Project Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

"ommunication received after Council packet was distributed #3 March 5, 2010 Dear Mayor White and City Council Members, Along with our neighbors in Crystal Bay, French Cree and North Shore Drive, we oppose the zoning applications to permanently alter the use oft e Hill School property. We want to be clear that our opposition is in no way directed at the mily Program. We have a close friend who has struggled with an eating disorder and we re4ognize the difficulties associated with such illnesses and the help programs like this offer. As residents of Orono for the past 18 years, we share our neighbors' concern about the zoning applications for two important reasons: the permanency of the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and the size of the Hill School property. i First,the requested variances and the CUP will create;permanent rights that are attached to the land and not the medical clinic. If the Emily Program ere to move from this location as it did from its Chaska facility, rights granted would extend r beyond the intended use and could have unintended impacts on the surrounding commu ity. The differences in usage patterns between the Hill School and the Emily Program, and r suiting traffic impact, are dramatic. In the event the Emily Program moved and the propert becomes a hospital or similar medical use,the traffic impact could be even greater.This inc emental traffic—combined with parking, emergency vehicle use, lighting and noise—in an area that already has increased traffic due to the busy Dakota Trail—requires serious consideration.A decision to permanently alter the Hill School property from educational to hospital use, creating an intensification of use that cannot be sustained on this property,would fundamentally alter the rural character of the area. Second,the Hill School property is too small for a clini'l or any other medical use. The City's Zoning Code recognizes the impacts of hospital and si ilar medical uses on residents. It protects the residential uses in this zoning district by equiring a minimum two-acre lot size and a 100-foot setback for buildings and parking areas for hospital and similar medical uses.The Hill School property is 0.58 acres—only 29%of the requir d size—and doesn't even allow a 50-foot setback from North Shore Drive or Briar Street to the .chool building.The existing parking and access driveways are set back less than two feet from he property line along Briar Street. The small lot size, limited setbacks and proximity to r:sidential neighbors greatly magnify the intensified impacts that would result from the funda ental change from educational to hospital use.The required conditions intended to pro i•ct residences from commercial activities simply cannot be met at this location.