11-09-2015 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday, October 19, 2015 6:30 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 3 of 17 Barnhart stated the height, spacing, and the number of trees in a row defines a living wall and that trimming the tree down to six feet would be one way to mitigate that. The property owner could also increase the spacing or reduce the number of trees. Schoenzeit stated the goal is to create a view by breaking down a living wall, and the nuisance remedy has to be in maintaining the view that is opened by mitigating the nuisance. McGrann asked if the City has received any commentary related to non-lakeshore living walls. Barnhart stated the more notable complaints are associated with the lakeshore lots but that there have been some concerns expressed with living walls near an intersection. McGrann stated it feels like the City is being selective on what views to protect and that they may run into challenges in the future. Barnhart stated this is a drastic change to the City’s ordinances and that it will be an enforcement challenge. Barnhart stated due to the City’s history of protecting lake views, he is recommending it. Schoenzeit stated the ordinance should not allow grandfathering in. Barnhart stated the second component of the ordinance deals with lighting. The most common, non- regulatory solution is for the property owner to willingly adjust or shield lights so that it does not impact a neighbor. For situations where that does not occur, the proposed regulatory solution establishes measurable lighting at the property line as a nuisance and may be corrected through means offered in the code, including citations and mitigation. Early drafts of the ordinance proposed regulating lighting in the zoning ordinance only but were discarded because existing lights that shine on neighboring properties would be considered legal non-conforming and allowed to continue in perpetuity. Staff is proposing the City Code be amended by adding the following: “Fully shielded luminaire means a light fixture constructed and installed in such a manner that all light emitted by the fixture, either directly from the lamp or a diffusing element, or indirectly by reflection or refraction from any part of the fixture, is projected below the horizontal plane through the fixture’s lowest light-emitting part. Light emitting part, for the purposes of this section, may include bulb, diode, or tube.” Lighting that casts light on