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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />March 13, 2023 <br />6:00 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br />Page 3 of 21 <br />sessions are regularly-scheduled Council meetings. Any change made in time or date would cause the <br />City Clerk to give notice of the change. <br />Seals moved, Benson seconded, to approve the work session draft agenda with the March 21 <br />Planning Commission interviews and meeting canceled. VOTE: Ayes 4, Nays 0. <br />COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT REPORT <br />11.ENCROACHMENT AGREEMENT – RICK SHIDEMAN, 4075 HIGHWOOD ROAD <br />City Planner Oakden explained the property owner of 4075 Highwood is requesting an encroachment <br />agreement to address an existing building located in a right-of-way area. The owner’s intent is to obtain <br />some building permits for maintenance of the building such as re-roofing. Granting the encroachment <br />agreement will allow the proper permits to be issued to do so. Staff determined existing utilities in the <br />right-of-way are not in conflict with the existing structure. <br />The property owner, Rick Shideman, 4075 Highwood Road, was present. <br />Johnson said he asked to have this item pulled off because he was alerted by one of the neighbors that <br />there has been vegetation planted in that fire lane that they feel is preventing them from using it. I did go <br />by the property and noticed that there were quite a few plantings in there. That's City property so if <br />somebody's improved that then it should be at the permission of the City. He asked if the plantings were <br />put in by the property owner. <br />Mr. Shideman said some of them are and some of them were pre-existing. It was all improved landscape <br />when we moved in. There was a garden bed and a statue that were right in the middle of the fire lane. <br />When we moved in, that was, I believe, taken out as part of the demolition. And then the prior neighbor <br />next door had done some landscaping in there to handle erosion control. He said the driveway next door is <br />100 percent on the on the right-of-way and they get significant drainage that comes down and washes <br />everything out. In the five years we've been there there's been multiple times that landscapers have been <br />out trying to deal with that erosion issue. <br />Johnson said he believes the property owner’s request is reasonable and he knows the neighboring <br />property has an encroachment agreement into that right-of-way for their driveway. He suggested waiting <br />until spring and having an inspection to assess what is there and ensure right of access for people who <br />want to use it. <br />Oakden clarified there is no legal timeline as far as state statute to act on this request. <br />Walsh said it sounds like there's really no issue with the encroachment agreement and asked the property <br />owner if he had any problem with waiting 60 days. <br />Mr. Shideman said no although they are anxious to get going as the building was in rough shape when <br />they moved in and they’ve deferred maintenance for quite a while.