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MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br /> Tuesday,February 19,2002 <br /> 6:30 o'clock p.m. <br /> (#02-2749 Thomas Egan, Continued) <br /> Weinberger indicated the City of Orono maintains public access to the Island for pedestrian and other <br /> types of use. Weinberger stated the City does have a policy not to vacate any public accesses to the <br /> lake. <br /> Weinberger stated the portion of the right-of-way requested for vacation is not a right-of-way that <br /> provides access to the public waters. The City of Orono has notified all public utilities of the vacation <br /> request, and Reliant Energy/Minnegasco has responded that they have no facilities in the right-of-way. <br /> Qwest did notify the City that they do have existing facilities within the right-of-way and stated they <br /> respectfully decline the right-of-way vacation request. <br /> Weinberger noted included with the Planning Commission packet is a letter from Rick Jorgenson with <br /> Qwest stating that they respectfully decline the vacation request. Weinberger indicated he has spoken <br /> with Mr. Jorgenson who indicated that Qwest would not be opposed to the vacation of the right-of-way <br /> if it is determined that utility lines are located within the public land and adequate easements are put in <br /> place for the utilities. Weinberger stated it is anticipated that location of the lines will be verified this <br /> Thursday by Gopher One. <br /> Weinberger stated the Public Works Director has reviewed this request,and has no objection to the <br /> vacation of the right-of-way. Weinberger stated the City at this time has no intention to ever use that <br /> portion of the right-of-way for any public purpose. <br /> Weinberger stated the City likes to insure that access is maintained to each individual island over public <br /> land. Weinberger stated public access remains open with the proposed vacation. <br /> Egan presented pictures of the cabin,noting there are trees located on both sides of the cabin. Egan <br /> stated he has a concern that the City may in the future request that the cabin be moved since it is located <br /> within a right-of-way. Egan stated if something happened to the cabin,they would not be able to <br /> rebuild since it is located within the setback and would need to be relocated. Egan stated he is <br /> attempting to avoid any conflicts in the future, and that due to the trees in the area,the road is basically <br /> unusable. Egan noted he has spoken with all the neighbors and he is unaware of any objections to the <br /> vacation. <br /> Smith questioned whether Qwest knows where their utility lines are located. <br /> Egan stated Qwest did supply a drawing showing that their lines are located down the road. Egan stated <br /> he personally does not feel those are correct,noting there is a junction box that is approximately three <br /> feet tall located in the area where the lines come from,which is different than what Qwest's drawing <br /> depicts. Egan noted the cabin was constructed sometime in the 1960s. <br /> John Burch, 380 Big Island, indicated he owns the property to the left. Burch stated to his knowledge <br /> the phone lines were put in about 15 years ago and come up to the individual cabins from poles that are <br /> along Lakeview Avenue. <br /> There were no further public comments relating to this application. <br /> PAGE 26 <br />