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Melanie Curtis COUNCIL EXHIBIT B Public Comments / Information From: Jim Murphy[jmurphy@goldengate.net] Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 12:17 PM #s To: Melanie Curtis Subject: Fw: Hill School Property Conditional Us Permit Who is Bennett on the PC? Original Message From:Clear„Steve(Minneapolis) To:jwhiteaci.orono.mn.us ; cbremeraci.orono.mn.us ; Imcmillan ci.orono.mn.us ;jmurphv goldenaate.net; dfranchot a4ci.orono.mn.us Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 4:04 PM Subject: Hill School Property Conditional Use Permit February 26, 2010 Dear Mayor White; council members Curtis, Bremer, McMill , Murphy and Franchot; and planning commission members Schenzeit, Leskinen, Rice, Schwingler, ennett and Feuss: i Subject: Hill School Property Conditional Use Permit My name is Steve Clear. My wife and I and our four small children live at 1360 French Creek Dr. Our home is the first residence in French Creek and closest to the Hill Schopl property. I have been unable to attend the previous Orono City Council meetings due to work related travel, but I want to share my concerns with the council. I am strongly opposed to granting a Conditional Use Permit to allow commercial activity on what is now the Hill School property. 1 Based on the feedback I have heard from my wife and neighb rs who attended the two previous council meetings and my reading of the minutes it appears the surroun ing community is being asked to prove why the permit should not be granted. Shouldn't the onus be on the p y seeking a CUP to show how they improve the community not the other way around? The Orono Municipal Code Sec. 78-5 states: "Use of land for residential purposes is considered primary with other uses Viewed as supporting this use.While present commercial or industrial activity,where consistent with residential use and other guiding principles,will be protected by ordinance or conditional use permit, it is not the intention to expand or allow all such commercial or industrial activity to a degree where it conflicts with the primary residential use and the other guiding principles." i I ask the Mayor and the Council to consider who they represen and ask how does approval of this permit benefit the residents of Orono? Based on the exhibits presente by Mike Maddie at the council meeting it is clear the surrounding residents are overwhelmingly against gr ting the CUP. If it is granted I can see no direct benefit to the existing nearby residents. Based on the concern voiced at the last Council meeting granting a CUP for the Hill School property would be in direct "conflict' with the "primary residential use" of the existing neighborhood and clearly violate the spirit of the Oro o Municipal Code. I I urge the Mayor and Council Members to listen to their constituents and not grant a Conditional Use Permit allowing commercial activity on the existing Hill School Property. 1 1