Laserfiche WebLink
MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br /> October 16,2023 <br /> 6:00 o'clock p.m. <br /> Bollis said the language clearly exempts stairways and doesn't say attached. He said it is poorly written as <br /> it exempts all stairways. <br /> McCutcheon said precedent has been to treat stairs attached to decks as part of the structure. <br /> Curtis said the DNR was responsible for that wording. It is meant to refer to stairs going down to the lake. <br /> Libby said he still maintains that they have certain precednets they have to work with the language they <br /> have in front of them. <br /> Ressler moved,McCutcheon seconded,to deny the appeal portion of LA23-000058 and encourage <br /> Staff to draft language to clarify the code according to the Staff interpretation.VOTE: Ayes: 5, <br /> Nays 1 (Bollis). <br /> The applicant,Tripp Snyder, in speaking of the request for the After-the-Fact variance, said when they <br /> purchased the home the old deck was in place with no guardrails,only a bench around the perimeter. <br /> Their initial permit application had a different location for the stairs and it would have landed on the pre- <br /> existing concrete that the inspector said was not the right size. The landing led to concrete stairs going <br /> down to a fire pit. Changing the landing would have meant changing the stairs. They moved the stairs and <br /> the new configuration caused the need for a variance.The new stairs are ADA compliant so the safety <br /> issues has been mitigated and they come down to a wider landing which is safer than the original,he said. <br /> When their neighbor's house was torn down and rebuilt the average lakeshore setback for his home was <br /> changed. Their new stairs are two feet closer to the lake than the old stairs. The increased height of the <br /> deck was also a safety issue because there was an 8-inch height differential between the threshold of the <br /> door and the step down to the deck. He said now you walk straight out onto the deck without any <br /> difference in height which is safer for residents in their 70s. <br /> Chair Bollis opened the public hearing on the variances at 7:59 p.m. <br /> Don Germanson, 1501 Bay Ridge Rd,the neighbor to the north, said they view this as a grandfather <br /> situation,not an average lakeshore setback issue. He said they saw this deck go up and it was higher and <br /> where there were three steps there are now eight or nine. This is not grandfathered, which means replace <br /> like-kind,he said.Everything should have been built in the existing footprint. They would encourage <br /> keeping the new deck within the existing footprint. <br /> Chair Bollis closed the public hearing at 8:01 p.m. <br /> Bollis said after-the-fact variances are always hard and they need to look at it as what they would have <br /> approved if it had come before the Planning Commission as a request. There are safety concerns that he <br /> thinks would have brought the Commission to the conclusion of approving the variance if it had been <br /> requested in the first place.He said they probably would have had more control over where those deck <br /> stairs went if they had seen it in advance.He said he had no doubt they would have approved the safety <br /> concerns. <br /> Snyder said the stairs are built and attached but the deck is not completely finished.He said both decks <br /> were 16 X 24 not counting the stairs. <br /> Page 8 of 11 <br />