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MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br /> Tuesday,January 18,2022 <br /> 6:00 o'clock p.m. <br /> constituents. Vote no for the history books. We know this is hard but we're with you all together now. <br /> Please do the right thing and vote to stop this private club from taking over Summit Beach. <br /> Ms. Schmidt stated she spent the entire morning at the Hennepin County Registrar's Office pulling <br /> documents and deeds for everyone. Someone emailed her a letter from March 30, 1978 from Bruce <br /> Dayton's attorney when this piece of land, Summit Beach,was given to the City: <br /> Mr. Dayton proposes an outright gift of the property to the City. This outright gift to the City will contain <br /> the necessary provisions to ensure that the land will be used for park purposes and that the land will be <br /> open to the general public without restrictions as to area of residency, race, or creed. <br /> Ms. Schmidt will print the letter and send to the City so it can be added to the record. <br /> Ellen Deutscher,308 Walker Avenue North,agrees with everything that has been said. She noted the road <br /> leading down is very narrow and two cars can barely pass one another. She kayaks while the rowing club <br /> is there and she sees 10-20 people at the same time and imagines one group coming and another going up <br /> and down that narrow road. If a family was going for a swim,the beach is very small,the water and grass <br /> areas are small,and then to have a big building on it...she does not understand practically how that will <br /> work.Where are people going to swim and not be hit by a boat?She has kayaked all over the lake and the <br /> area where they are looking for the docks is very shallow and will have to be a very long dock to get to a <br /> place that is not shallow. <br /> Alisa Benson, 1220 Lyman Avenue,has been a resident of Orono for about 14 years and moved here for <br /> the public schools and the beautiful natural setting.As a substitute teacher and parent,one thing that <br /> comes up a lot is the issue of fairness. One of her favorite quotes she has used in the classroom comes <br /> from Roald Dahl's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which is a book about chocolate yet also <br /> what it means to be a good citizen. In one of the famous exchanges several children are fighting and <br /> accusations are flying about some taking more than their fair share of candy.Mr.Wonka put an end to it <br /> with these words: "Everybody has had one,and one is enough for anybody."We teach kids from a very <br /> young age that taking more than what is fair is not the thing to do.Most have seen at some point a child <br /> taking fistfuls of candy that was not offered and like Mr.Wonka the impulse is to teach and model how to <br /> behave in the world. What they are talking about tonight is not candy but about children,about adults and <br /> seniors. It is about those who are here now and those who have come before. It is about what is imparted <br /> on children,not by"what we say,but by what we do."It is about values,ethics,stewardship,and <br /> community. It is about the story of our town and the neighboring communities to the north,west,east, <br /> and south. It is about the story of the landscape and the living waters within it,the history of this town and <br /> the stories that will be written about it today and into the future. When Mr. Dayton gifted Summit Beach <br /> Park to the City of Orono,he did it with confidence that the land would be protected.Trees,earth, <br /> boulders,and sand don't have dollar signs attached to them but nevertheless they are assets and they are <br /> timeless. Our City, its elected and appointed officials and its citizens are the collective stewards of these <br /> public assets and share the weight of the good faith promise made to Mr.Dayton and his family.This <br /> story is also about assets of a different kind, equipment that does have price tags attached and that is <br /> valuable to the people that use it. Ms.Benson held up a jar and said there are a hundred pieces of candy in <br /> this jar, she then emptied the jar on the podium and put one piece back. She asked the Commissioners to <br /> imagine that the community, its citizens, elected officials,and friends at the City of Long Lake are <br /> represented with the candy emptied on the podium. Ms.Benson removed the one remaining piece of <br /> candy from the jar and said that one piece represents the interest, involvement,members, and assets of the <br /> people who wrote the proposal being discussed tonight. While there has been a lot of talk about <br /> Page 7 of 11 <br />