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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />March 13,2023 <br />6:00 o'clock p.m. <br />Benson asked if it's possible if the project were rebuilt that the Bluff would look as it did before.Is there <br />a way of restoring this bluff? She also asked if it is correct that the contractor had to dig so far back to <br />accommodate the support timbers. <br />Valdes said when we started digging,we don't know what was on the back of the wall. We built this wall <br />as a complete structure from the bottom all the way to the top.Every single wall is like a structure all the <br />way from the top so that will be there forever. He said he would have preferred to do boulders but it <br />would have been a 60 to 90 day approval process. In January it is impossible for us to build a wall with <br />boulders.When we got stopped working,this happened on Friday at three o'clock,we completely stopped <br />work.He said they were allowed to go back and take emergency precautions to prevent erosion over the <br />winter. They later came to the conclusion with engineering that they don't need to have a seventh wall <br />because it would get more into the homeowner's property when we can go six timbers higher here. <br />Benson asked is it true that that trees are unable to be planted in or around this new retaining wall. <br />Valdes said no trees but they have a design plan to completely cover the walls with tall grasses and <br />arborvitaes that don't have root systems that will affect the wall or the drainage. <br />Benson asked what would be the effect if the work were to be taken out or redone?At this point,there's <br />no putting the bluff back. Is that correct?It would be tearing out what's there and putting in boulders or <br />something else. <br />Warnke said he could only say we haven't talked about that, if we were to tear it out what would be the <br />next step? <br />Council Members said they believe the new wall system has to go back to the original grade and line up <br />with the top of the bluff and the properties on either side. <br />Curtis said she would suggest that in future applications for similar projects that we require them to <br />provide us with their method of construction, rather than just the plan for construction.At least that would <br />provide a more realistic expectation for the applicant and the neighbors as well as the City for what we're <br />going to see start to finish how the project will progress. <br />Walsh opened the discussion up to public comments. <br />Carol Price, 2813 Casco Point Road, said she is the property owner on the west side of this property. I do <br />have some grave concerns. The biggest one is that adding 1.7 feet to the existing sixth wall,the top of that <br />wall that exists now, it's not sufficient to prevent soil erosion from my property on the west side, due to <br />the differences in the elevation levels, as the retaining walls are currently built.And you saw by the <br />picture earlier,the fence at the top that that level was basically the same along the properties.And this <br />wall actually curves in. Part of that was building these walls further back. So I'm going to show my <br />findings. I've been going through a lot of this data,even back from the original drawings. So there's a <br />letter from Criterium-Schimnowski Engineers dated February 24,2023 regarding the sixth wall versus a <br />seventh wall and it does not mention any change in property gradients to the adjacent properties. The <br />Page 9 of 21