07-19-2004 Planning Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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•04.3007 May 10.2004 Pa|c2 N - Adjacent Owners Acknowlcdgxent Forms O - Sewer As-Bu:!: Maps P - Code Sections TS-HC9 Aru 7S-1112 Q - Staff sketch R • Watershed Area Topography Procedure ^^’hile the request for a lot area variance is not out of the ordinary, the request to *un-des;g::aic* a C:ty- designated wetland is anythmgbut routine. No map amendment process is specif.cally dcfjted in ilte zoning code relative to the 1975 Welland In\-cntory Map. We are treatir - it ftmctionally as a zoning map revision, bat not as a rezoning. and it will require a simple ma;ority (3/5 vote) at the Council level StitTaJ viscd the applicant to proceed with the w etiand re-designation request application concurrently w ith the v anar. *e application, and w e are researching “as we go" to determine what other agencies may need to be ir.\ oh cJ and what information is necessary' to properly rev ew this map revision. Background Prior to 1959, this property was part of a single tax parcel used as farm i.clds. Our set of 1955 acrul photos indicates that the area encompassed by the current lot in question was a w etland by today’s standards; however, it likely was not considered as w etland in the 1950's, and Orono did not have a wetland ordinance until 1963. In 1959 a subdivision application w as filed to divide the property Into half-acre lots. The City at that tiir.c was in tlte nudst ofdiscusstons about minumun lot size for residential lots, and w ble the prcLn\r.ar> plat was approved by CouiKil as presented, the Council a year later rcftiscd to gra.nt final plat approval, indicating the code had changed in the interim and one-acre lots would now be required. Afier a series of legal g>Tations, the then property owner agreed to plat wnth one-acre lots, which plat w as recorded m September 1961. Lot 2, the lot in question, had a 20’ wide drainage casement platted through it for a drainagcw ay, a ditch leading from the wetland north of the road and leaving the propeny midw ay along its south boundary The plat created 21 onc-acrc lots, and roads were constructed. Between 1964 and 1969 building permits w ere issued for 3 4 of the lots. The remaimng lots w ere b. nit on in the early 1970’s or w ere never built on. Li l970iheBower’sboughtihchomeat IOSO Brown Road North, and in 1974 acquired the adjacent lot (the bl m question) from General Realty Company as a buffer. The lot was not a tax forfeit properts, but had delinquent taxes at the nine they purchased it. The County Deed Tax paid was 52 20 and it is estimated they paid less than 5500 for ii according to County records. We assume they also paid 3-4 years of back taxes.