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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday, March 19, 2007 6:00 o'clock p.m. (#07-3266 Vogue ICF Homes, Continued) 4. A hardcover variance to allow 48.07 percent hardcover in the 75-150 foot zone when 25 percent is allowed, and to not maintain the required grade elevation for 15 feet from the proposed structure. The applicant proposes to build a two and a half story house with an attached garage. The property is located in the LR-1 C, One Family Lakeshore Residential District requiring a minimum lot area of 0.5 acre and 100 feet of width at the shoreline and at the required 75-foot setback. This lot is 0.28 feet in width at the shoreline and at the 75-foot setback. Due to poor soils, the house would be built on pilings and grade beams. It would appear as slab on grade construction with no basement or crawl space. The property has two 0-75 foot zones, one on the street side and one on the lake side. Part of the property is within the flood plain. The maximum depth of a flood on the property would be about one foot. The flood plain elevations require that the bottom of the lowest floor of a building in the floodplain be elevated to the regulatory flood protection elevation of 932.5 feet. Within 15 feet the building ground level must be no lower than one foot below this elevation. The applicant proposes to maintain the required elevation only within a few feet of the building. Turner stated City Code specifies that the height of the proposed house be measured from existing grade to a point halfway between the top of the highest window and the peak of the roof. By this definition, the house is 34.5 feet high. The windows are located in the gable end. As proposed, the third level may be slightly too large to be considered a half-story. The pitch of the roof may have to be reduced slightly to reduce the portion of the third level with a floor to roof joist measurement of five feet or more from 18' 7.5" to 18 feet. The Planning Commission recommended approval of a code change that increases the side setbacks for wider lots, regulated peak height based on the width of the lot and disregard windows in gable ends when determining the building height. This item was tabled by the City Council for further study of the setback and peak height portions of the code change. The basis for disregarding windows in gable ends was that they did not add to the mass of the roof. The proposed code change would limit this property to a peak height of 3 7 .5 feet. As proposed, the peak height would be about 38 feet. Planning Staff recommends approval of the following: 1. Approval of the width and area variances. 2. Approval of the floodplain variance subject to approval of the grading plan by the City Engineer and the MCWD. 3. Approval of the hardcover variance for the street side 0-75 foot zone. 4. Approval of the pea height variance if the comers are removed and the Commission determines it appropriate. 5. Approval of a hardcover variance but not to the extent proposed. PAGE 15