10-25-2004 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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April 19. 2004 TO; CityofOrcno (the city) FROM; Harold and Mildred (Middy) Bower 68 Copperhead Cove Trail Old Fort, NC 28762 (828) 724-4643 SUBJECT; 1925 Lake view Terrace (the parcel, the lot) BACKGROUND; We purchased this parcel of land in 1974 as a “buffer” between our property at 1080 North Brown Road and the neighbors to the east of us It was a residential one acre lot as are all of the lots in the Long Lake Country Club Addition. Apparently in 1975, an aerial photo was taken and this lot was labeled a “wetland” without any scientific surface studies being conducted to show the limited area of the wetland. Please note that in the accompanying Plat of this addition, approved by the Orono Planning Commission and Village Council of Orono in August 1961, it states that there are no wet lands in the plat except as designated (none are designated within the boundaries of this parcel. Lot 2 Block 2), (granted that the definitions of wetlands may have been changed since this date in 1961 .) Also the Protective Covenants for this area (Torrens Title Exhibit “A" Doc. No. 669783), enclosed, states in paragraph A that “All lots ... shall be known and described as residential lots ’’ Please note that we were never notified of the “wetland" label for this property. In late 2002, it became apparent that we would be moving from Orono due to Middy’s employment relocation. When we contacted the city for clarification of the status of this lot, wc were then informed of the “wetland” label attached to it and told that a wetland delineation procedure must be obtained to show the extent of the wetland area if it did not encompass the entire lot. We had this study conducted by a licensed organization. Aquatic EcoSolutions, Inc. in November 2002, (results enclosed). In February, 2004 we had the lot resurveyed to show the boundaries of the wetland delineation (survey enclosed). As of this date we have entered into a purchase agreement to sell the property to a developer who is familiar with the necessary follow-up procedures that need to be completed in order to construct a residence on this lot. A part of this agreement is that the developer will, at their cost, pay for sanitary sewer assessments and any improvements that are necessary to ensure that a suitable foundation for a residence be constructed. Please note that a rough measurement of the “non-wetland" area of the lot reveals that a residence of suitable size to conform to the limits imposed by the aforementioned Protective Covenants and to conform to the general aesthetics of the surrounding homes can be constructed in confoimance to existing wetland and lot-lme setback limitations WITHOUT any variances. THE SITUATION AND REQUEST; We are now in possession of a purchase agreement for the lot that is labeled a “w'etland" and that is the same size as others in this addition but is now nonconforming to the standards of the city (2 acre minimum). We therefore request that the city EXPEDITIOUSLY honor our request for a variance to the lot size o n f“:.) J