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L <br />G) <br />To: Mayor and Council <br />From: Planning Commission <br />Date: June 8,2004 <br />Dear City of Orono Council Members. <br />At the June 2"^ Planning Commission work session, one item on our agenda w-as to discuss <br />the C.U.P. for Stonebay Marketplace. After discussing the item, several comments were <br />made regarding the exterior appearance of the town*.iome buildings. These comments <br />resulted in an interesting and detailed discussion on that subject. We all had strong <br />concerns on this maner, and decided a letter to the City Council regarding these cor.cems <br />was necessary. <br />Planning Commission members Ln anendance reviewed the plans submined by the <br />do ’eloper and observed that what is being constructed is very different than what they <br />expected. The consensiu was that the Planning Commission expected the new <br />development to utilize more color, more stone or bnek, and more extenor details. All <br />members agreed that what is bemg built does not meet the expectations of the Commission, <br />based on the plans approved by the City nor do the buildings already constructed have the <br />expected color, brick, and exterior details. Equally troubling to the planning commissioners <br />was staffs comment that, in town-home developments, once the development is constructed <br />the exterior appearance is extremely hard to change. This is because the town-home <br />association would have to approve and pay for exterior changes. Based on this reality, it was <br />recommended that, if we are concerned about the exterior appearance of the development - <br />which w e as a Planning Commission are - now is our best and possibly our last chance to <br />change it. <br />At that point the tone of our discussion changed. We went from discussing our concerns <br />about the development in general to becoming that much more determined diat somethmg <br />needs to be done. Therefore, after review of the plans w'e documented ’he differences <br />between the plans submitted and the buildings being constructed. As we suspected, we <br />found that the original plans contained far more exterior detailing. VXHiat we found to be <br />missing from the buildings being constructed includes: <br />Shuners <br />Divided light windows <br />Half-moon windows and pon hole window s <br />Brick or stone fascia that extends to the roof <br />Brick or stone fascia wiping onto the sides of the buildings <br />Architectural soffit details <br />More detailed exterior trim (color, profile, and keystones) <br />Use of more exterior color