01-17-2023 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION January 17,2023 6:00 o'clock p.m. Ressler moved,Libby seconded,to approve LA22-000066,3365 Crystal Bay Rd.Variances. VOTE: Ayes: 4,Nays 0. 3. LA22-000067 JON BYINGTON, 1270 WILDHURST TRAIL,REQUESTS A VARIANCE FROM THE AVERAGE LAKESHORE SETBACK FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF DECK STAIRS ON AN EXISTING DECK. City Planner Nye gave a presentation on the application. The applicant is proposing to construct a new spiral staircase to serve an existing deck. The deck and rear addition on the house were recently approved in 2022 through an average Lakeshore setback variance. The location of the existing home on the property in relation to its northern neighbor creates an extreme average lakeshore setback line with a very limited building envelope. The staircase was not originally contemplated for this location and therefore the addition of the spiral staircase creates a new encroachment into the average lakeshore setback requiring a new variance. The applicant has provided supporting documentation regarding the practical difficulties. Staff agrees with the applicant's assessment of practical difficulty being the extreme average lake shore setback due to the placement of the existing home. Currently,the deck is 126 feet from the OH WL. The proposed location of the stairs stays within that setback and does not create any new encroachments into the side yard.No public comment has been received and staff recommends approval of the requested variance as proposed. Julie Dejong 1270 Wildhurst Trail said the staircase they are requesting is right next to an existing porch. A deck addition was approved last year and the location of that stairway was moved further away from the backyard. The reasoning behind the spiral staircase would to be to provide easier access to the backyard without having to encroach on any of our neighbors. It will not be past the existing setback that we have and neither of our neighbors would be able to see it. It`s not a large,bulky structure. It would be within about five feet width and we are hoping that this would be approved to make the access to our backyard easier. McCutcheon asked if the deck previously had stairs. Dejong explained there were stairs but they had to be moved because of extending the deck to connect to the garage and now the stairs would be too far back. Chair McCutcheon opened the public hearing at 6:39 p.m. There were no public comments. Chair McCutcheon closed the public hearing at 6:39 p.m. The Commissioners discussed the item. McCutcheon said hindsight is 20/20 so he would like to give the applicant the benefit of the doubt realizing that things can change during construction. He noted it is a little bit bigger footprint than they had before but a pretty subtle one. Ressler said he thinks the request is pretty similar to the last one.His feedback would be similar on this application. Page 5 of 13