05-14-2012 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, May 14, 2012 7:00 o'clock p.m. (7. #12 -3546 TODD HOLMERS ONBEHALF OFMAPLE PLACE, LLC,1545 MAPLE PLACE, Continued) Rahn noted the City Council also was not aware of the change and was originally told there would only be three homes. Rahn stated the City Council did not hear of the change until sometime this spring. Taylor asked whether the applicant was told that he could not combine the seven lots. Gaffron stated the applicants are using existing lots of record; and if the lots are combined, they would need to meet the half acre standard. Gaffron indicated the applicants were not turned down on combining the lots but that they would need to meet the half acre standard, which the applicants have elected not to do since the time of their original proposal. Taylor asked whether they would be able to construct three homes. McMillan indicated they would be allowed to construct three homes. ,:�. Gaffron noted the applicants were granted preliminary plat approval last fall but then the applicants elected not to go ahead with that plan and instead proposed seven homes. Taylor asked about the waived setback from the county road. • Gaffron stated in 1992, at the time the City adopted its shoreland ordinances, the state model ordinance required a 50 -foot setback from county roads. The Orono area has a number of county roads serving homes on both sides of the road and Orono's standard for a half acre is a 30 -foot front setback. If the City was required to meet the 50 -foot setback, that would have resulted in a large number of homes becoming nonconforming. The 30 -foot setback also allows redevelopment in the same manner that the City has had for at least 20 years. Taylor commented the City should approach the state about allowing homes to be constructed on lots that are less than 6,000 square feet in area. Mattick stated back in the 1990s, the state would have required small lots to be combined prior to construction. In the early 2000s, the property owners complained about the economic impacts that combining lots had on their ability to develop their property and, as a result, in 2009 the state changed the statutes and did not require combination of small lots as long as they meet some minimum requirements relating to setbacks, lot coverage, septic /sewer, etc. Taylor stated he and his wife are opposed to this project as proposed. Steve Englund, 3855 Cherry Avenue, stated he and his wife, as well as his brother and his wife, are definitely opposed to this project and that it comes down to the density. Englund commented that other developments in Orono do not look like this and that he is concerned about the lack of people wanting to purchase these small lots and how that will impact their property values. Englund asked how something that Orono was granted in 1992 can overrule a statute written in 2007. • Page 9 of 16 Jr