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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br />February 21, 2023 <br />6:00 o'clock p.m. <br />Mr. Johnsrud said there's a patio below that existing deck right now. We reduced the deck already by four <br />feet, along with removing the staircase. And right now, it's just a matter of the existing structures that <br />were there. He said they had had conversations about the driveway and a walkway to the front door. <br />There's a set of little wood steps there. So there's not a lot to remove. The only thing that we mentioned <br />when Natalie brought it up in our staff report was that lakeside patio. We can remove that 76 square feet. <br />The existing home is 28.4, I believe. And we're bringing it down to 27.9. With the calculations we're <br />doing, that lakeside patio would bring it down to 27.4. <br />Bollis noted the deck off the second floor which the applicant said was at a bedroom. In, in your practical <br />difficulty analysis, I think one of the reasons you mentioned is the poor interior layout from a 1920s built <br />house, and there's no main level deck. Now this solves that issue. <br />Libby asked if a main floor bay window would be removed to add the new deck. <br />Applicant, right, the bay windows coming out and the door's getting put in there? The portico or entrance <br />is existing. Only the deck is being added. <br />Libby said, but I'm just looking for hard surface. <br />Mr. Johnsrud said we did, too. And we've removed everything that we can remove. And like I said, we <br />already reduced the size of the deck. <br />McCutcheon asked if they can make smaller deck. I don't know if the math works out. But is there a <br />dimension to hit the 25 percent hardcover and have a usable deck in your opinion? <br />Mr. Johnsrud said no, because they removed 152 square feet of the deck, and we're adding a deck that is <br />netting 188 square feet (by removing the patio below the deck), so it's not okay. <br />Chair McCutcheon opened the public hearing at 8:20 p.m. <br />Patti Kubalak, 2623 Casco Point Rd. said she is right next door. I think it's a great idea. You're just <br />trading one for another, and it'll just make the house even better. <br />Chair McCutcheon closed the public hearing at 8:20 p.m. <br />Kirchner said he believes the applicant has established practical difficulties in two regards -- that the <br />existing hardcover overage is not a result of the current homeowner and the remodel project. It was from <br />prior homeowners. And there's no main level deck, I guess maybe that's not a practical difficulty, but I <br />can understand where they're coming from on a lakeside of the home. I don't think it's egregious. We've <br />been here before; we've talked about improving the position. We're going down from 28 percent <br />(hardcover). And so based on all those factors, I think practical difficulty has been established. We're <br />improving our position, and I'd be in favor of supporting this. <br />McCutcheon said he would tend to agree with Kirschner. You're right. We do see this a lot. And I think it <br />is an improvement on the hardcover. And as already mentioned, the homeowner already did reduce the <br />deck size, we do appreciate that, to make the hardcover formula better. You could probably save a few <br />Page 17 of 19 <br />