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r <br />Mayor Barbara Peterson <br />Orono City Council <br />Page 3 <br />July 15,2002 <br />CUP. The CUP the City issued in November 2001 permitted a 4 to one slope. The City <br />should require Mr. Stephenson to conform to that permit. <br />B. Mr. Stephenson's violations of his original conditional use permit and watershed district <br />permit were either intentional or grossly negligent. In his ''Analysis of Relevant Facts" Mr. <br />Munson attempts to further underplay the extent and seriousness of Mr. Stephenson ’s permit <br />violations by characterizing the violations as ''unintentional ” and the difference between the <br />approved and actual work as “a slight discrepancy.” Mr. Chalfen asks the City to consider <br />the following: <br />1. On November 11,2001, the City of Orono granted Stephenson a conditional use permit <br />for 3,280 s.f. of land alteration. A site plan marked by Zoning Administrator Weinberger <br />shows the area covered by the permit and the area Stephenson actually altered without a <br />permit. (See letter attached to the report to the Planning Commission and this as letter as <br />“D”). Stephenson covered at least twice the area he was permitted to cover. <br />2. Mr. Stephenson ’s intrusion into the wetland buffer was not “unintentional ” or, if the <br />intrusion was unintentional, Mr. Stephenson was grossly negligent. The January letter <br />from the MCWD (Letter F) cites Mr. Stephenson for commencing the fill work without <br />inst.;lling the required double silt fence. After the January citation, Mr. Stephenson <br />installed a single silt fence. The February letter from the City of Orono (Letter G) cites <br />Mr. Stephenson for failing to maintain the single silt fence. Photographs of Mr. <br />Stephenson driving construction equipment on ‘he wetland side of silt fence, with <br />openings in the silt fence, demonstrate that there was nothing “unintentional ” about Mr. <br />Stephenson ’s violation of the wetland buffer. In fact, those pictures may demonstrate <br />that Mr. Stephenson intruded on the wetland itself. Color copies of some of the <br />photographs Zoning Administrator Weinberger attached to the Request for Council <br />Action are attached to this letter. <br />3. Mr. Stephenson ’s intrusion across his side setbacks and into his neighbors ’ yards was <br />also either intentional or grossly negligent. Mr. Stephenson ’s CUP approved a set of <br />plans with distinct construction limits. The fill exceeds those limits by 50 to 60 feet on <br />each side and crosses Mr. Stephenson ’s property lines. Mr. Stenhenson failed to mark <br />those limits or take other action to confine the fill to the approved limits. Further, Mr. <br />Stephenson and his contractors could not have placed the fill without intentionally <br />clearing the trees and bmsh from the filled area. <br />4. Mr. Munson asserts that the “primary purpose for the expansion of the fill area was to <br />improve drainage for all parties involved----” Mr. Stephenson was not simply <br />feathering his fill into his neighbors ’ yards. Mr. Stephenson brought the crest of his hill <br />2234562v3