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October 9,2005 <br />To: Orono City Council <br />From: Greg Coward <br />1950 Heritage Drive <br />1860 Shoreline Drive <br />Dear Council Members: <br />Exactly 22 hours after your last meeting and discussion of the proposed development of <br />1860 Shoreline Drive, Troy Broitzman called and invited me to see his new plans. I have <br />seen them. My comments are these: <br />Overview <br />1. The basic problem has not changed: this is a development by a novice builder <br />who proposes constructing one of the larger homes in the City, on Minnetonka <br />lake shore property, on a lot which is undersized and narrow, with no architectural <br />input <br />2. There is reason to be concerned that construction will be poorly executed (see <br />below). <br />3. Building materials, rather than architectural distinction, appear to be driving both <br />the scale and look of this development. <br />a. The plan calls for a construction technique using concrete for the floors, <br />walls and roof. Whatever the merits of this technique, and there are some, <br />it is difiicult to disguise the institutional and conunercial look that results <br />from its use. As an example of the cascading effect you ge! when materials <br />drive design, the garage’s proportions arc dictated by the floor spacing of <br />the living area, then you get 10 ft. garage doors, and so on. <br />b. The plan also calls for a mortar-less brick exterior, where the bricks <br />interlock and hang off each other on the exterior wall. 1 have never seen <br />this, but I fear that the effect will be peculiar and not resemble the quality <br />brick facade expected of a fine home. <br />I he Latest Plan <br />The revised size is somewhere between 12.000 and 15,000 1 would guess that <br />that makes it among the largest 5% oC all homes in Orono. regardless of the lot <br />size or neighborhood. In our particular neighborhood this is probably 2 or more <br />times the size of the next largest home and 3-4 times the average of all the homes. <br />(Here I include both the finished basement, which has windows facing the lake <br />and is I believe 10 ft. in height, helping to drive the overall height of the building.