Laserfiche WebLink
REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACHON <br />mi ink'll iicCJINQ <br />MAY 2 4 2004 <br />UI y OH ORONO <br />Date: May 20, 2004 <br />Item No.: ^ <br />Deparlmcnt Approval:Administrator Approval; <br />Name: Michael P. GafTron <br />Title; Planning Director <br />Agenda Section: <br />Zoning <br />Item Description: Proposed Hardcover Policy Resolution <br />List of Exhibits <br />A - Resolution & Exhibit A (Sketch) <br />B • PC Memos and Exhibits of 1 1-24-03 and 4-1-04 <br />C - Resolution No. 4006 (Nov. 1997) <br />Issue: Hardcover policy regarding minimum standards for building pennits. <br />Staff & PC Recommendation: Staff and Planning Commission recommend that Council adop <br />attached resolution, intended to provide clarification and establish minimum standards for hardest <br />necessary to support a residential tlwclling. <br />the <br />ver <br />Background <br />From time to lime the Council has adopted policy resolutions which provit '.e direction to staff and applicants <br />regarding administration of the various elements of the Zoning Code An example is the hardcover pol icy <br />resolution adopted in 1997 (Exh. D). <br />Due to Orono’s strict hardcover limitations, builders and homeowners ar e regularly faceil with sites that <br />will not easily accommodate a home as large as they would like. In an ciTort to meet hai dcover limitations <br />to obtain a building permit, builders and property owners often attempt to maximize the house size by <br />minimizing es.scntial functional elements of their site plans, such as driveways, sidewalks, etc. <br />The Zoning code has no minimum standards for driveways, sidewalks, decks, patios and the like. Staffis <br />often hard-pressed to deny a building permit application proposing to use wood-chip sidewalks, extremely <br />nanow ilrivcways, etc., even thougli we expect that the builder or property owner is likely to be unsatisfied <br />with the result. <br />In a number o f recent cases, once tlie constmetion project is complete or near completion, the property <br />owner has then requested \ ariances for (or sometimes gone ahead and constmeted) additional hardcover, <br />claiming it is needed to make the site functional or to provide an amenity that was earlier relinquished to <br />obtain the permit. Examples include;