03-13-2023 City Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING March 13,2023 6:00 o'clock p.m. Walsh said you never came and asked us,you just went and did it.You're just asking for forgiveness instead of permission,because we would have never have allowed that. I think you need to go put the hill back.You need to get your engineer and you can figure out how you're going to do it. Mr. Schimnowski said he would also like to add that it always works on paper,right?I drew these plans based on existing retaining wall measurements that were out there. And there was a lot of concealed conditions on this site. There was a lot of material buried on this site that needed to come out to stabilize this hillside.And looking at some of the photos of the existing conditions at the time of the fire,there was significant slope issues and erosion at the adjacent property lines. That had nothing to do with this. If I would have the opportunity at some point to illustrate the means and methods that are necessary to demolish,excavate and build the timber wall. They had to move a lot of dirt and it's going to look like a lot is happening but it needs to happen to build a structurally-adequate wall. Johnson said from his perspective and talking with the neighbors that quality work was done. I don't think that's the question. There's a question surrounding the methodology that you used.I think a road is a good description. It was 12 feet wide?Could that have done been done with barge work from the lake without having to do that instead of coming from the top of the bluff? Mr. Schimnowski responded could it have been done?Yes. Would it have been practical to do that?No. Not with the amount of material that needed to come out temporarily,and then go back in for backfill. Johnson said what he saw was pretty alarming. I haven't seen that methodology before.And it seems like keeping as much of the bluff virgin is important. How do we handle this situation to discourage other contractors from just plowing down the hill and telling us well that's how it should be?On the other hand, I appreciate that with earthwork, oftentimes you find things when you start digging.And what I didn't like about your report was your note that the reason the emergency seventh level wasn't done was because of frost and snow. On another project on a property I owned in another city,I dug a basement around the same time and they didn't even have to put frost blankets down. So it wasn't a frost issue.And if you can move all that dirt,you can certainly move some snow to get there if that emergency required. I read that and I thought, well,that's disingenuous to me.And so then it calls into question the rest of it.And all we want is to get the straight story to make sure that other people don't do the same thing like make roads without the City approval or understanding and the right engineering ahead of time.I share the mayor's frustration that we can't just have this going on, and I think that's what this was. So I don't really know the path forward. But you've created a problem. Seals said I think my concern is the neighbors. They didn't sign up for this massive project. She noted the before and after photos are drastically different. We're pretty protective of the like kind. Just to see the change,there's a lot of earth that moved.I'm concerned for the homeowner and I'm also concerned for the neighbors.What else is going to come out of this because so much was changed?We have several emails from residents just showing us the before and after. I had to look at it several times and actually go out there. It doesn't even look like the same property. Page 8 of 21