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Mayor Barbara Peterson Orono City Council Page 6 July 15,2002 Stephensons created the hardship by violating the CUP in the first place. If the current delineation discloses that the hill does not encroach, Mr. Chalfen asks that the City determine the degree to which Mr. Stephenson ’s activities in the assumed buffer effected the delineation. To the extent the delineation depends on analysis of vegetation and soils, Mr. Stephenson has substantially altered both. 2. With respect to the second staff recommendation, Mr. Chalfen agrees that the slope of the filled grade must not exceed the recommended three to one slope and that the foot of the slope must be removed from the twenty-six foot wetland setback. To the extent the grading plan the City Council approved in November 2001 requires slopes shallower than 3 to one, Mr. Chalfen urges the City Council to require Mr. Stephenson to comply with the original permit. a.In addition, to the extent the City Council does not require strict compliance with the original CUP, the City Council should require that any slope along any radius extending from the Stephensons ’ pre-existing back lawn area of the house must not exceed three-to-one. Thus, if the Stephensons are required, as they should be, to remove all fill extending beyond the side lot setbacks, they should be required to remove and re-grade the remaining fill as may be required to ensure that the slope extending along the edges of the permitted fill areas does not exceed the recommended slope. Mr. Chalfen does not object to minimum feathering of Mr. Stephenson ’s hill into his neighbors ’ yards in order to prevent creation of gullies. b.As the staff notes, by violating the original CUP, the Stephensons have extended their existing back lawn area by approximately thirty-eight feet. The staff also notes that it “is not opposed to this change in the plan ’’ if the Stephensons meet the required slopes and remove the base of the hill from the wetland setback. Mr. Chalfen is opposed to this change in the plan. As a practical matter, reducing the slope and moving the base and sides of the hill toward the Stephensons ’ house should have the effect of reducing the flat back lawn area at the top of the hill. (We acknowledge that in earlier correspondence we supported the staff recommendation of slopes of 3 to one. We believed staff recommended a 3 to one slope because that slope was consistent with the original approvals. We have since discovered that the original CUP approved slopes of ^ to one. Our position is and has been that Mr. Stephenson should be required to comply with the original CUP.) 3. With respect to the third staff recommendation, Mr. Chalfen believes that the City Council must require the Stephensons to remove the fill from, the adjacent properties and from the side yard setback areas within the Stephensons ’ property. Mr. Chalfen therefore disagrees with the staff suggestion that the City Council may accept “the consent ’’ of the neighboring 22J4562v3 ^ W----\WtT