12-12-2005 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday, October 17,2005 6:00 o’clock p.m. V A (005-3131 Steve Bohi, Continued) Oronberg staled the developer is amenable to any recommendations Staff would have in the way of landscaping. Rahn stated in his opinion Staff should review the landscape plan and that he would also prefer that the Park Commission indicate whether diey are in support of the trail extension into the development. Rahn stated the request for the variance for Lots 7 and 8 would need to be reviewed by tlie city’s wetland consultant Gronberg indicated he used to live across the street from this area and that he knows the history of that wetland. Kempf stated he is unsure whether the history would play a big part in determining whether that should be classified as wetland. Kempf inquired what process should be followed to get a wetland reclassified. Gififron stated the City's wetland consultant would review the area and that he would complete a standardized review of the wetland, reviewing the characteristics of the wetland, and would dien determine what preservation class it would fall into. Gaffron stated the code is set up to allow the developer's consultant to do an assessment and that the City's consultant could either reject or accept the applicant's prqiosal. Gaffron indicated to his understanding the process takes approxinutely one month. Kenqif stated he would like to see whether the wetland should be reclassified, and that if it were not reclassified, due to die type of density the City is attracting to achieve in this area, he would not be opposed to a variance. Gronberg indicated a number of cities have an averaging feature to the setback for wetlands. Kempf stated that might not work with buffers. Leslie indicated he is in agreement of seeing whether this wetland should be reclassified, and if it is not reclassified, it would be necessary to look at whether there is a hardship to grant a variance. Rahn inquired whether the City's consultant could take a look at it prior to starting the process to reclassify it. Gaffron recommended that John Smythe take a look at the area this week and then speak with the developer's consultant to see what typ>e of solution could be reached. Gaffron indicated he would prefer to use averaging when there are no other options and diat in this case the developer could reduce the number of lots to avoid the need for a variance. Kempf stated in his opinion averaging die setbacks would be confusing to the ^rious property owners. PAGE 4 » 9 i\ t I i i II