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! <br /> MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING CONIlVIISSION MEETING <br /> Monday, September 17,2007 <br /> 6:00 o'clock p.m. <br /> (#07-3312 Gary DeSantis,Continued) <br /> The Planning Commission should consider whether the significantly substandard lot width impacts the <br /> ability to correctly subdivide this parcel. The goal of this review is to provide the developer with an <br /> overview of the pertinent City ordinances and how they affect the proposed plat. <br /> Gronberg stated he has been involved in a number of applications before the City of Orono involving <br /> setback variances being routinely granted on cul-de-sacs,including Shadow Wood Farm,Meadow Wood <br /> Pond, Old Crystal Bay Road 2°d Addition,plus numerous other properties located at the end of cul-de- <br /> sacs. - <br /> Gaffron indicated that is conect. � <br /> Gronberg inquired whether paving the entire road from Watertown Road into the cul-de-sac is necessary. <br /> DeSantis indicated it is considered a private road at the present time and asked whether it would still be <br /> considered a private road once it is paved. <br /> Berg stated it would still be considered a private road. <br /> Curtis stated the road would be maintained as a private roadway with underlying city/public easements <br /> for utilities. <br /> Gaffron stated in approximately 1984,there was a three lot subdivision created and the cul-de-sac ended <br /> between the second and third lots. At the time Wear Lane was created,other lots were being created at <br /> approximately the same time, and there was not a requirement that the roads be paved. Since the 1980's, <br /> the City has required that every private road be paved. Gaffron noted if this had been a four lot <br /> subdivision from the inception,the cul-de-sac would have been laid out differently. If that subdivision <br /> were done today,there would not enough acreage for the relocated cul-de-sac, and one or both lots would <br /> not have enough land to meet the two-acre minimum. <br /> In 1994,the City's Code was changed to address situations where someone has a narrow corridor that <br /> accesses a home that essentially sits behind another house. The City allowed a road to go to that lot and <br /> established standards for a back lot that are difficult to meet in this case. One of the criteria is that the lot <br /> should consist of three acres and that the setbacks from the back lot should be 150 percent of the setback <br /> requirements for that zoning district. With this type of front/back lot situation,there is not sufficient <br /> acreage because the 30-foot corridor is not included in that calculation, and the north line of the south lot <br /> becomes functionally the front lot line. Gaffron indicated the only way to make this situation work is to <br /> create a layout that would have some fairly strange lots and that technically the 200 feet of lot width has <br /> to be met at the rear of the front yard and that a variance would be necessary. <br /> Gaffron noted the septic sites would have to be approved and the wetland delineation must be approved <br /> prior to the City accepting it. Gaffron noted the City's wetland buffer requirement is being met. <br /> Gaffron stated if the Planning Commission is comfortable with granting width variances,there should be <br /> separation between the house sites that matches the goals for the two-acre zone. Gaffron stated it is a <br /> strange layout given the situation with the cul-de-sac,but that it is not that unusual. <br /> PAGE 19 <br />