06-18-2001 Planning Commission Minutes

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, MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,June 18,2001 (Baywind Christian Church,Continued) Wells stated it appears the Planning Commission is attempting to require standards of the church that are not being required of other places within the City. Kluth stated the Planning Commission and City Council adopt standards in an effort to help preserve the community and best serve the interests of the community. Kluth stated the Planning Commission is not required to follow bad precedents and that the Planning Commission is unable to stop pedestrian traffic at all other places. Kluth stated just because other churches may have been allowed to have pedestrian traffic across busy streets,does not require the Planning Commission to allow that to occur at this location. Smith inquired why the City is considering setting these types of standards for this particular church and other churches in the area when they are not requiring schools and other institutions like the Freshwater Institute to do exactly what the Planning Commission is attempting to do in this particular case. Kluth stated if the City is going to require standards for this church that are not required of other businesses, it will be subject to judicial review,and the City will need to defend why they are creating these standards for this particular church when they are not being placed against other businesses. Smith stated in her view these standards may need to be a B-4 standard rather than just standards that apply to this particular church. Mabusth stated a solution might be if sufficient parking is not provided on site,that the Council must approve a parking plan. Mabusth stated the City in the past has approved parking lots across County Road 19 for other places of businesses. Mabusth stated in her view the Council should approve a parking arrangement if ample parking is not provided on site. Mabusth inquired how many parking stalls are available at this site. Kluth stated there is approximately 45 parking stalls. Mabusth suggested that standard number two be made subject to approval by the Council of an off- site parking plan if ample parking is not available on-site. Kluth stated in his opinion the Planning Commission should not be coming up with new standards for churches when they are not being applied to other businesses within the B-4 District. Kluth stated the B-4 District already has standards that need to be complied with. Hawn stated the B-4 District does have parking standards that will need to be followed. Gaffron stated the City does have specific parking standards for various businesses. Kluth commented he is okay with Mabusth's suggestion regarding approval by the Council of an off- site parking plan. PAGE 9