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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday, October 21, 2002 6:30 o'clock p.m. (#3) #02-2834 ROBERT AND JULIE WIENS, 1425 BAY RIDGE ROAD, Continued Lyle Godfrey stated that, as long as the berm was maintained, he had no problem with the application. Chair Smith encouraged the applicant to give careful consideration to whether he believed a 4' berm would help with the sound problem. She asked for staffs opinion. Gaffron indicated that a 4-5' high berm would not have a huge impact on the noise level and suggested Mr. Wiens consider additional evergreens . Gaffron stated that a denser row of pine trees would do more to lessen the impact of noise than this berm. Mrs. Kaley, 1395 Brown Road South, questioned what the applicant would plant on the berm, since her views would be impacted. She indicated that the proposed curve of the berm near Bay Bridge Road would block her views of the lake. Wiens stated that no matter what he proposed in order to improve his current street views, it would impact Mrs. Kaley's views. Wiens maintained that he has gone to great lengths to improve his property since moving in and would strive to beautify the project, planting evergreens atop the berm, surrounded by prairie grass and wildflowers, under the trees. Rahn questioned whether the applicant could truly accept a 4' high berm, when what he was expecting was an 8' high berm. Wiens expressed his desire to move the project forward. Mrs. Kaley reiterated that the row of pines along the top of the berm would impact her views. Wiens stated that he must do something and again, would be willing to work towards a compromise with the neighbors . Mabusth empathized, stating that she could see his goal was to improve his screen both visually and for noise control. Wiens stated that the existing trees would block 70-80% of Mrs. Kaley's views of the proposed berm. Hawn stated that she was unclear what the issue with the neighbors was, since the trees would block most of the berm and the applicant has expressed his willingness to work with them. Wiens stated that there are a number of things he could propose, including building structure rather than berm, however he has chosen to construct and beautify his property with the berm and plantings. Wiens stated that he had no idea he would be faced with opposition from his neighbors when he proposed this application and was willing to try to work with them, but Page 4