11-09-2015 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, November 9, 2015 7:00 o'clock p.m. PUBLIC COMMENTS (continued) Erickson stated the developer is hiding the number of trees that they will be removing from the site and that in his view it seemed a little bit misleading. Erickson stated the fact that this parcel is a large parcel means that it needs more planning for the future. The City should be looking at how that road will go through in the future and the impact that will have. Erickson noted there has been no information submitted to substantiate the fact that the developer can extend the sanitary sewer. Erickson stated he also submitted information on an alternate access. Erickson stated he would appeal to the Council to ask those questions and obtain that information before moving forward. McMillan noted the Council and Staff did receive a copy of Mr. Erickson's report. Matt Mithun, 1160 Heritage Lane, noted when the developer was asked to look at alternate routes, they looked at a road going over the bluff, which they all know now does not make sense and that it would be quite easy to use the existing road and achieve a 10 percent grade. Mr. Erickson also put together information on an alternate road, which identified one tree that would have to be removed. The residents were originally told 90 trees would have to come down if the alternate route were required. Dennis Libby, 1000 Heritage Lane, stated he would like to go on record that he does change his opinion and endorsement and acceptance of using the extension right-of-way to the cul-de-sac for primary access to the development. Libby stated in his view the developer needs to have a different perspective on providing the Council much more empirical data so the Council can make a prudent and wise decision in their decision making. Libby noted he has twice heard the mayor ask the residents to discuss something new and not talk about the same thing over and over again. Libby stated he would now like to talk about something completely new. Libby stated having been a resident of Orono and spending almost his entire life being a lakeshore owner and having access to the lake, there is a part of this development that has never really been considered. Libby stated as Staff and the Council look at this project from a long-term perspective, they will realize the poorly conceived and completely unaddressed issue of the use of Tanager Lake for access to Lake Minnetonka for these three lots. Libby indicated he has been a real estate broker for 30 years and that he has had clients that reside and use Tanager Lake. The Foxhill neighborhood has a fairly substantial, almost commercial size, dock on that bay. The area the developer is proposing to use consists of intense habitat. Libby stated he has seen no documentation on how that habitat and environment is going to be affected by the docks on Tanager Lake. Libby stated in the words of the developer, these will be small boat tenders, but that people who buy a 3.5 million dollar house likely will have big boats. Libby stated the homeowners association is in compliance with everything the MCWD requires but yet the residents have not seen any plan concerning this lake access. Libby stated Staff needs to address the conservation district, the impacts on that area, and the developer needs to bring forward a proposal on how this makes sense. Libby noted the Foxhill neighborhood uses Heritage Lane as their primary parking lane, which is something the developer's traffic engineer completely ignored. Libby stated there is parking along that street, which is a public street, and that they take steps to carpool to limit disruption to the public street access. Libby noted the school bus and every 50 -foot long material transport truck will have a line of residents' cars parked along that street. Page 7 of 24