03-13-2023 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION February 21, 2023 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 7 of 12 bluff line top. He said the bluff has been moved back 22 feet. That's part of the reason why we're in a variance situation now, I guess, because it wasn't built in accordance with plans. There's a mistake there. I don't know exactly what the significance of that is. And I actually want to compliment Tyler, Joe, you guys did a good job on the walls. Good job. They worked hard. Tyler was up here explaining. He worked with us, he worked with the neighbors on the other side. So I don't necessarily want to have it torn down and start over. And that's up to you guys to figure out. The Commissioners, applicants and neighbors continued to review photos and drawings. Curtis pointed out that the applicant is not asking for approval on these issues. We're going back and forth about what was there and what what's there now but we know it's not what was there before. Mr. Valdes said to go eight feet high with the wall, you have to go eight feet back. We have property lines, we have neighbors. We had tie backs going from the first wall all the way to the second wall. So all the walls basically want to structure all the way from the bottom to the top of the wall. That way we know how to approach anybody’s property, and we'd be able to save histories. We actually did more work to be able to make sure that we're stable enough. So if you have one wall, all the way to the top has got to tie and nail into each other and the whole thing is one structure all the way. This is why that is not right. He said some of the structure now in place is temporary because the wall is not finished. They addressed the drainage on the east end by putting in drain tiles in the corner that will drain the whole yard. We have the pipes ready behind the walls to hook up but the job is not complete. McCutcheon asked about drainage and the current opinion of the engineer for the project. Mr. Valdes said water would go to the corner where the fence used to be where there was an old catch basin and some tires. Those have been removed and everything is now buried. He said this winter there has been 70 inches of snow. When it melts, the water will go west to east where they have put in a berm. The water will not go to any neighbor's property. He said the retaining walls are being designed so it will not have to have a railing. Chair McCutcheon closed the public hearing at 7:02 p.m. McCutcheon opened commission discussion saying it's a pretty significant build. And he understands the challenges with burning down trees, the root system failing, and yet needing to hold all that soil back. He also said he can understand the concern from the neighbors as it’s different in character from the rest of the area. But looking at it, if you tore it down and rebuilt it, I'm thinking you'd look pretty similar because of all the earth that was removed. I'd like to hear the comments of the commission here on what can be done next steps, because we can't change the past. So let's try to keep the conversation on what can be done going forward. Do we let them finish it with the proposed changes? Or does anybody have an opinion on some kind of other plan or approach towards this? Kirchner said his initial frustration is that in-kind walls were approved and we didn't land there. Due to the dirt that was removed. today we can't go back and do X, Y and Z. And therefore, by the applicant and the homeowner circumventing the process, they removed that ability for neighbors, City staff, and this