11/21/2011 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,November 21,2011 6:30 o'clock p.m. well as a retaining wall and bench within the rip-rap for a beach were constructed. The additions beyond the basic rip-rap project required City approval which was not obtained prior to the work being done. When the City became aware of the additional,unpermitted work,the property owner was notified and they began attempting to resolve the violations. Unfortunately,the property went into foreclose before all of the violations were corrected. The applicants purchased the property with the intention of building a new home. They were made aware of the outstanding issues prior to their purchase and discussed solutions with City Staff. Landgraver asked how the City became aware of these violations. Curtis commented this is a small enough community that most of the work being performed in the City is lrnown by Staff. There was a significant amount of work completed by the previous property owner that brought it to Staff's attention. , Curtis indicated the applicants have reduced the width of the main staircase from seven feet to a Code allowed four feet in width as well as removed the two additional staircases leading to the lake. This work has resulted in the removal of the majority of the pre-existing violations. Staff finds that the removal of the additional remaining hardcover resulting from the retaining wall and beach area may not be significant enough to balance out the risk of creating the potential for an unstable, open shoreline. The applicants'plans to provide additional vegetative screening appear to mitigate any potential negative impacts of the wall and beach when viewed from the lake. The applicants have proposed to continue the vegetative screening in the wall area to offer additional screening from lake views. The rip-rap and beach area were created in 2008,are stable, and pose no obvious threats of failure or erosion. Because the applicants were not the homeowners at the time of the violation, an after-the-fact fee has not been applied to this application. Staff recommends approval of the after-the-fact conditional use permit and associated hardcover. The additional hardcover resulting from these improvements should be calculated by the surveyor prior to the City Council's review of this application. Schoenzeit opened the public hearing at 7:59 p.m. There were no public comments regarding this application. Schoenzeit closed the public hearing at 7:59 p.m. Thiesse moved,Landgraver seconded,to recommend approval of Application#11-3532,Sharratt Design& Company,LLC,on behalf of Mike and Pam Sime,3095 North Shore Drive,granting of an after-the-fact conditional use permit and hardcover variance. VOTE: Ayes 5,Nays 0. Page 14