01-22-03 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Wednesday,January 22, 2003 6:30 o'clock p.m. (#02-2861 ERIK THOMPSON, Continued) While he believed this to be useful, Gaffron pointed out that the City does not have the staff time to devote to investigating his house,however,they could provide this information to the City for review. Hawn asked whether the applicant would be comfortable with the Planning Commission saying that,if it proves the foundation needs to be redone, in stronger language than the earlier application, all bets are off, the house will have to be moved and the foundation will have to be rebuilt. She felt the applicant should realize that the consequences could be expensive and time consuming, and the City would be holding them to new construction. Chair Smith asked if they could table his application to allow him a month to review his application. As he was trying to work within a given timeframe, Thompson requested that they work to come up with a solution this evening. Chair Smith asked how quickly the applicant could provide the City Planner with his investigative material supporting his application. Retterath stated that no formal documents exist to date. Chair Smith asked if the applicants could create hard copies to accomplish this end for the City's consideration within a month and discussion be tabled this evening. Hawn stated she had reservations in allowing the City to get involved and sign off on a given project. Rahn asked the applicant to provide the staff with something specific from the structural engineer stating what the repairs are going to consist of to make the foundation provide the proper support. He also wished to see the project reduced to 15%coverage. Thompson asked, even if this were possible,whether he could supply his engineer with a code for rebuilds. Based on discussions with the City Attorney, Gaffron reiterated that there isn't a set standard currently in place. He noted that the Commission has had several discussions and has been working on establishing some thresholds that can be upheld, likely 50-75% in terms of value or mass. Thompson suggested they consider measuring the threshold based on how much it will cost an applicant. He stated that he could table the application,but would prefer to know what the City wants now,even though it may be inappropriate to define the standards tonight. Gaffron repeated that, while no code exists to date whereby establishing a threshold for new construction, the reaction he's seen from the Commission tonight leads him to believe this application has crossed that threshold. Gaffron suggested the applicant supply the City with a set of floor plans identifying what changes, stays, or goes, so that the City knows what to expect. Rahn stated this type of`demo plan' would be useful. PAGE 23 of 29