05-20-2002 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,May 20,2002 6:30 o'clock p.m. (#02-2766 WILLIAM KEEFE, Continued) Hawn brought up the idea of giving Mr.Keefe, and others, a deadline of when the structures need to be removed. After approaching neighbors as well, a deadline could be set for approximately 10 years out to have them removed. Mr. Keefe maintained that many neighbors would more than likely change out a bad shed for a good one even for a period of time. While not opposed to the idea,Kluth asked how this could ever be policed. Hawn asked Mr. Gaffron for his thoughts and inquired whether this could be built into the permit process. Gaffron felt this would be almost impossible to police and the City would only become aware of the deadline if an owner came to the City to file for a new permit. Smith questioned whether removal of the shed would damage the existing trees around the structure. She asked Mr. Keefe if it were possible to move it to a conforming location. In order to bring it into all the setbacks,Mr. Keefe stated that the shed would have to be moved up near the garage,placed on a slope near the center of his lot, thus eliminating the reason it was lakeside in the first place. Fritzler inquired over the possibility of moving the shed to a conforming location, and using the existing concrete pad lakeside for a new lockbox. Fritzler feared that by setting a precedent of encouraging people to nonconform, they will rebuild these old structures rather than follow legitimate channels and approach the City first. Especially if they have a deadline of 10 years out, owners may say they will only be here 7 years and don't care what happens then. Hawn reiterated that her notion would be to inventory the existing buildings on the lake at some point. Mr. Gaffron stated that they have talked about lakeshore structures and doing an inventory from a historical perspective to determine if there are structures are out there that the City should be keeping up for historical reasons. Hawn stated that she would like to see an inventory of these things so that the Commission can come up with a consistent policy, since the method they are currently using is time consuming. Gaffron pointed out that there is currently 150 feet between the house and the lake and questioned if the shed could be moved outside the 75-foot setback towards the house in order to keep it lakeside. He suggested one option for consideration might be to allow small type structures to exist outside the 75-foot setback area,based on certain conditions and if neighbors are not opposed to it. PAGE 4