she can still feel that she is part of the action; this is the main reason they would love it to be there to watch the whole back yard and safely monitor their kids while they play. Another reason is for neighbors, and both neighbors have given letters of approval. As mentioned, there are other places it could go, one being on the side of the house, but that would basically be sitting on top of the neighbor’s driveway. As mentioned, this is not a lakeshore or waterfront, they are not encroaching any structure and he asks for the approval of this variance with the community’s support, to safely monitor their children as they use the backyard. Ressler noted Mr. Nelson illustrated some other proposed options inside the building envelope, he asked to understand a bit more, as typically when the Planning Commission entertains these applications there is just nowhere else for it to go. As noted in the other application, they were not adding additional footprint but just going up from existing footprint. Mr. Nelson said one area they looked at, which looks like an obvious area, is right in the middle of the house. That effectively splits the backyard in two and does not allow them to monitor safely, and there is also a retaining boulder wall right there. For future recreational purposes of homeschooling, there is not enough room for their physical education and activity. It would also block the view of the kitchen to the backyard. He noted the garage is on the left side and cannot really access the porch from the back of the garage. Another practical difficulty is that the buildable land is on the right side and the non-buildable land is on the left side where they actually could build something. Catelyn Nelson noted if they were to put it on the side, it eliminates the safety factor of having the whole family in the backyard. One of their daughters cannot be in the sun, so to give her an equal shot at being a kid is something they are really focused on. Libby asked for an idea of the elevation of the screen porch. Mr. Nelson said the backyard goes way up and showed on screen that it goes way up; from the golf course’s perspective they will be below that and those on the golf path will not really be able to see it. He