07-27-2015 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, July 13, 2015 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 10 of 28 what was brought to the Planning Commission was Plan B and that Plan B was approved by the Planning Commission. Levang indicated she is not interested in looking at Plan A and that she is not sure if Mr. Walsh was correct in what he was saying. Levang stated she is only interested in Plan B and that what Council Member Walsh was saying happened is not apparent and not transparent in this room right now. Levang indicated she is concerned about that and that she is not interested in Plan A. Stickney stated that is exactly what he wanted to know, which is why he touched on both plans, and that he has no time for innuendos. Stickney stated he had his own reasons for what he told the family and that he is not the deciding body. McMillan stated at the May Planning Commission meeting, the Planning Commission was wrestling with the Conservation Design and how that related to the Big Woods. The Commission at that time talked quite a bit about mitigating tree loss by moving some houses, which resulted in Mr. Stickney coming back in June with a different plan. McMillan stated she attended the May meeting but was not at the June meeting. McMillan stated after reading the minutes, it appeared at the June meeting Mr. Stickney found some common ground and that the Planning Commission was fine with it. McMillan noted there were letters of support for the new design and the Planning Commission was very complimentary about the new design since it saved both conservation elements, the Big Woods and the prairie. McMillan stated she is not sure if the Council can figure out which element is more important, which is why the Conservation Design Ordinance was adopted ten years ago. McMillan stated the City had a situation by the Luce Line Trail along Long Lake Creek and in that situation they were able to cluster the homes. At that time the Council realized then that these significant stands of woods or prairies in Orono were important and would be identified. Dave Hill of the DNR at that time performed a natural reserve inventory for the County and identified areas of woods and other natural resources in Orono that should be protected. McMillan indicated the goal was to protect these areas and knit these areas as corridors for the wildlife. McMillan stated since Orono is 85 to 90 percent developed, the whole point of the natural resources inventory and Conservation Design Plan was to protect the wildlife and natural areas that were still remaining. McMillan noted the Lakeview property did not have significant tree stands but it had drainage ways, which were protected through buffers. McMillan stated the whole purpose of conservation design is to have professionals take a look at these properties before anything is put on them and then tell the Council what the good natural resources are and rank them. McMillan indicated the maple/basswood area on this property was ranked very high, with very few invasive species. McMillan stated the maple/basswood tree stand is also significant because it has very few ash trees. McMillan stated the emerald ash tree borer is different than Dutch Elm disease because once the borer hits a critical mass, it will destroy all the ash trees, little and big, and will not spare one. McMillan stated preserving Orono’s remaining natural resources is the reason why the City adopted the Conservation Design Plan and that she appreciates the Planning Commission placing importance on that. McMillan noted the City did not allow clustering on this site as part of the Conservation Design due to septic even though other cities will allow that. McMillan stated Orono does not want people to put septic systems on smaller lots and that a private septic system needs at least two acres and maybe three or four. Stickney stated that is one of the reasons why these lots are an average of 3.7 acres.