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MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br /> Tuesday,January 22,2002 <br /> 6:30 o'clock p.m. <br /> (#01-2735 Proposed Zoning Code Amendment, Continued) <br /> considered as structures for the purpose of calculating"lot coverage by structures"as long as they had <br /> no elements higher than six feet over grade. <br /> Bottenberg stated other items also discussed at the work session included the fact that structural <br /> coverage calculations shall include building protrusions more than six feet above grade; the outer two <br /> feet of roof overhangs shall not be considered as lot coverage; open decks with any portion of railing <br /> above six feet will be counted as lot coverage in their entirety; and hardcover limits for non-shoreland <br /> areas need to be looked at closer. <br /> Bottenberg indicated included within Staff's report is an analysis done of the approximately 3,000 <br /> residential lots,with there being 616 lots which are considered non-shoreland and less than two acres in <br /> area. Staff looked at four different neighborhoods within the City where the lots were two acres or less <br /> in area—Hackberry Hill, Chevy Chase Drive, Webber Hills, and Chippewa Lane/Turnham Road. Each <br /> area contains lots that are substandard in area as compared to the zoning requirement. <br /> Staff utilized three different scenarios to determine the potential impacts of a hardcover limitation; one, <br /> 50 percent hardcover on total lot area; two, 50 percent hardcover on buildable area; and 80 percent <br /> hardcover on buildable area. Bottenberg stated those calculations are included within Exhibit A. <br /> Bottenberg indicated in many cases the size of the driveway and walk were estimated because in the <br /> past hardcover was not an issue with these properties and were not included on the survey. <br /> The analysis showed that there were no properties approaching 50 percent hardcover based on total lot <br /> area, even for the small lots,with most lots being less than 30 percent hardcover. In addition,the <br /> analysis showed that some properties have hardcover over or close to 50 percent buildable area, and a <br /> large proportion of small lots in a large zoning district already have hardcover over 80 percent buildable <br /> area because the buildable area is so small. <br /> Upon reviewing the three scenarios, Staff recommends that hardcover limits to 50 percent or 80 percent <br /> of buildable area does not provide equity to all property owners in the City because buildable area is so <br /> variable for a given size lot depending on the zoning district. Also, Staff concludes that limiting <br /> hardcover to 50 percent of total lot area is high. Of the properties reviewed,none were close to the 50 <br /> percent hardcover limit. If 50 percent is the recommended amount,will property owners add <br /> improvements so half of their property is covered. <br /> Staff recommends using the total lot area and a percentage smaller than 50 percent for allowed <br /> hardcover, if a hardcover standard is needed at all. Bottenberg noted the attached map shows that the <br /> actual number of lots less than two acres and not in shoreland is a small percentage of the total lots in <br /> the City. <br /> Bottenberg stated Staff is looking for direction on what the Planning Commission would recommend for <br /> a hardcover percentage. <br /> There were no public comments relating to this application. <br /> PAGE 9 <br />