06-28-2004 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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r m W4-3016 June 9,2004 Page 3 10. Subject to MCWD approval and permits as required. 11.Subject to standard Conservation and Flowage Easement over wetlands and creek, and subject to some form of conservation/preservation easement over the defined conservation areas, such easement or dedication to be in a format acceptable to the City Attorney and City Council. Summary of Minority Position: Mabusth - the areas to be preserved should be in the form of an outlet; this is not the normal PRD format the City has used in the past in terms of being able to credit total area for individual lot area variations... Kempf - neighborhood responsibility for the preserved areas would be greater if they were owned in common as an outlet... Park Commission Recommendation The Park Commission reviewed this application on June 7 and recommended that no public dedication for trails nor for park lands is required, and the standard Park Dedication Fee should be required. Park Commission suggested that no more than one neighborhood access trail to the Luce Line should be allowed. Park Commission did not indicate a strong preference reg. rding the method of dedication of open space (outlot vs. individual lots). Staff Perspective on Open Space Dedication As proposed by the applicant, the lots would be continuous to the boundaries of the property, creating wetland and conservation casement lands within each private ownership. This is how Orono has commonly preserved wetland and steep slope areas in standard plats. However, in PRD’s such as Painter’s Creek (1984, the old Ski-Tonka property off Bayside Road) and Willow View (2000, west of Willow Drive south of Co. Rd. 6) the areas to be preserved as private open space have more typically been established as outlets owned by a homeowners association with easements or covenants that provide permanent protection of the open space.. How does this difference in preserved area ownership methods affect the individual homeowner and the City? From staff s perspective, outlot land that is owned by an association may be perceived by individual lot owners as ‘off limits’ in terms of the various uses that might occur, and such land is probably ‘policed’ by the neighbors as a group. Because it’s not perceived as ‘my property’, there is a reduced risk of an individual owner encroaching into the preserved area with accessory buildings, fences, or other uses Individual ownership ofopen spaces also reduces the likelihood of neighborhood recreational use of the preserved open space. Hiking and similar activities are more likely monitored by the individual landowner, who may perceive such recreational use by his neighbors as a trespass, whereas the common outlot gives the sense that this is ‘our area to protect’ rather than ‘my area to use ’. Staff strongly recommends that the open space be preserved as an outlot, per the sketch attached.