05-16-2022 Planning Commission Packet

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION Monday,April 18,2022 6:00 o'clock p.m. non-conforming with respect to width. Their proposal reflects movement of the shared lot lines on all three properties.As a result,the existing Lot 3 (3005 Casco Point Rd)is proposed to be 65 feet wide at the ordinary high water level (OHWL), and 75 feet wide at the 75-foot setback where 100 feet is required. The Applicant is requesting feedback and if positive feedback is obtained they intend to proceed with the preliminary plat application. McCutcheon noted this is a non-conforming proposal. Curtis replied in the affirmative. Kirchner asked if Lot 3 is currently conforming but would be non-conforming. Curtis replied in the affirmative. Kirchner stated they are taking a conforming lot and making it non-conforming to plat another lakeshore lot. Curtis replied in the affirmative. Bonnie Martinson,2970 Casco Point Road,could write a book about the drainage issues across the street from those properties.In 2010 a new drain was put in which was supposed to take care of the drainage issues coming from the Hartzell property and the other side,as well.A new house was built across the street some time ago and they removed a catch basin.Ms.Martinson and another neighbor are very concerned regarding drainage on those properties because right now the drainage from the Hartzell property is coming down the road into the drains which go across their properties and drain into the lake. The 2010 drain they put in is not adequate.Ms.Martinson has pictures to show what happens when it rains in their area.In 2010,the City's Engineer decided to put a catch basin between Ms.Martinson's house and the neighbors that was supposed to catch debris from the gravel that washes down the drain and is supposedly to be vacuumed out on a yearly basis.Ms. Martinson does not know if Orono even has a vac to get the debris out and noted it never gets cleaned out.All of the debris goes through the drain and the rest goes onto Ms.Martinson's and the neighbor's properties. She thinks it really needs to be looked at by the City to understand what happens when it rains and how the drainage flows. Sven Gustafson, Stonewood LLC, does not think the removal of the catch basin Ms.Martinson mentioned ever happened. He noted they had an approved drainage plan that was followed and this is the first he's heard that there is any concern about drainage created by that property. His clients intend to build personal homes on the subject property and are focused on making the lots more consistent with the neighborhood,creating three properties as similar as possible while keeping the non-conformity to a minimum.Ms. Gustafson did a study of 15 lots north and south of this property and of those lots only eight are conforming in width and area. If approved,the third lot would be larger than 20 of the adjacent lots and wider than 12 of the 30 lots.He noted the City has approved similar requests including one on Wildhurst that took two conforming lots and made them into non-conforming lakeshore lots,so there is precedent. He also met with neighbors and explained what would happen and believes they have support of those neighbors. Dan Seidel,3015 Casco Point Road,met on Friday with the potential homeowner and Stonewood and it sounds like they have some nice plans.The only issue Mr. Seidel has is if they only issue a plat what happens if for whatever reason the homeowners do not go forward?He has heard that the middle lot could Page 4 of 7